BOTH headlights out...?

It could happen, but maybe there is a short or a blown fuse. I would start with the fuse.

 

Do you have the halogen bulb or HID. For HID this should be too early for halogen bulb stock. About right !! but both at the same time ?? That is just suspicious. The above suggestion to check the fuse is a good idea.

Also this is the low-beam right ?? High-beam is rarely used by me.

My halogen bulb on the passenger side just went out about 39750 miles... I just replaced both (they were fading in any case .. which is the sure sign of aging).

The bulbs are user replaceable however the passenger side is little harder. Check the the thread no this forum....

 

The Gen3 Prius is only offered with either halogen (package 1-4) or LED (package 5) headlights. HIDs were never offered.

Each headlight has it own fuse. Do there are 2 fuses for the low beams.

Here's a thought.......could 1 of the low beams already of been burnt out & when the 2nd u just assumed that they both went out at the same time?

Do u keep ur headlights on during the day? This will cause the bulbs to fail a lot sooner than designed.

 

Halogen lights are finicky... If one blows, the other follows shortly... That's why you have to replace both at the same time... I know the particular lamps that the Prius use do not last long... I have to change my bulbs every year, they burn out at 200 hours of use or so...

 

This is because most Prius owners just leave the headlight on all the time......day & night.

 

Glad to hear it was a quick & cheap fix.......now just keep the headlights of during the day & the bulbs should last awhile.

 

Auto li

Auto lights could be a seemingly simple, safety related addition, but for 2011 and earlier it is an additional cost. 2012 have the advantage of LED daytime running lights. I wish there was an OEM LED option available to add to my 2011.

 

For what it's worth, my son and I had this problem this last weekend on his 2002 Civic sedan. We hauled out the shop manual and looked. Checked fuses first, of course, and they were fine.

On that car, the circuit is such that the light switch in the car activates a relay that has one leg connected to the battery. The other leg goes to both the high and low beams, through separate fuses for the high beams (both left and right) and low beams (both left and right).

Then came the surprising part. The bottom legs of the two low beams were connected together to a single wire, same for the high beams. Those two wires then went straight to the switch physically connected to the stalk on the steering wheel column. Whether you got high beams or low beams depended only upon whether the low beam wire was connected to ground through that switch or the high beam wire was connected to ground through that switch.

Careful measurement with an ohmmeter revealed that the switch, itself, was a goner.

On a Sunday, no less, found a Honda dealer in Staten Island whose parts department was (a) open and (b) had the switch/stalk assembly in stock. $60 bucks later and a ride back and forth resulted in working low beams.

It all looks very standard. The one oddball bit was that the shop manual showed two relays in the under-hood relay panel, one for left bulbs, one for rights, but the actual car had a single relay for both. I have to imagine that the Prius wiring isn't much different, unless you've got HID bulbs or something.

So: This could have easily happened to you. How comfortable are you with an ohmmeter? You could check the resistance of the bulb contact in the front of the car to ground as somebody manipulated that switch. Preferably with the high and low beam fuses pulled and the plugs pulled off the bulbs.

And if the top side going to the battery is suspect, put your meter into "volt" mode, disconnect the headlight connectors, and verify that with the lights on, there's 12V to the high side connector in the plug to ground on both sides. And this should move around to the brights when they're turned on. If you got something missing up there then you've either got a bad fuse or relay.

Somebody want to send this guy a copy of the wiring from the shop manual?

KBeck

 

Have u looked into getting a DEI 545T? I added this to my 06 & loved it.

DEI 545T Nite Lite Nite-Lite System NEW

 

Both my low-beams (only) went out (or were detected out) at same time. Replacing bulbs isn't impossible but a challenge. Surely the 1st to work shows you it's not the switch, wiring, relay or fuse (are there REALLY 4 different fuses for each light, and a 5th for the system?)

Add'l:
- Bulb re-inserts with middle prong on top
- Reassembly of rubber weather protection occurs AFTER putting (& testing) the bulb. You then need to wiggle / arrange the hole to accommodate all 3 contact points, thru the hole. Since they're invisible & you have only fingertip mobility, prepare a few cursewords ahead.
- I've had to replace the low-level light (& of course the whole bulb) 2x this year, on both sides. Does anybody have suggestions as to longevity options for these replacements?

 

Don't keep ur headlights on during the day......it shorten their life span.

Don't touch the bulb while replacing them. This can also shorten the life span

 

Everytime when one of my bulbs die, the other one follows shortly thereafter... I always have to replace both when one dies... My bulbs fail after six months of use.. But I drive mainly at night, 2 hours a day...

 

If you check the Gen III mods forum, you can modify your 2010 Prius to activate the automatic headlight feature. I've done it, and perhaps the best feature is the auto dashboard light level feature that also gets activated.

 

Both of my low-beams were burned out this morning . Yesterday, it was all fine. Got two new bulbs and all is good again. Surprised that both headlights burned out at the exact same time......

 

U must be having a bad day