2007 Prius: $2,215 to replace the headlights

Any body shop or mechanic can swap them out for a set of halogens. They won't be as nice as your HIDs, but a least you'll be able to drive at night. If the surface is just fogged and/or pitted up - that can be polished out to restore it. Most shops can do that too. Sam's club wanted $35 a few years ago to do my old GMC. Similar fogging and pitting. Beware; the re-polish job will only last a few years before they refog again.

Hope this helps....

 

The Ballasts and bulbs can be purchased online for $100-ish and take an hour or two to put them in... However, LED upgrade bulbs eliminate the need for the ballast which are unreliable to say the least.

Also, most 2007 Prius need a headlight polishing kit $30 and 1/2 hour of work to make them look like brand new again.

As for the jerk claiming to charge you $2K, I wish people who tried to rob customers like this knew they were risking jail time for this. Of course in our backwards society they probably get promoted.

 

Dealerships are warranty specialists not experts at diagnostics... They have a well established history of replacing expensive parts to see if it fixes it, rather than confirming the source of the problem first... If it turns out the bulbs and ballasts don't fix it they'll think of other stuff to replace and no chance on getting a refund for replacing parts that didn't need to be replaced.

 

Why not just get a $60 set of HID bulbs and put them in? How long have the current bulbs been installed? Odds are pretty slim that both ballasts (not blasters) went bad at the same time. The ballasts just don't fail very often. Maybe I've just been lucky that every Gen 2 HID model I've worked on that had headlight problems was fixed just by installing new bulbs. And if you do, replace both, not just one!

 

Just get Alla branded hid to LED conversion 67 or so use bypass wiring never look back easy you're stereo inclined child can do.

 

If the headlamp shell itself is good, I'd go with @Tombukt2 recommendations. Unplug the power to the ballast, plug in the pigtail connector, snap the bulb in. It's as simple as that.
Tail lamp bulbs are almost as simple, if there's access doors - so you don't have to rip the interior apart to replace bulbs. I'm sure there's a YouTube video on how to do this.

Good Luck...

FWIW, these issues are usually either the bulb or ballast. I ripped out the HIDs on my GMC because I kept blowing the ballast. They kept taking turns blowing. Right side went out, then a few months later the left would go. Replaced with LED's 3 years ago. No more issues.

 

Yeah you've been lucky... I've seen so many failed ballasts in Gen2 Prius that once people are replacing their 3rd and 4th set they convert to LED or Halogen.

 

You do not need to be a mechanic to replace a light bulb.

Also dont go anywhere talking about a blaster, Im serious about this.

They will try and charge you a crazy price for a "blaster" too.

You have two pieces, the HID bulb and the ballast.

Very simple to do but honestly the price they were charging you included the entire headlight assembly left and right not just bulbs and a "blaster" (ballast)

 

55 minutes on a weekend and ya keep 2200 or so bux . Gotta love that. Don't even get to get dirty.

 

that's why they are called stealerships and for things like this the dealer is not always the first choice. It's a known issue that these HID fail all the time in gen2 Prius and that estimate is highway robbery! LED conversion is the way to go.

 

It's time to find an independent shop to do your 2007 Prius work. For this work any shop with a good reputation, small or large could do this and save you $1500 or more just on the lights.

It is not necessary to retrofit hid; there are aftermarket (Denso) ballasts for $79 each and hid bulbs for $49 a pair. Total about $210 and direct plug and play.

Headlight Experts Denso D24D OEM New Replacement Ballast

It is true accessing gen2 headlights is tricky but not more than an hour's labor.

It's easier with the gen2 tail lights. All functions except the brake lights are standard incandescent and easily changed. The brake lights are led and are integrated into the "combination light" assembly, but those assemblies are available everywhere for less than $100.

See attachments for hid headlight parts and supplier phone number.