Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| VISIBILITY | |||
| 06/15/2011 | 80000 | ||
| Hid headlight bulbs go out and come back on sometimes both at the same time. i am told by many other prius owners that this happens a lot. | |||
| 05/17/2011 | 25000 | ||
| Green glare on windshield emanating from speedometer projector obscuring visibility at night. car taken to toyota dealer for inspection. outcome unknown. | |||
| 12/17/2009 | 43031 | ||
| On 12/03/09 we were ticketed for a left headlight out on our 2008 toyota prius. we didn't know it was out or going out. it looked on to us. two miles from home it looked as bright as ever. the next morning, as much as we tried, the garage could not find a bulb out, going out, weak, on or off, nothing was wrong! we had a funeral to go to and paid the fine. two weeks later, a letter was mailed from toyota listing issues regarding these hid lights stating that these suddenly go out, and on and off, among other things, near the end of their life. my car is a 2008. my husband and i cannot replace these expensive, exotic hid bulbs because access is in a very tight place and the bumper must be removed--seriously!!!! even if we could do it, these hid bulbs cannot be purchased in a normal automotive store. anyhow, again on 10/17/10 i was several hours out of town, driving home on the interstate, at night, on a weekend, and the other headlight went out!!! i could not put in a new bulb myself. i had no one to call with this exotic hid light and certainly no one that would take off a bumper on the interstate. sudden, complete light outage at night is a very serious safety issue. on top of this, hid headlamp problem, any light bulb needs to be relatively easy to replace. at $150. per bulb, very pricy light plus bumper removal labor expense at 1 hour ($288), the toyota dealership service clerk actually said you chose this option. help before someone gets killed on one of these dark roads (chances are this has occurred with no one alive to know this was the cause)!!! | |||
| 06/01/2010 | 32000 | ||
| Driver's side headlight on 2008 prius fails intermittenly | |||
| 01/01/1901 | 2 | ||
| 2008 toyota prius. consumer states problem with brakes disengage when braking. *tgw in addition, the brakes disengaged when the tires rolled over a tar strip or any other type of bumps. also, the heating system was not adequate during winter conditions, the automatic dimming rear view mirror did not work because it was blocked by the rear window frame. consequently, the consumer was blinded by the lights of other vehicles behind him. *jb | |||
| 05/18/2010 | 51052 | ||
| 2008 prius driver-side headlight goes out frequently but will come back on if you turn the lights on then off again. there is a problem with toyota hid lights as the vehicle is only 2 years old. | |||
| 06/01/2008 | 1 | ||
| Failure of car to brake when driving over rough road or pot holes and glare from speedometer across field of vision in windshield when driving at night. *tr | |||
| 01/02/2010 | 30000 | 1 | |
| 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. *tr | |||
| 07/01/2009 | 35000 | 1 | |
| We have 2008 prius that first began having left headlamp go out when driving, we would have to pull over safe place along road turn mess with turning headlights on and off... created unsafe driving remainder of trip, aprox 200 miles night drive to get home with one headlight... not good on montana roads with wildlife prevalent on roadway... dealer replaced under warranty... two weeks later same trouble with right headlight while driving home at night from spokane wa. to bigfork, mt again dangerous 5 hr drive at night on freeway with poor visibility... this time dealer said they needed to replace both the right headlight and a computer sub assy... help.. both instances caused unsafe driving conditions, night with only one headlight with lots of wildlife crossing the hwy... and it is important to know we can not simply pull into service station and replace the headlight, it is a dealer only item that we are told involves removing the front bumper to replace... *tr | |||
| VISIBILITY/WIPER | |||
| 08/01/2012 | 80000 | ||
| The right headlight on my 2008 prius went out while driving. i noticed the next morning that it was back on. i figured out that if i turn the light off then on again, it will come back on, for a while. i eventually had it replaced, to the tune of $120 parts and $40 labor. but after a couple of weeks it's doing it again. not only that, but now the left headlight is doing the same thing. i'm very concerned about driving at night because changing the bulbs doesn't fix the problem, so it seems like it's only a matter of time before they both go out at the same time! | |||
| 10/25/2012 | 56700 | 1 | |
| While driving at any speed, the hid headlights intermittently cut off. this usually happens one at a time, and mostly on the passengers side. i am unable to tell when they go off until either i get pulled over and warned which has happened once already or i pull up and see reflection off back of another car. the lights will work for short periods then off again then on again. this appears to be a known issue with this make/model and the manufacturer (toyota) is not taking responsibility and charging upwards of $600 for repair. in my opinion this is a big safety issue which i believe toyota should take responsibility for an obvious defect. i have also read this has occurred to many owners of this vehicle. after a further lengthy research my understanding is there is actually a class action lawsuit for this, of which i would rather see the nhtsa take action and have toyota make good on these defects, and recall to resolve this problem. thank you *tr | |||
| 10/25/2012 | 56700 | ||
| While driving at any speed, the hid headlights intermittently cut off. this usually happens one at a time, and mostly on the passengers side. i am unable to tell when they go off until either i get pulled over and warned which has happened once already or i pull up and see reflection off back of another car. the lights will work for short periods then off again then on again. this appears to be a known issue with this make/model and the manufacturer (toyota) is not taking responsibility and charging upwards of $600 for repair. in my opinion this is a big safety issue which i believe toyota should take responsibility for an obvious defect. i have also read this has occurred to many owners of this vehicle. after a further lengthy research my understanding is there is actually a class action lawsuit for this, of which i would rather see the nhtsa take action and have toyota make good on these defects, and recall to resolve this problem. thank you | |||
| 07/01/2011 | 75000 | 1 | |
| My headlights turned them self off on any given time either one on a time or both at the same time same thing happens if the highbeams are on day or night to correct this problem temporarily you have to turn the lights on and off quickly and you have no guarantee how long it will stay on i spoke to the toyota corporation and they will not help because my car has 90,000 miles my car is 2008 to fix this problem the dealership is charging $1200 i have extended warranty on the car but electrical is not covered. *tr | |||
| 07/01/2011 | 75000 | ||
| My headlights turned them self off on any given time either one on a time or both at the same time same thing happens if the highbeams are on day or night to correct this problem temporarily you have to turn the lights on and off quickly and you have no guarantee how long it will stay on i spoke to the toyota corporation and they will not help because my car has 90,000 miles my car is 2008 to fix this problem the dealership is charging $1200 i have extended warranty on the car but electrical is not covered | |||