I just had my first lamps burn out at around 120,000 miles other than those cursed HID lamps. I replaced the HID at about 60,000 and again at about 120,000. General rule of thumb is, if a lamp burns out and it is a pair, that is a left and right come on at same time, if one burns out replace both, i.e. if a right tail light burns out, replace the left at the same time. Most of these come in a 2-pack anyway. Most of the main Gen II lamps, parking, turn signal, tail light, backup light, marker light are easy to change. I use a pair of cotton gloves one of my kids used in marching band or other clean soft cloth to handle the lamp itself. Skin oil will reduce the life of the lamp. The exceptions to easy replacement are rear stop lamps and the HID headlight lamps. Luscious Garage website has a good video on changing e HID lamps. You can do it yourself in a short amount of time without removing the bumper with some hand strength and dexterity. They are just very expensive as is the rear stop lamp, which necessitates replacing the combination lamp lens assembly. High & low beam headlamp HID-D4R Parking light 2825 Front turn signal 992 (7440A) Rear turn signal 992 (7440A) Tail light 2825 Stop light -LED and Circuit Board. Have to Replace Rear Combination Lamp Lens, assembly. Approx. $160 for just the part. High mount stop light LED Fog/Driving light 9006 License plate 168 Back up light 7440 Front side marker 2825 Map light 168 Dome light DE3175 Step/Courtesy light 168 Trunk/Cargo area DE3022
A little bit of misinformation there as the stop lamps "listed as 7440" cannot be replaced in the gen2 Prius as they are LED's and part of the complete tail light assembly. John (Britprius)
Not true I'm afraid all gen2 Prius including those in the US are fitted with 6 red LED's for the stop lamps with a resistor bank mounted in the bottom of the light unit. See the link below one of many about this on PC. Dim brake light - 2005 Prius John (Britprius) I will agree there are three bulbs you can change in the tail lights but non are the brake lights. John (Britprius)
I took a while to research this, rechecking the owners manual, official repair manual and online parts website using VIN. I appreciate the correction from John (Britprius). None of these Toyota sources make any comment about stop lamp being LED and having to replace entire lens assembly, so I never even considered this. I hope Toyota is embarrassed you have to pay several hundred dollars if you're ever unfortunate enough to have one of these fail, even though LED is very reliable. Obviously from some posts, they do occasionally fail. That's even worse than the HID lamp cost.
I hope I did not sound scolding in my first post on this. As it is not at first sight obvious and I can see where the confusion arises. I have had to replace a rear light assembly on my 2008 and can confirm the price in the UK at £145 or $200. The 2003/4 lights are different (in that the stop lamp section is smoked to match the lower tailgate glass) while the 2006 on are clear. The units are interchangeable but would need to be done as a pair. Early 2004/5 units are available aftermarket for $75. John (Britprius)
