Brake light melting

hmm i definitely see some distortion in Rick's pic as compared to Evans.

 

I looked at mine this morning and noticed no deformation. I'm guessing this might be because my car is kept in a carport when I'm home and in a parking garage when I'm at work and I've only gone 7,300 miles in a year ... so you can imagine that it's not seen much exposure to direct sunlight.

I will have the dealer look at it for my next oil change (which I guess I'll do at 8K - since it'll have been 6 mos).

 

:| So far no deforming on my tail light vanes; BUT.... when the "Dallas" summer scorching heat returns next Summer, I'll be watching. It's not unusual for us to see several days in sequence of over 100°F during the Summer.

 

What's the consensus? Is the melting caused by ambient temp/direct sunlight, heat from the bulbs, or a combination of both? I've been putting my car in park when I come to a long light with the thought that less time with the brake lights on means less heat.

 

Rick made the observation that LEDs don't generate much heat at all. Though I thought perhaps it could be heat from the wiring (which would definitely indicate a problem much greater than melting plastic).

I'm hoping someone will talk to their dealer and post the answers here soon.

 

I think that the melting is from the ambient heat combined with a green house effect within the housing. We have some 100 degree weeks in the Boise area and I notice melting in my brake lights but it is definitely different on the two sides. The side with the greater afternoon direct sun is much worse off than its counterpart.

 

i went through one of the hottest summers for this area and i see nothing yet... but it could be something that builds up no matter what and warmer places just accelerates the inevitable

 

compare efusco's photo with htmlspinner's. notice that htmlspinner's photo shows the upper horizontal segment on the right edge is deformed and angling downward, while efusco's goes straight across.

Nate

 

Has there been any updates/followups on this issue? I had my car in for the brake light switch recall, and I too have the warping in the black segments (I'll try to post a picture soon). At first I thought this is what the recall was for, but obviously not. Anyone get word from their dealer?

-m.

 

Mine's warping too, but I'm not going to bring it up to the dealer just yet.

First, there's enough to do on on my next visit that I don't want to risk confusing them (Two SSCs and one fix to a TSB they did wrong the first time).

Second, until Toyota changes the design somehow, it will just keep happening. The less times the car gets torn apart the happier I am, and if I put another set of light assemblys in now, I suspect I'd just be back in 6 months.

 

Good idea, Tempus.

I just picked mine up this morning - dropped it off last night to verify the display problem, and the part is ordered. Of course, when I picked it up this morning the rep proceeded to tell me he'd call me when my nav disc is in - something I had done a few months ago! I chalked it up to him being busy and not remembering me, but it's still difficult to turn over the Prius to anyone who isn't me

-m.

 

Park facing south. This worked for me in Dallas last summer.