I have had this car for a year-and-a-half. 2014 Prius V. I have gone through 6 sets of headlight bulbs. That means all bulbs in the front of the car. Again 6 times. Also I have gone through the rear license plate bulbs 2X. Has anyone experienced the same problem that I have. Car is not in warranty. Called Toyota and they will not help me nor did they say that this has been an ongoing problem. Please help with any information.
I checked my voltmeter and my low beam headlights are at 14. 63 volts. I'm stumped. I know that my voice should be in the 12 range. Please help
Nope, as replied in your other thread, 14.x volts is normal for the Prius. Question, do you leave your headlight switch in the ON position all the time? If you do, your bulbs will last longer if you wait about 5 seconds after you make your car Ready before turning on the lights.
Thanks for the reply. So what you're saying is 14 volts is normal. Okay? No I do not keep the headlights on in the on position while starting the car. Please elaborate on the voltage and the on position of the lights. Thank you so much
2014 and not in warranty? Is there more the story? (Like collision, buy back, salt water environment, car modified, maybe just exceeded mileage limit?) Did Toyota dealer replace and check the circuitry with the first failure? What were the circumstance of the first few failures? Are you using OEM bulbs? (eg vibration rated bulbs. Motorcycles using Sylviana (spelling) Silver Star for example have the same issue that bulbs do not last) Remember oil from your hands toughing a bulb will reduce the bulb's life too. If no stories on the car, a bare wire somewhere chaffing, pinched and grounding out would be my guess. Could also be a faulty dash switch. So some wire tracing may be called for. Rear license could be from vibration from slamming the rear lid (or cobble stone roads leading to that excess vibration issue or again touching the bulb's glass with your fingers). 6 and 2 failures do seem odd though. Doesn't seem so easy to diagnose over Internet.... on off switch, auto on circuity, DRL etc all tie together. You may need to access Toyota service book for a couple days and print some wiring diagrams and electrical values. Good hunting....let us know how resolved.
Mileage has been exceeded. Car is prefect. Yes using silver star. These bulbs are the six sets. No mods.
I had my v for over a year when the OEM low-beam bulbs blew. I replaced them with Sylvania Silver Stars. The Silver Stars blew out in about 30 days. Because I bought them from O'Reilly, they would replace them under warranty through the first year, so I put Silver Stars back in. The Silver Stars expired once a month like clockwork, all through that year. When the year was up and I no longer got free replacements, I went to the dealer and put the OEM bulbs back in. This was October of last year, and there hasn't been a hint of trouble or flicker out of the OEMs since then. My advice: stay away from Silver Stars.
Midesaka. Sir. That's example is exact. The explanation is OnPoint. Okay alright I understand. Silver Star suck. OEM good. Now I have a choice of either LED or hid. I want to thank everyone or help me out with this thread. This is one of the best forums ever signed up on.:]
LED or HID, easy choice. Stay away from LED replacement bulbs for your lowbeam lights, they're not ready for prime time yet.
X. This info is so great! Also looked into the chat about 9005 conversion from h11. Your feed back is keen. X and all the others in PRI chat thank you again.
