This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
2006 Toyota Prius, hid headlight failure. Blinking and then complete failure of light after only 40K miles. Dealership charges $320+ for just the bulb. Online chat forums show that this failure is very frequent and costly to consumers and the dealerships control the access to the bulbs.
The headlights on my 2006 Prius go out frequently, but intermittently. I have had the dealer check them at the last two maintenance checks, but they said they could see no problem. Today, I was driving early in the morning in the dark and both lights went out. I shut them off and turned them back on and both came back on.
Intermittent headlight failure. The headlights will intermittently turn off. By turning the lights on and off, the lights can be turned back on. The problem is difficult to duplicate and prove to Toyota service technicians.
Hid headlights on 2006 Prius keep failing. First failure at about 14K miles; two failures between 20K and 30K miles. Total of five hid failures: 2 for passenger side light; 3 for driver's side light. Failures are intermittent, often while driving. Hitting hid lamp lightly often restores light. Initially bulbs were replaces (twice). Subsequently, the entire unit (including computer board) were replaced. Bulbs should last life of car-- neither original hid light lasted the first year.
- Pacoima, CA, USA
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The car headlights go in and out all the time. We've already replaced both the left and right side twice. When a light goes out, you can turn it off then on again and it will work for a few minutes (and sometimes hours). I have researched this and it is a major complaint of the 2006 Toyota Prius. Why hasn't this been recalled yet! this is very dangerous, as you don't know when your headlights will work or not.
One or sometimes both hid headlamps go out without warning, and can be re-lit by turning off and turning on the headlight switch. This affects both low and high beams. I've nearly run off the road when the lights went out abruptly on a narrow mountain road. I have had to turn on my fog/driving lights routinely as a backup.
Toyota Prius 2006 headlight malfunction the headlights on my Prius will go out randomly every 5 to 10 minutes. Usually it is just one or the other but occasionally it will be both headlights at the same time. To resolve this you have to turn the lights off and then back on again. Toyota is aware of this rampant problem. The solution from Toyota was to replace the entire headlight assembly at $1216. This problem showed itself soon after the warranty expired. People are not going to pay that kind of money to repair this design flaw. This is not just a burned out bulb. Instead people will continue to allow these lights to cycle off and will apply the manual off/on. This creates an extremely dangerous situation - especially when both headlights go out at the same time at night. Toyota should be required to recall and repair this design flaw.
My front headlight does not always work reliably. It will stop working sometimes when I am driving, but may return to normal operation when I power off the car. When I tried to get this repaired, the technician could not find anything wrong. After researching on the discussion boards, I have learned that there are many other Prius drivers that have this same problem. The car is only 2 years old. I believe that there is a design issue with the headlight drive electronics.
After 3-5 minutes of running the headlights, the driver's side just turns off. I can turn the car & headlights off & when I turn them back on again, it works just fine. The dealer cannot replicate the problem. Although they have seen the same complaint from another owner. They recommend replacing the hid headlights for $385 plus labor. After searching the internet, it appears this is a known problem with the pruis and Toyota should cover it. I have 47K mile and an Toyota expended warranty but they say it is not covered. This begin occurring for over 2 months. The light does not fail every day.
Head lights & tail lights turn off intermittently in 2006 Prius. Procedure: Start car turn on headlights wait one or both lights go off turn off lights turn on lights lights are back on. Repeat above...
Prius headlights started going off sporadically. Sometimes right sometimes left sometimes both. Hard to tell when it will happen. Sometimes turning light switch off and on solves the problem. First noticed this last weekend (today is Sept 24th 08). Do not know yet how to reproduce intentionally, but it has happened at least three times this week.
My 2006 Prius headlights have started flicking off while I'm driving, one or the other, or both at the same time. They will come back on if the lights are turned off, then back on, although they may go back out again in 1-2 seconds, or later. This problem has been reported by other people on the internet (see wiki.answers.com). It's dangerous because the lights go off while driving. The dealerships have not been able to identify the problem.
The right head light works intermittently. I have a certified used vehicle with an extended warranty. The dealership nor the automaker will do anything unless they can replicate the issue. My extended warranty does not cover the headlights, which cost around $400 to replace. The dealership and Toyota's only solution is to drive in with the headlight not working. That seems like such a terrible solution.
2006 Toyota Prius headlights stop working while driving. Stop car and turn off and back on and lights work again. Many times only one light is working until I recycle the switch. The lights hids and the car is out of warranty.
The headlight intermittently turns off. Usually, turning the lights off and back on will fix the problem. Toyota is telling me to replace the bulb, but that doesn't make sense when the light still works fine after turning them off and back on.
Headlights go out while driving at night. I bought the car tonight, drove off the lot, thought the headlights seem horrible but didn't think much of it. I went down the road and noticed I saw more from the cars around me. I had the driving lights on, but they only show a very short distance in front of the car. I turned onto the main road (4 lane, divided highway) and hit the high beams - the lights went completely out at approximately 60 mph on a road I was unfamiliar with. This is extremely dangerous, I had to stop in the middle of the highway and turn on the flashers to try to see to get off the road. This is a Toyota "certified" and Virginia state inspected a few week ago "supposedly" car that was driven from the showroom floor to the highway before the lights went out. I don't believe this could have been tested for either the va inspection nor the Toyota certified inspection and now wonder if anything on the Toyota certified inspection was really done. The marker light (proper name? yellow lights) on the drivers side also does not work which would fail both these inspections if properly done.
2006 Toyota Prius with high intensity discharge (hid) headlights intended to last life of vehicle. Passenger side headlight began intermittently failing after 25000 miles... initial indication was light was noticeably dimmer than the driver side headlight. After a few weeks light would go out after a period of time driving, cycling power to headlights causes light to come back on, although period of operation is becoming shorter and shorter. Took the car to dealer who spent approximately one hour trouble shooting before asking for come to return for longer troubleshooting period.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Ocean Springs, MS, USA