2004 Toyota Prius: headlights failing or too dim

Filed Nov 6, 2020 · Lights · 100,000 miles · OR

My left headlight goes off but if I turn the headlights back off and back on it comes back on. The headlight is not burned out. This happens while on the freeway in the dark while raining. This happens intermittently and not all the time.

Filed Apr 13, 2020 · Electrical · 250,000 miles · OH

Headlights occasionally go out at random while driving. Began with driver side, very intermittent, became more frequent, now also includes passenger side. Both have gone out at the same time while driving at night twice. Turning all lights off briefly and back on will re-illuminate the headlights. Problem first occurred several months ago and has gotten progressively more frequent. Now, once light(s) goes out during a drive, it will continue to do so repeatedly every few minutes. Very dangerous.

Filed Feb 17, 2020 · Lights · CA

Headlight go out daily and happens while driving at night from work, they turn back on switch on and off

Filed Sep 28, 2018 · Electrical, Lights · 150 miles · FL

My car head lights are turning off, at first it was one not turning on and then it was the other one, now they take turns. It is a safety issue which almost had make me crash more than 2 times. To the point that I am unable to use the car during the night. This happens if the car is parked or running.

Filed Aug 16, 2018 · Electrical, Lights · 138,000 miles · NY

3 days after buying my 04 prius both of my low beams and one of my high beams went out. A few months after replacing them my driver side low beam went out, the high beam was fine. 2-3 months after re replacing the driver's side low beam the passenger side low beam went out. I have had to replace my headlights about 5 times each (10 times total driver+passenger side) I had my ground wires checked, I constantly check my fuses, mechanics say nothing is wrong with my lighting, but here I am with this reoccurring issue. I have been using the same kind of bulbs because I can't imagine spending more money on a bulb to have it blow out in a couple of months (xtravision 9003 12.8v,55/60w halogen). Apparently my reverse lights aren't working either, and one of my license plates lights is out (I think the plate light is probably not connected to the other lights going out) zi do think the reverse lights are a related problem though. My lights go out both in motion and stationary (I couldn't tell you if it happens on turns or not, but it can happen on highways), sometimes I can get them to come back on by giving a little smack, but usually a few days after that they officially burn out. I've researched this problem on prius forums and apparently I am not the only prius owner experiencing this with the same frequency, there are no recalls for this issue, yet so many of us are experiencing this, which is quite detrimental to ours and others safety. Sometimes I can't tell my lights have gone out til I get pulled over or am able to see my headlight reflection on another vehicle, even worse is when I'm wondering why I can't see anything when it's so dark out just to found out one of my headlights blew again. I still own this vehicle and still trying to figure out why this is a continuous problem.

Filed Mar 31, 2018 · Lights · 260,000 miles · IA

Our 2004 prius has intermittent problems with headlights and tail lights failing. One of both headlights will all of a sudden go out. Turning them off and on usually causes them to come back on. My son was driving on a curvy, dark forested road when both lights went out. Could not see a thing. This is an extremely dangerous situation. We have also replaced tail light bulbs. They work, then fail again quickly.

Filed Jan 17, 2018 · Lights · 153,040 miles · CA

The passenger side headlight goes out while operating the vehicle. It begins to operate again after turning headlights off and on again. This happens multiple times during vehicle operation in a single drive. For example, three times today within 15 minutes. The headlight was replaced within the last 6 months, but we now believe it is a systemic issue, unrelated to the bulb assembly, because it has occurred with two bulbs in a row. This occurred both when the vehicle is in motion and when stationary (idling).

Filed Nov 8, 2017 · Lights · 166,000 miles · WI

When driving on the interstate in the dark, both my headlights went out. Luckily they came back on after I turned the switch off and back on.

Filed Oct 28, 2017 · Lights · 125,000 miles · SC

Over the past few months my headlights would randomly turn off while I'm driving. Sometimes it's one head light, other times it's both. Usually they turn back on if I turn them off then back on. The other day they turned off for about 20 seconds while I was driving 70mph down the interstate at 10pm. I saw my life flash before my eyes. They would not turn back on for 20 seconds approximately. Upon further research on a priuschat forum, I saw that lots of other people have had this issue. There was even a class action lawsuit against toyota because they knew about the issue but did not recall. I'm a single parent and I depend on my car and my son needs his mom. Toyota needs to fix there error and recall the head lights.

Filed Aug 17, 2017 · Lights · 122,500 miles · IL

Hello team, one of the headlights keeps going out. I can't really tell when or how it goes out since I can't see it. I'll notice it when I see the reflection in the back of another car. If I turn the bright lights on and off it has no effect, but when I turn them all the way off and back on the light comes back. Sometimes on long trips it will stay on the whole time, sometimes it won't. Sometimes on short trips it will go out, sometimes it won't. It is not an event I can make happen.

Filed Jul 24, 2017 · Electrical · 290,000 miles · TX

2004 toyota prius with hid option. One or both hid headlights go out while parked or driving. Turning the light control on and off will temporarily solve the issue. The issue is random in nature. For instance, I noticed one headlight went out this morning and before I could turn the switch to reset the other headlight went out, leaving me in the dark on the road. The vehicle may be park or in motion. There appears to be no direct relation to environmental factors. Extremely dangerous when driving on rural roads with no street lights. It appears to me to be a ballast issue. This repair requires working with high voltage components and goes beyond the scope of a diy project. This has been an ongoing issue for me, but only recently have both headlights started to fail at the same time. Thank you.

Filed Apr 17, 2017 · Lights · VA

Headlights would randomly go out completely and would very quickly have to turn them off and then back on to get them to work. This did not happen very often but they did occur unexpectedly and caused extremely unsafe conditions while driving.