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.
Intermittent operation of hid headlight (one side) on 2008 Toyota Prius. Sometimes both hid headlights work as intended; sometimes one (in this case the left) headlight ceases to work.
I have about 57,000 miles on my 2008 Toyota Prius. When driving at night the headlights will go out. Not both but either the left or right headlight. The left more than the passenger side. If I turn the lights off and back on the lights re light. As my running lights are on, oncoming traffic can still see me coming, but my vision is greatly reduced.
After owning our 2008 Toyota Prius hybrid for 2 years, we have had to replace both headlamps already. They both failed prematurely. Fortunately for us our dealership replaced the headlamps with no charge as we are well under the 36,000 mile warranty. My question is what is going to happen when that warranty expires, and it will soon. Will Toyota or our dealership keep replacing these headlights bulbs. I think not! they will more than likely make me pay for them! with the 35 complaints that are listed here about the same issue, one would expect/demand that Toyota would voluntarily cover the costs involved with replacing these headlight bulbs, that keep going out prematurely. Surely this is a safety hazard as we need 2 working headlights to avoid being ticketed by the police. My wife and I are extremely disappointed with Toyota that these headlight bulbs keep failing prematurely! why is there not a recall issue about these headlight bulbs. Surely they should last a lot longer than 2 years. I have owned vehicles that never had the headlight bulbs replaced. One in particular was a 1987 camaro with 187,000 miles on it. Neither headlight bulbs were ever replaced on that vehicle in the 12 years we owned it.
Hid headlights go out when driving. Sometimes can be turned on again by turn off headlight and turning the switch back on. The headlights go out one at a time.
2008 Toyota Prius (touring model) -- driver side hid headlight began to fail in Sept 2009. Became more frequent as time elapsed (would occur 3+ times during 30 minute trip). Turning lights off and back on temporarily resolved issue, but driver bulb would eventually fail again. Resulted in reduced visibility and potential blind spot for driver in front of vehicle. Researched online - suspected ECU. Contacted Toyota corporate around December 2009. Was advised that ECU was not the problem - bulb repair suggested. Dealer diagnostic suggested. Did not go to deal to spend $100 to tell me a light bulb should be replaced. Received notice Jan 2010 that symptoms matching mine was due to headlight reaching end of life. Ordered and attempted to replace bulbs in Jan 2010. Did not bring to Toyota as cost to replace bulbs was at least 6X more that "do it yourself". attempt to replace bulbs resulted in mixed success. Was able to get both hid headlights replaced and functioning (after passenger side or driver side would not remain on consistently). Tested high beams - after high beams were disengaged both headlights went out, but headlight switch remained engaged. Disconnected and reconnected wiring. Only passenger side bulb functioned. Afraid to use high beams and no faith in headlights. Reluctant to spend hundreds of dollars to have dealer change bulbs, same problem occur, and spend hundreds or 1,000+ dollars. Original bulbs retained and I will be putting them back in once weather is warmer. Strong belief that bulbs are not to blame and ECU or other electrical component is at fault. Dozens of similar issues reported online.
2008 Toyota Prius. Brakes seems to "lose hold" when driving at slow speeds and hitting a bump in the road. The loss of braking seems to only last for a fraction of a second but is very disconcerting. Also, driver's side headlamp kept malfunctioning, going off periodically when driving. Dealer could not replicate problem in shop, so stated there was no problem. Took car back three additional times for same issue. Finally dealer said there'd been numerous complaints and changed out the headlamp at a cost of $250. ($150 for the headlamp and $100 for labor) later got a letter from Toyota acknowledging the faulty headlamp issue, but said Toyota had given us a discount by only charging $150 for the headlamp instead of the regular $300 cost. $300 for a headlamp seems excessive and if it's a common issue why is Toyota not issuing a recall for this matter.
The headlights on my 2008 Prius will intermittenlty fail, sometimes both at the same time while driving. The intermittent failure is daily, and will happen several times depending upon the duration of the drive.
I own at 2008 Toyota Prius. Recently, I was driving at night on a dark stretch of rt. 15 in pa and my headlight turned off. I thought I must have somehow hit something to cause it to turn of, I quickly turned the knob and it went on again. It has since happened a few times and may in fact have happened more frequently but I only notice it if I'm on a unlite or not well traveled road. I see from Prius owners' message boards that it is an ongoing problem that Toyota is well aware of. I see from a nyt article that it has been reported to your Agency but you haven't taken action. I believe you should, because losing a headlight is a danger to the driver and to oncoming traffic. It seems doubly unfair that a driver can be cited for a violation that is beyond his/her control. I contacted the dealer who said it would be $385 to replace the light bulb have not gone in for the repair, it's expensive and from what I've read, the problem may be electrical rather than a burned out bulb. These high-intensity discharge (hid) headlights are not an option on the car, it's the only bulb that fits the Prius, but if the problem is electrical then changing the bulb for $385 will not stop the headlight unit from shutting off again without warning, sometimes in dangerous situations. Please take Toyota to task for this, they know the problem exists but they are passing the buck to the owners without guaranteeing that the problem will be solved and we'll be safe driving at night. Toyota has known about the faulty brakes, the sticking gas pedal and headlights suddenly turn off, what else are they hiding from consumers? it's time for NHTSA to step and force Toyota to fix our headlights before tragic accidents happen.
To whom it may concern, I am writing to file a complaint about the short lifespan of the hid headlights of my 2008 Toyota Prius. After less than a little over two years both headlights require replacement as they have been shutting off while driving on the interstate/surface streets resulting in being pulled over by the highway patrol and local police departments. The failure of the hid headlights represents a serious safety issue for both myself/passengers in my vehicle and surrounding cars driving next to me on the road. For such an expensive vehicle (over 28K sticker) - the headlights should have a longer lifespan than a little over two years. I have brought my vehicle back to the dealership and have been informed that each headlight costs near $200/each and would require an hour and a half labor to replace them as the front bumper needs to be removed to replace the headlights bringing the total replacement cost to near $600. For a company that touts having such high quality and being so eco-friendly - you would think that they would use parts that lasted much longer and were not so expensive to replace? it is nonsensical that Toyota has designed a car with headlights that require professional installation and cost near $600 to replace. The short lifespan and expense of the hid headlight replacement should be enough to warrant an investigation. Any assistance that you can provide is greatly appreciated. Thank you.
My 2008 Toyota Prius, touring edition with hid headlights: The passenger-side headlamp goes out intermittently after initial ignition at start. Turning off the headlamps momentarily will restore illumination, but it will again malfunction after 20 minutes or so. Other exterior lamps will also shut off momentarily without indication or reason. Toyota refuses to admit their defect, which could prove very dangerous.
I purchased a new 2008 Toyota Prius in Oct. 2007 with hid headlights. It is currently 28 months old and has 51K miles. The hid passenger headlight just prematurely burned out and I must have it repaired in order to safely (and legally) drive at night. This is a known Toyota defect that needs action to correct.
I purchased a new 2008 Toyota Prius in June 2008 and had several major issues with the auto. Currently, I have a problem with my headlights. They flicker and now the driver side headlight does not stay lit. Initially, Toyota said that I would have to pay for the repair because although I have only had the car for approx 19 months, I have exceeded the 36000 mile warranty. They wanted almost $300 to change a light bulb! I complained and was told to call their 800 number by a repair tech at the dealership. I did. Meanwhile, the dealer offered to do the job for 1/2 price. I said that I would like to think about it and was then contacted by Toyota of N.a. concerning my call made to them. They knew about the dealer offer and asked if I was happy with that offer. I told them that I believed the repair S/B done for free. They then told me that the 1/2 price offer 'could' be retracted if I wasn't happy with it. Toyota wasn't going to waste "good will" money on a customer that still wasn't happy with their offer. I indicated at that time that I wanted to think about it but when I called the dealer the next day, I was told that the offer had been retracted due to a call from Toyota N.a.. I never indicated to them that I wasn't going to take the offer but I do believe Toyota has a serious defect with the electrical system on 2006 ' 2009 Prius cars. I have researched the issue and found numerous owners with the same defect! I also have direct knowledge of a Prius car with defective headlights that have failed twice in the 1st two years of ownership with as little as 45,000 miles on the car! that Prius is on it third set of headlights!
I own a 2008 Toyota Prius. Given the already many complaints, I would like to add my comments on this Prius. First this car is very unsafe due to poor visibility. You can not see out of this car. Second, I had the headlight failures that these cars have. I have had both headlights replaced in this car. The headlights would go out while driving in the dark. Many times I had to turn the switch off and back on while driving in the dark to get the headlights to come back on. This is not safe and many, many Prius's have this problem. The dealer replaced the headlights but not without a struggle on my part. Last point I would like to make is that this 2008 Prius has the same exact issues with brakes and stopping that the 2010 does according the accounts I have read. For example, I went over a railroad track recently which when it hits an uneven surface it is very hard to stop! I almost hit a car that was turning just past these tracks because it feels like the car does not have a good "grip" to the road. It happens also with even a small cluster of small pot holes. This car is not safe in my opinion. I do not understand how the headlights alone did not make a recall. It is an ongoing unsafe situation. The car not stopping however is something that needs to be recalled and not just limited to the 2010 Prius.
Headlights on Toyota Prius 2008 started dimming and going out intermittently at 50,000 miles. Lights will go back on when turned off and then back on again. I have been stopped 3 times by the police for a headlight out and been let go with a warning. In addition, the ABS system activates for no reason on dry roads and brakes are slow to engage.
The hid lamps in my 2008 Toyota Prius began flickering about 4 months ago. After being pulled over by an officer for an out headlight, I noticed the headlight would shut off at random times. The problem has only increased in frequency. One of the headlights now goes out about every 20 minutes; a couple of times they both have shut off at the same time. I keep my lights off during the day, but this has not helped the problem. I was lucky to not get a ticket from the officer, and even luckier to not wreck on the pitch black road when they both shut off at the same time.
2008 Toyota Prius with hid headlamps that flicker and impossible to replace. The cost to replace is prohibitively expensive. The owners manual incorrectly depict headlamp replacement. Generally this is a major repair and not a maintenance issue.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Hillsboro, OR, USA