headlight replacement

happy ending Today, the Toyota case manager for my headlight case said they would reimburse me for the repair. That was easy. Thanks priuschat people for all the good info and empowerment.

 

We just had this happen to us (on a 2008 Prius, about 23k miles on it), and thanks to this forum we knew to push for warranty coverage if we got any resistance from the dealer. To our surprise we didn't; they covered the repair in full without an argument. Perhaps Toyota is now quietly taking care of this dangerous (and potentially expensive) problem and in doing so trying to avoid the chance of having to do another recall. (I've still posted a defect complaint via the NHTSA web site because it's absurd that headlights should fail like this on nearly brand new cars.)

Thanks again to everyone in PriusChat for the discussion, ideas and support.

 

my 2006 is now experiencing this same issue and I will contact the dealer tomorrow.

 

This is one of the smaller threads about this subject.
Its apparent Toyota has a real mess on their hands.

Too bad they won't just fix the issue and be done with it.

Dragging out this bad press for so long could be much more expensive than just fixing it.

 

i agree - my regular mechanic said it may be covered under the extended warranty - and it appears that some folks here have been successful in having it covered. I sure hope so! It is a chunk of change.

 

I was not as lucky. I went to the dealer on wednesday and was asked if the lights came on
and then went out or if they would not turn on at all. When I said they came on and then
went off, he sait it was the overheating of the filiment that was causing this problem and
the headlight needed replacing.

I said there were 162 pages of compllaints on file with the NTSC about this problem. He
was firm that this would be on my dime.

He didn't think this was covered under the extended warrenty - which I'd purchased from
someone on this chat forum.

Is this true?
Should I go to another dealer?

 

If your talking about HID lights.. first tell the moron there are no filaments on an HID bulb... only contact points inside the bulb where the arc takes place, and second if its overheating its because something is generating heat more than its supposed to.

Then ask to talk to the "real" service manager or go somewhere else.

 

thanks! just to confirm, the HID lights are the ones that pivot so they are constantly parallel to the ground?

 

buster brown--
I suggest first contacting Toyota and getting a case number and case manager assigned. Tell them you are dissatisfied to learn that the HID lights have a widely reported problem with early failure which is not normal wear and tear, and that you want the repair covered under the extended warranty or under their customer courtesy policy (i'm not sure exactly what the term for that is). You might also want to say you would like Toyota to give you information on what is being done to correct this known safety problem with these headlights. I don't know if they'll agree to cover the cost but when i had this repair done and then a few days later read these threads, i followed suggestions by other posters and called Toyota, and as in several other cases, they did reimburse me. I think they might take into account how many miles are on the car, just judging from how they seem to be (in the examples in these threads) less generous the older the car is. (my car is an 07 with 40K miles and the extended warranty). When they said they would reimburse me they called it a 'one time good will gesture,' which is troubling because this does not acknowledge that there is a problem with the car that is not the responsibility of the customer. If i have a second light go out, or the same one again, then it's my problem, they seem to be saying. I would like to think it won't happen again but reading these threads on the subject, i'm not at all reassured about this.

 

There are very few good will gestures... its all business "good and bad"

They worded it that way as advised by their lawyers so as to not admit guilt or liability.

They are trying to avoid a wholesale recall or media attention as there being a failure of problem.
Its all about money and not drawing attention.

The more they think you know the more dangerous you are and the more vocal you are and appear professional about it, the more they fear you may have the finesse to actually attract negative attention to them if things aren't rectified.

I would suggest not giving up and not making threats.
Be polite but informed.
Advise them this is highly documented and is a safety hazard and that you will exhaust all resources to get this resolved.

Lets call a spade a spade.
Politics are fine if it gets their attention, but otherwise you have to go to plan B...... expose them.

This problem has gone on a ridiculously long time and there is no "good will" excuse why its not resolved.

If it was really Good will, they wouldn't be respecter of persons and only grease the wheels that are squeaky.

 

ok - I will contact the toyota dealer In RTP, NC where i purchased the car and follow the steps outlined above.

 

I was really psyched about getting a 2010 Prius, but after reading about the cost of replacing light bulbs, I am having second thoughts.

 

Had problem with passenger side HID headlight becoming intermittent on my 2007 Prius. Dealer quoted $210 for a single bulb. Complained to dealer based upon what I had read on this site. He ended up replacing it for free. Said he thought that Toyota should address the problem. Clearly a design problem with the bulb. New HID has a different Toyota part number.

 

Hey, GreenGuy33,

All the expensive problems you are reading about here are the HID bulbs in the 2G Prius (2004 through 2009---mostly since 2006 as the failure rate on the 2004 & 2005's aren't as high). You shouldn't be scared of the 2010 because Toyota went to LED's for the low beams & back to halogens for the high beams (because of all the HID problems).

Ken (in Bolton,Ct)

 

Don't worry.. we are talking about apples and oranges.

The problems and expense are with the HID bulbs that use a ballast.

The 2010 uses tried and true Halogen bulbs, unless you have the Model V which uses Halogen for high beam and LED for low.

Will there be a crazy high dollar problem with the LED?... who knows and only time will tell, but the models IV and below all use Halogen for upper and lower and should be no more expensive to replace than your regular car which now most likely uses Halogen too.

Yes, HID is supposed to be brighter per watt but the Halogen they have put in my 2010 are really bright and I'm very pleased with them.. in fact I think they have more distance than the HID do in my 06's. Maybe its due to how they are focused.
Some folks have opted to replace thier OEM halogen with Silver Stars that have slightly higher kelvin and burn hotter at the expense of a little bulb life.

There has been allot of discussion on the pro's and cons, but Halogen are a tad more yellow but still look blazing white until you compare then with another bulb of higher kelvin.

The higher kelvins "look" bright as they are on a frequency the "looks" bright, but in reality thats not always the case..... think of a cheap LED flashlight.. it "looks" bright like an arc welder white, but it has little power to go out and hit an object and reflect back that information to your eyes. The higher the kelving presented per watt, the less lumens you actually get.

So before you do too much reading and get dizzy with all the information and speculation.. go do a test drive at night in a new 2010!

But to be clear "all HID bulbs" were phased out as of 2009 and will be no more due to the complaints we are reading about I'm sure.

 

As a number of people have said, the HID's are supposed to last longer and have better light than the halogens. It looks like this is completly wrong.My HID's are acting up after only 2 1/2 years. I have had regular headlights last MUCH longer and are MUCH less expensive to replace. The theory about costing more because of longer life is a bunch of crap...... also because Toyota doesn't offer them in 2010 BECAUSE of all the problems, BUT they won't acknowledge that there was a problem, so they won't have to replace them all. I told the service manager there was NO WAY I would pay them hundreds of dollars to replace A HEADLIGHT BULB. Every body needs to get together and complain until Toyota is made to do something about it.

 

Seems the only tool that works is the media..... they hate having thier deeds exposed!

There should be many journalists who would love a good story.. all you have to do is provide them all the links and hint the smell of a coverup and the media is all over it!

Too bad you have to hold people feet to the fire to do whats right.

Are we supposed to take the poise from how on that its "buyer beware" when dealing with Toyotas cutting edge technology?.

Its clearly understood that bulbs are not warranty items because they are normal wear and tear.... but where is the line?

Are tires not covered either if the tread falls off at 10K miles because they are a wear item too?

 

I just wanted to share with everyone that the passenger side HID headlamp on my 2005 Prius (38,000 miles) is sharing the same characteristics of other Prius owners w/defective headlamps - turns on initially, flickers after 30-60 seconds of normal but dimmed operation and then turns off completely after another 2-3 minutes of flickering.

The flicker is sometimes so intense it looks like a low powered strobe light to oncoming traffic or people driving in front of me. Turning the light off for a second and turning it back on resets the light but it begins flickering again after 30-60 seconds.

I brought my car into a local dealership last week and they said it would cost over $400 to replace it. That's when my jaw dropped to the floor and I went online to see if others were similarly raped. I have the Toyota Care Platinum extended warranty but headlamps are not covered.

I share the same sentiment of other disgusted HID-equipped Prius owners - Toyota should replace these obviously defective lights at their cost. Depending on how they handle it (once I get in contact with the higher-ups), this experience may dictate my feelings of Toyota's customer service and quality control standards... to the point where I will never buy their vehicles again.

 

The 2010 does NOT use the type of headlights that had problems in the Gen IIs.

 

For what it is worth, I received this in the mail today. It is an extended coverage notice for 2006-2009 Prius(es?) They will reimburse you for the cost of the ECU (headlight computer) and anything over $150 you paid for the bulbs. This apparently only applies to service performed at a dealership. The deadline listed is March 31, 2010.

I have no idea how they came to send this document to me but the two things that I can think of is that I recently had my bulbs replaced at a dealer, and I submitted a complaint at the NHSTA as recommended in this thread.

Alas, I don't qualify for any money back but I hope this information can help someone get some cash back! I had to break the links as this is my first post (just have to delete the space before the "u"), but wanted to throw a little love back to the thread I have been lurking on.

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