Fog Light Switch problems of the 2007 Toyota Prius

On my way home from work, my drivers side headlight went completely out. The area I work in is extremely foggy and adequate head and fog lights are required. Driving without my headlights is extremely dangerous. Toyota needs to take responsibility and replace the faulty electronics in the headlights of the second generation Prius.

I was driving down the highway and both headlights suddenly went out. The fog lights remained on. When we went inside a store and came back out to continue driving, they came back on again. They then failed again, both headlights, in a separate instance, turning themselves completely off while I was driving on the interstate, in an area with no lights, leaving me in the dark. I was able to resolve the issue this time by turning the light switch off and then back on again, but I am concerned this will continue to happen. I have done some research, and it seems this is an ongoing issue with Prius' within the same year (and surrounding years) as mine, and something the company probably needs to deal with.

I have been told a few times over the last couple of months now that we had a headlight out in our Prius. I would later go back and investigate, flipping the lights back on to check. But the lights were on full blast, no problems. I dismissed this as people not seeing things correctly. Obviously the headlights were working, that it until we got on the interstate last night and both of the headlights went out while we were driving 70mph. We managed to get home by the dim light of our fog lights, but this is very dangerous! fog lights were not meant for nighttime driving. When we got home, we started playing with the headlights again, and like magic, they decided they were going to start working again. They turned on full blast, no flickering or anything. Looking up our issues today, apparently this is an issue with the hid headlights and is a common known problem for the Prius. People have paid hundreds or even thousands of dollars to have their headlights replaced only to have the same thing happen again. Seems like the guts of this car are flawed and need to be repaired. Presently I'm stuck. I'm not going to spend hundreds of dollars to replace headlights that really don't need replacing when people are saying it does not good. Toyota really need to address this. Can't have headlights going out when you're going 70 on the interstate. Someone is going to get killed from this.

It was last Friday evening,Sep 16,2011,when my car had around 51270 miles,I discovered that the hid bulbs in Prius is going off while driving,sometimes first on the passenger side and some times on driver, and after sometime it could go off on both sides. I am less than 5 years in my car. After doing research in the internet,I came to know about Toyota hid bulb head light problems,experienced by other Prius owners, and the class action law suit regarding this,and the fact that the Toyota has extended the warranty till 5 yr/50k miles. I mostly use the car during the day time to work(8 miles one way),and since all my friends/amenities/shopping are with in 5 mile radius,I dont get much chance to drive for a longer time during the night. All my night drives are rare and is mostly less than 10-15 mins. I also have fog lights in my car which gives some decent light,and when there are other cars in the road,or when the road is well lit,it is almost impossible to diagnose this problem,when the first headlight goes off. Even when the second headlight goes off,under good road conditions,it is very difficult. It appears as some light dimming going on from inside the car,when only one head light goes off. Further I did my 50k miles service less than a month ago. I called Toyota,opened a case(number:1109191158)and took the car to the dealer. The dealer diagnosed it and confirmed that it was due to hid bulbs,covered by the class action settlement. He also updated my case with Toyota. The Toyota agreed to cover the cost of the bulb but not the labor. I tried to escalate the situation with Toyota, but they were firm on their decision. They were more talking by the rule book, about the expiration of warranty, than trying to help me with my problem. Clearly they have defective part,and they were unwilling to cover the complete cost. It would only be fair,if they refund the $112 labor cost.

While driving home from salt lake city during the evening our second hid headlight went out on us just outside of pocatello. We had fog lights so used those to get home. Our other headlight had been out for a few months. I had contacted Toyota about the first headlight since this was the third time that our lights had failed. The first time they replaced the bulb because that is what Toyota said to do since the headlight assembly was a much more expensive part and they could not tell if it was a bulb issue or assembly issue. The second time they replaced the headlight assembly. The third time the said it was the bulb and they would not replace it for free. They wanted $160. 00 for the bulb plus 2 hours of labor. About a $400. 00 dollar repair. I reminded them of the last time this happened & said how do you know it's the bulb this time. They said the assembly is not the issue. I called Toyota direct and complained. I then received a follow-up call from Toyota getting all the information once again. They said they would be in touch with our local dealer. The local dealer followed up and said he was going to check with his "parts" guy to see if they would give use the $160. 00 bulb and only charge us for labor. To this date they have not followed up. After losing my lighting on the interstate I did a ton of online research and found how to change the bulbs myself without the removal of the entire front bumper, as Toyota states this is how it needs to be done which is ridiculous for a part that obviously must be easily replaced. The bulb replacement is still not an easy process. I ordered replacement bulbs online, 2 bulbs for $39. 00. My complaint is the lack of service and follow-up from Toyota and the difficulty of replacing these bulbs. Toyota should make these bulbs replaceable by the average consumer and the bulbs should be available in the auto parts store.

The lights on my 07 Prius keep turing off as I drive. I can't turn on and off the brights to get the lights to turn on I have to turn the lights off then on making it a real hazard at night especially on highways. There is no time or function that has to happen for them to go out. I could just be sitting at a light or going down the highway. Once one light goes out it doesn't take long for the other to follow. The fog and break and back lights all work fine. Its just the head lights. If the headlights are out then not even the brights will turn on or fix the problem. If im driving with just the brights, the same thing happens. One will go out followed later by the other. And I can't just take it out of the brights setting. I have to turn the lights completely off.

I began a 70 mile trip on the interstate at dusk in my 2007 Prius with the headlights on, or so I thought. It seemed they were not illuminating the road as well as usual. I turned my brights on to better see the curve on an interchange and the lights went completely off. I turned the brights off and the lights came back on, but I had drifted near a concrete barrier. I averted a crash, but was close enough to the barrier to see that I had foglamps on, but no headlights. Normally this arrangement is not possible. You can have headlights on without foglamps, but not foglamps without headlights. Turning the headlight switch off, then on did not help. When I stopped, leaving the car turned on. I was able to reproduce the bright switch turning off all the lights. The headlights would not turn on. I turned off the car, when I turned it back on, the headlights worked normally. In July, 2009, my daughter was driving this Prius and was stopped for having one headlight out. It worked when I took it to the Toyota dealer the next day. Then for several days, one headlight or the other was out intermittently but not reproduce-ably. Then the problem cleared up until this incident in March, 2010.

2007 Toyota Prius 50,000 miles when noticed the problem. 55,000 now. Probably has been going on longer than that. At first one or the other headlight would go off, usually within a few minutes of starting to drive. Noticed in the reflection on cars ahead that one light was off. Discovered that turning the headlights off and then back on usually fixes the problem at least until I get to work. Luckily it's well lit most of the way. Now I have had both lights go off at the same time. If it wasn't for the fog lights, I would have been in trouble. Got the notice from Toyota that they are reimbursing customers who have already replaced them for any cost over $150 per lamp. They were charging people $300 per lamp and some dealers were replacing the computer that controls them also. They will reimburse customers for that unnecessary expense too. I am trying to convince Toyota that since it was the bulbs that were the problem, they should reimburse customers for the total cost of replacing the lamps. My platinum protection does no good for lamps. My Toyota dealer says the cost to replace both lamps now is abbot $450 including labor.

2007 Toyota Prius with hid headlights. While driving to work, I experienced the following. Left headlight went out. I drove the rest of the way to work with right hid light working and fog lights. Called my mechanic, he never heard of this problem. On way home from work, I turned on headlights and they worked. I have not had the same problem since. Friend at home notified me of this web site.

The head lights, turn signals and fog lights turn-off randomly. *very dangerous! I've replaced the expensive hid bulbs, but the problem persists. I've taken the car for repair to the local, "thurston" Toyota dealer, but they will not repair it under warranty or recall.

Driver's side headlight goes out while driving. I have been pulled over by police and given 2 verbal warnings. When I notice the light is out I turn the lights off then on and the light will illuminate again. I am now noticing that the headlight will "turn off" anywhere from 15 minutes to 1 hour after turning on. My passenger headlight was replaced while still under warranty (6 months ago @ approx 33,000 miles). I now wonder if both headlight were going out without my knowledge? (I have fog lights and drive in the city). I am now at 42,000 miles. (I drive approx 2,000/ month). So within a 6 month period both lights have to be replaced. Unfortunately, I am now out of the standard warranty and I will have to pay $400+ out of pocket to repair.

Driver's side headlamp started going off sporadically on 2007 Prius. Turning off the lights and turning them back on fixed the problem, but they would periodically flicker and change brightness. Car was under warranty and I took it to the dealer. Dealer replaced the hid computer 2 times before the problem seemed to be fixed. Now I am past my warranty, and now both headlights go out while driving. I leave my fog lights on so that I am not suddenly in the dark. If I turn off my headlights and turn them back on, they come back on. It is very dangerous, and I have tried to have this fixed two times. It doesn't happen every time I drive the car, but it seems to happen more often than not.