2006 toyota prius with hd headlights. Either headlight will go out on what seems to be a random basis. Does not seem to be related to the amount of time the headlight was on - could be a few minutes before it goes out or a few hours. When car is turned off and then restarted the headlight will come on again for an indeterminate amount of time. It is not predictable. This is an obvious safety problem and an internet search shows that it is not uncommon in this make and model. Others with the problem have had various repairs - all very expensive - with uneven results. The dealers do not seem to have a definite fix - just to change parts to see if that helps. Although I will indicate an approximate incident date below, it is not really accurate since this has happened with my car at multiple random times within the past four weeks.
2006 Toyota Prius lights complaints
Page 31 of 33: complaints 881 to 910 of 941, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The headlights on my car go out intermittently without warning. Sometimes it is only one. Sometimes it is both.
Both headlights on my 2006 prius go out intermittently (not necessarily simultaneously). Began noticing this about 5-6 months ago. Shutting lights all the way off and then on again usually brings the light(s) back on, but not always and they don't always stay on. This occurs almost every time I drive the vehicle. I mentioned it to my dealer at my last oil change and they advised they could find nothing wrong (bring it back in when it's happening) . . . It had just happened on the way over to the dealer, but shutting lights off and on brought it back on.
I own a 2006 toyota prius. My right headlight will randomly shut off. I am able to turn my lights off/on and the light will restart. There is no initiation factor such as bump or movement. There is a random time frame for this to occur. I can be sitting still prior to moving the car and the light will go out. This has first happened 4months ago and continues to happen. The problem seems to be occurring more frequently and could pose a serious safety issue. So far, only the right headlight has gone out, however, I am concern this may happen to both. I will be scheduling a service repair at my local dealership asap.
Headlight started to fail around 50,000 miles; right would turn off. Not to long after left would turn off but right remain on. Turning lights off, then back on would turn light back on. Was not happening enough for dealership to track. Around 60,000 mile happening more frequently. Both lights would also dim and sometimes turn completely off; turning light switch off, then back on made lights return on. Sometimes if lights turned off and you attempted to turn on brights, brights would not come on. Dealer suggested it was either a headlight that needed to be replaced or a 'headlight control' but needed to check it further. 70,000 lights turning off frequently; left and right, sometimes same time, sometimes individually. Headlight control replaced by dealer. Continues to do same thing; not resolved. Have not taken back to dealer yet.
Driving normally, my headlight intermittently goes out. Recycling the power on the lights corrects the issue but after continuing to drive the light will again go out. The light goes out approximately every 5 minutes. Without dependably functioning lights, driving vision is impaired at night and I have been issued a fix-it ticket. I took my car in for service at the dealership and was told that the light bulb will cost $300+. I will fix the problem myself with a replacement philips d4r hid bulb however, several reports of the same issue give me reason to believe that a recall is necessary.
I have a 2006 toyota prius, the hid headlight goes on and off intermittently. I got pulled over for my right headlight being out and by the time he got my warning written, it was working again. I turned my lights on and off several times.. This seemed to get them working again. I've pulled up on cars at red lights to see my light flickering at times. I only have 55k on my car, hid lamps are supposed to work 10 times longer than halogen...this should not be happening. I've read stories of some who simply replaced the bulb, to others who had to replace the whole assembly before the problem was fixed. This is discussed extensively at priuschat.com.
High intensity discharge headlights intermittently shut off. Switching off and back on temporarily resolves the issue.
Hid headlights fail after a variable amount of time. Failure varies from just one light (both passenger and driver side show symptom) to both lights failing at the same time. Current solution is to turn lights completely off and turn them back on. This solves the problem temporarily although the light(s) will eventually go out again. So far I have not crashed into anything once my headlight(s) fail but that is obviously a concern I now have when driving at night. Current repair recommendation is to replace both bulbs and ecus for ~$1000. The car is just over 2 years old and has 46,000 miles on it.
I own a 2006 toyota prius. The front headlight on the drivers side, which is an hid lamp, works only intermittently. There is no pattern as to when it works and doesn't, and often I do not know when the problem is occurring because I can't see the headlamp (unless I can see the reflection on the back of another car). Obviously, this is a safety concern. I took the car in for service at my dealer and they said that toyota knows about the problem but refuses to fix it as a defect in the headlamp.
At night, the hid headlights will go off. Sometimes its the left light, or the right light, or both lights will just go out. In order for me to see again, I have to turn my headlight switch off and then back on. This will turn the lights back on. Then they will go out again. This creates a very dangerous situation when both the lights go out at the same time.
Headlights that arbitrarily shut off. One at a time or both at same time. Recycling the headlight switch returns the lights to normal. Happens more often in the cold. Dealers repair shop quotes $850 to replace the headlight assemblies.
I have been experiencing intermittent problems with the hid headlights on my 2006 prius for over a year. Each time I took the car in the dealer was not able to duplicate the problem. Now that both headlights are inoperable, the dealer is telling that I need a new headlight assembly. I was told that the assembly and the bulb were sold as a unit. When I investigated this further on my own and went back to the dealer I was informed that the bulbs are sold independently and that they are $312 each, and 1.5 hours of labor to install. I have an extended service package (platinum) that does not cover light bulbs. I am appalled that headlights this expensive can have chronic issues after 1 and 1/2 years of use and toyota will not take ownership of the fact that there is a manufacturer problem here.
Obne or both high intensity headlights will shut off at random and then when the headlight switch is turned off and back on both are again working normally. Then began to occur slightly after the 36,000 mile warranty limit in my 2006 toyota priius but well inside the 36 month limit. Dealer has replaced both ecu units but now wants almost $800 to replace both hid headlights as they are non warranty items although he cannot say that they are in fact the issue. Have seen many instances of this identical issue on the same make/model of vehicle reported at the similar mileage level in various owner group discussions and internet listings.
2006 toyota prius with hid-style headlights. On multiple occasions, a headlight has gone out spontaneously. This has happened at least 10 times, and usually the driver's side headlight is affected. The headlight comes back on when the headlight switch is turned off then back on. I have also noticed occasional flickering of the intensity of a headlight. This problem creates a safety risk.
I was pulled over last night by our local police and received a citation for a headlight being out. The officer informed me that my passenger side headlight was out and when I tried my highbeams, they too were not working. The officer continued to inform me that I had 72 hours to fix the problem and the citation would be wiped clean. So the following morning I proceeded to fix the headlight when to my surprise the headlight was working just fine when I powered the car up. I wanted to find any recalls on this matter but it seems that all there are is complaints. I was shocked to find just how many people have had the same problem.
The headlights go out on occasion when driving at night. Sometimes it is 2 or 3 a night, sometimes not at all.
As I see from 43 other complaints involving 2006 toyota prius models, I'm not alone, and that doesn't count the owners who have not filed complaints about the hid (high intensity discharge) headlights that go dark for no apparent reason. In my case, it's usually the left lamp that goes out, which can always be restored by turning the headlight switch off and on again. The only problem is on city streets with ample ambient light, the driver doesn't always know the light has shut down. Separate from the nuisance factor here, how long before these lights stop working altogether, perhaps on some dark road at night, miles away from the nearest sign of humanity? On the prius chat blogs, one owner said his headlights were fixed when a dealer installed a new hid controller. My dealership wants me to put this repair in under my extended warranty, which will force me to lose about 1100 dollars in rebate money at the end of the warranty term. (no claims = all but 50 dollars of 1150 returned at end of covered period). Needless to say, I'm saving that for something bigger. More importantly, toyota needs to fix these headlights problems for all owners, especially those who've already been tricked into paying for them -- they are safety issues, not regular maintenance issues.
On our 2006 prius, the headlights will randomly turn off. You must cycle to headlight switch to off and then back again to on to get them to work again. It happens to both headlights.
Drivers side headlight burn out.
I have a 2006 prius and in the fall of 2007 the headlights started going out while I was driving. The problem was fixed by turning the headlight switch off and on. However, the problem persists. Sometimes the left will go out sometimes the right will go out and sometimes both at the same time which is extremely dangerous. After several trips to the toyota dealership maintenance dept. They could not determine the problem and suggested that I purchase new headlights at $300.00 each not including labor. They couldn't guarantee that the bulbs were the problem but thought it was worth a try. I didn't like the idea. The headlights were less than 2 years old and hid lights are supposed to have a long life. I have seen where other owners of the prius were having the same issue. When headlights go off while driving at night and the driver can't tell it is dangerous to everyone around. It is also a driving violation and will be a problem with annual inspections. Toyota should recall the headlight assembly unit and replace the faulty ones before someone gets seriously hurt.
2006 toyota prius, headlight failure after 45,000 miles with hid system. Light bulbs would intermittently fail (left bulb, right bulb, or both) randomly. Power off and on would return them, but period between turning off would vary. First time was at 10pm, could not figure out why the road was so dark on the freeway and then realized the headlights were out. Extended warranty did not want to pay full issue, toyota says the hid lights were extinguished--later they said there was an issue with the controllers, but still did not admit fault. Car was 1yr 3mos old, with only 45k miles. Major safety issue that toyota says is "normal" to occur. Extended warranty paid for hid controller replacement, toyota reimbursed as "goodwill" for $600 headlight bulbs. If the system is faulty, they should fix it before someone gets hurt! I have found many prius owners having the same issue, most of them 2006 models.
Driver and passenger side hid lights turn off intermittently. To date, perhaps 20 or more times each, almost always separately, but simultaneously once. Frequency of failure increasing with time. Turning lights off and on resolves the issue temporarily.
My passenger side headlight on my 2006 toyota prius fails after a few minutes of operation. It will be operative again when I turn the car back on, only to go out again. I have read in message boards on the internet that this is a common problem. I purchased an extended warranty, but it did not include the bulb, which also must be replaced. The bulb is over $300! The extended warranty covered approximately $650-- so the total cost is nearly $1,000!
Drivers side hid headlight flickers then goes out. If you turn off the headlights and turn them back on it re-ignites.
2006 toyota prius driver side hid headlight will intermittently go out. Manually turning both off and on will sometimes turn it on again, but sometimes not.
The drivers side (left) headlight will extinguish itself after being turned on and running for a varying amount of time. If, when this happens, I turn off the headlight switch and immediately turn it back on the light comes on as normal. The amount of time between these failures varies and does not seem to conform to a regular pattern however it has happened numerous times over the past month or so.
Periodically the right front xenon headlight goes out on my 2006 prius. This has happened several times over the past 3 months. Had a diagnostic done at the dealership, but could not isolate the problem.
My vehicle, 2006 toyota prius, the hid lights have been shutting off intermittently. It starts with the driver side light first, then after a few miles or minutes the passenger light shuts off also. Once I turn the light switch on and off, both the driver and passenger light resumes to normal. I reported the problem to the dealer for the first time (9/24/07), the dealer tried to replicate the problem but I was advised that they are not able to replicate the problem. I took my car again back to the dealer (2/25/08) since the hid headlights turning off while driving is now becoming unsafe for me and my family. I was advised by the dealer that both bulbs are needed to be changed but I have read enough of these cases online that replacing the bulbs does not resolve the problem, (http://priuschat.com/forums/care-maintenance-troubleshooting/34584-headlight-problem.html). I have also seen other prius on the road that have the same problem like ours, in fact, my wife's sister bought an 07 prius and it also showed the same problem. Pictures of the hid lights when intermittently off is available if needed.
Both left and right headlights on my 2006 prius intermittently failed, sometimes at the same time. Dealer replaced both. Now, less than one year after replacement, the left headlight assembly is doing the same thing. Incident date refers to the latest failure.
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