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.
There were no distinguishing events that led up to the total failure of my 2008 Toyota Prius driver side headlight and door lock assembly (front). They both no longer worked within a 1 day period and required replacement. Noticing 2 or more other vehicles of the same make and model there for light replacement caused me to inquire what caused their light malfunctions. In the matter of minutes of my calling in, roughly an hour into the dealerships opening, I was told the lights were available, by the time arrived, within 5 minutes, enough autos had arrived also with the "hid" headlamps out that the dealerships entire stock of lights had been used up, and required my having to return after another shipment of lights were received, as well. I did not request the old part.
The complaint is for the hid headlight system on a 2008 Toyota Prius. The driver's side headlight initially failed randomly and eventually failed completely. The problem would occur randomly while driving where the headlight would fail. The only way the light would turn back on would be to cycle the power to the headlights. More recently, this problem is now occurring with the passenger side headlight. The car now has 88K miles and continues to be a problem. To correct the failure, I brought the car in to a Toyota dealer for repair. I was told that the driver's side headlight bulb was bad. I have not addressed the passenger side headlight at this time.
- Napa, CA, USA
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
Both front headlights go out without warning. The high beams work but one or both of the regular hit lights go out intermittently. The issue has been happening sine approx. 30,000 miles (the car is currently at 61000 miles).
Toyota Prius 2008 touring model with hid headlights. Currently have about 80,000 miles on car issue started after around 30,000 miles. The drivers side head light sporadically shuts off. I am able to turn lights off then back on and it will work again however this happens in a 30 min drive as often as about 15 times and seems to get more frequent the longer the drive. I ride with myself my husband and 3 kids and do not feel safe driving at night in my car. I do not feel this is the light itself because I am able to turn them off and back on again. If it was the light it would not turn back on.
2008 Toyota Prius with approx. 60,000 miles on it. Right (passenger) hid headlamp turns off intermittently while driving. Replacing with a new bulb does not solve the issue and Toyota will not look at the car even though I have a record of this issue happening before the warranty was up. Now the driver's side hid headlamp is turning on and off as well. This is extremely dangerous to drive at night or even during the day while it is raining, etc... was driving home in the rain last night and both headlamps turned off. Extremely unsafe and irresponsible for Toyota to not take any responsibility.
Hid headlamps began to randomly turn off on their own at around 34K miles. Driver's side or passenger side; one or the other. Paid for and replaced both hid lamps, but not controller computer. At 42K miles, problem returns. One time while driving at night, both headlights blinked off without warning. Turning headlight controls off, then on again resolves the problem until problem recurs. Lights may stay on for duration of trip, or turn off again after just a few minutes.
I was driving to work in the dark. As I was turning left onto the fry. Ramp my lights went out! I couldn't turn around so I tried to guess where I was by the taillights on the fry. Then they came back on. This continued, on-off for ten miles. Toyota said they would fix it that day. Chg. $556.59. Car has 27,554 miles.
Left front hid headlamp flickered and then went out. I turned the headlights off and then on quickly, restoring the headlight. It repeated itself repeatedly for several weeks until I was able to get the headlight replaced at the outrageous cost of $469.80. That price included replacing both headlights, as I did not want to take the chance of having the other one fail in the same manner. It is clear from research I have done, that Toyota is gouging the public on the replacement of these headlights and also refuses to acknowledge that they have put a defective product on the road. This is clearly a safety recall item.
At 39,000 miles my 2008 Toyota Prius headlights failed. Just driving down the road at night and they just go out. After a few minutes they came back on enough to drive home. I took it to dealer the next day and they said the bulbs needed replaced for 400 dollars. I asked them why and they said was normal wear and tear. These lights were supposed to last much longer than normal lights but it doesn't seem that way. They never worked right as far as being able to see any distance at all and now all of a sudden they go out. Makes one afraid to drive after dark not knowing now when this will happen again for another 400 dollars.
Intermittent hid headlights on my 2008 Prius. The headlights suddenly go off, then after turning them off and back on, they are good for a while once again. This is happening to both the left and right sides. I understand the bulbs are $150 each plus labor to replace. I only have 40,000 miles on my Prius. This is extremely dangerous.
Both head lights come on for a second or 2 then turn off. Turning them on and off repeatedly sometimes they will stay on for up to 1 minute then turn off. Toyota dealership that sold us car claims they never heard of this problem. Reported problem 12/2/2010.
At approximately 37,000 miles my drivers side headlight, which is an hid bulb, started to flicker and turn off. Most the time it would happen within the first few minutes of starting the car. If the lights were turned off and back on it would work again. Approximately 1,000 miles later I noticed a new symptom where both headlights would turn off simultaneously, this would happen rarely. I brought the vehicle to the dealer and was told that the issue was my bulbs(which when I was sold the vehicle was told would last 100K miles) and that I would need to replace them. I explained that if both bulbs are turning off at the same time how can it possibly be the bulbs especially if it has happened more than once. They insisted that it was the bulbs. I refused to replace them until further researching and since then I've found many similar cases. Many owners have complained of very early bulb failure and issues with ballasts that require replacing. Today I have 42K miles on the vehicle and at the drivers side bulb fails every time I drive the car, and both bulbs fail about once a week. For bulbs that are being described to last the life of the car, 40,000 miles seems rather short lived.
Headlight goes on, then goes off. Won't stay on. I was informed the other one could go out at any time, so I should replace both, at great expense. I was told by Toyota that the hid headlights were covered under the regular warranty, but not the extended warranty. Bulbs (especailly those costing $300) should not burn out or randomly flicker on a two year old vehicle. To prevent future/additional problems, I had to replace both headlights, including the one that was working. This is a definitlely safety issue...I check bulbs regularly, and all are working when I turn the car on. Obviously, I can't check while I'm in motion - which is when they flash off - and was fortunate that both bulbs didn't burn out at the same time, which could have resulted in a crash, injury or accident (or worse) that I would have been liable for.
Hid headlight system failure. Driver side intermittent failure for about a week. On 11/15/2010 passenger side also failed at 7:15 pm leaving us with no operating headlights on a winding country road. Had to return back to house with no headlights, luckilly only 5 minutes into our trip.
2008 Toyota Prius with 33,000 miles experiences intermittent headlight failure. Both left and right side headlights go out at random while driving in any conditions - hot or cold, wet or dry, etc. Turning lights off then on sometimes resolves problem for a short period of time.
Toyota Prius headlight defect. The light intermittently shut off. At times it would begin working by turning the lights off and on again, other times it would come on without doing anything and at times it wouldn't come back on at all.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Los Angeles, CA, USA