Prius Headlight Class Action Update: Settlement Reached

Hi. Not sure i understand, do you mean that your mechanic repaired the drivers side light and said the passenger light was failing too, before 100,000 miles? or were both lights repaired before 100K? And do i understand right that you have your service invoice documenting that this problem happened and was repaired, or repair was recommended, before 100,000 miles?

NO, he repaired the drivers side after 100K (though I noted the problem before 100K), and then during testing, saw that the passengers side light failed after about 20 minutes. The invoice shows that the driver side repair being done around 100,400 miles. Had I gotten the repair done before 100K, my extended warranty should have / may have covered it without question.


If so, if this was me, i think the first thing i would do is call the class action attorney and see if this situation has come up before and if there is any way of getting Toyota to take care of it, in the spirit of the settlement--under the extended warranty. Then, i would call Toyota customer service, not the local dealer but the main Toyota number, be friendly, humble, and simply ask how you can get reimbursed since the problem was identified during the warranty period. Don't ask if they will cover it. Assume that they will and ask how that is done.
Even if they say they don't cover that, and i don't know that they will refuse to cover it, i would ask for an email address and i would send them an email detailing what happened, concisely, and attach a copy of the mechanic's invoice, and maybe a copy of your warranty.

Sounds like a good plan.

If the mechanic didn't' document recommended repair to the passenger light, i would ask him to write down a statement saying he neglected to document it on the invoice but recalls that the passenger side light showed failure at the time the drivers side light was repaired, and attach a copy of that too, or, ask for their fax number, get the name of a person to fax it to, make a follow up call to insure that it was received, and ask for help in getting it taken care of, leave your number and get the number of a contact person you can follow up with, and follow up if no one gets back to you within 5 days.

The invoice for the repair to the driver side light does not indicate recommended repair to the passenger light, I'd have no problem getting a statement to that effect.

My impression when i called them to get them to take care of the bill for my drivers side headlight, when the car had maybe around 40 or 50K miles, was that they were handling it on a case by case basis, and the person i talked to had to take the matter to someone higher up to get a decision. This was before the class action suit was initiated, i am pretty sure. A fairly long time after that, a year or two at least, i had moved and was going to a different dealer, a well run well managed customer friendly service department, and when the passenger light was going out, i asked the advisor about covering it under my platinum warranty, he talked to the service manager, sent me in to talk to him, and he told me they were going to cover it as a one time thing. I don't remember if it was a warranty repair, in my vague memory, it seemed like he was saying the dealership was going to cover it.

Thanks for the good information.

 

I have a 2005 Prius with HID headlights. And I had the same problem: Headlight outage, sometimes right, sometimes left, sometimes both (particularly interesting at night). The problem is corrosion of the 12 V connector (black) at the bottom of the headlight assembly. Unplug it and clean the pins, e.g. by grabbing the pins softly with small pliers and letting them slide out again. And/or bend the pins just a little bit. That did the trick. Replacing the relays, the bulbs and the high voltage electronics did nothing, other than setting me back $500.00.