I Did a quick search and managed to find a few gen3 burnt up prius, that looked to start from the passenger side headlight. Looks like it started from the turn signal or the headlight... This is mine with no mods, 70k miles, 2012. Fire started on right side spontaneous combusted, burned up fender and wire harness behind light, melted a coolant, washer, tanks and some trim pieces. Hopefully toyota wants to help fix this mess???
It's a known issue and there was a recall, you can find some info in this thread: Headlight harness recall | Page 2 | PriusChat
Ehhh ... I was never anything but speculating as to whether the harness recall might have been a contributing factor. I confess I have just been staring at these photos trying to figure out whether the recall harness was present on this car. Doesn't look like it is, at least not routed the way the recall said to. Anyway, I wouldn't expect it to be, if the car is a 2012 ... I don't think the recall covered those. Maybe that's a bit of evidence against my earlier speculation. -Chap
The passenger side headlight on the Gen III is a tight fit for my hands, and the first time I replaced the lamp on my 2010 I seated it incorrectly (the socket was slightly cocked.) This could've/would've led to a melted headlamp assembly and/or possible fire, but I caught it right away and fixed it. Did you or anyone else replace the bulb recently? Not saying it wasn't the wire harness, but that may not have been the only cause.
are there more than one kind of headlight on the 2012's? i replaced my bulbs a year or two ago when one burned out. didn't seem unusual to me.
