I own a Toyota Prius 2004 and the headlights go on/off whenever they feel like it. When they go off if you turn the switch they go back on. Are there any other complaints on this issue?

- Merced, CA, USA

Headlights will go out intermittently. Either side will fail. If you turn the light switch to "off" and then back "on" the lights will come back on. No particular amount of on time or bumps in road cause the failure. Bulbs are hid type. Dealer wants over $630 to replace bulbs. Non dealer mechanic advised that it may be something other than the bulb, possibly the hid controller. Dealer is the only source and very expensive. This is a major safety issue, these are the headlights. This failure now happens every time the car is driven with the headlights on, varies from 5 minutes to an hour after the car is started. This has been going on for about 3 months. I have seen on line that other Prius owners are experiencing the exact same problem. No solutions have been presented.

- Sacramento, CA, USA

I have a 2004 Toyota Prius that has the driver's side headlight going off and on while driving. I understand it is a hid light and I also understand that many many Prius owners of different years are having problems with these bulbs. The bulbs and installation seem to run from $300 up. This is something Toyota should be fixing, recalling if necessary. Not only is this a danger to the Prius owners but to others on the road and many times the owner does not know that is it out. And replacing is at a very high expense to the owners and the problems seem to reoccur with the same owners. I need to replace mine but want to know what is being done about this before I spend the hundreds of dollars to replace it.

- Jenison, MI, USA

Contacted Toyota in February 2009 with the following complaint/description: Recently my driver side headlight had been blinking off intermittently while driving. I then would have to turn the lights off and back on to get the light to come back on. Last night (Feb. 15th, 2009), I was taking my daughter back to college and both headlights unexpectedly turned off while driving on a very dark stretch of highway. Needless to say, this was very unnerving. I tried to quickly turn off lights and then back on. They came back on on after a few tries, but then they did the same thing to me on my return back to home. This was a 6 hour round trip on a Sunday. I did not have any recourse but to try to make it home. I feel this is an extreme safety issue and took it to the dealership Monday. The dealership ran some tests and said it was the hid bulbs and not the computer ($375/bulb!!!!!). I then visited a Prius chat site that another customer told me about as we were waiting for our vehicles. Apparently this problem is very widespread. I am now forced to only be able to drive my Prius during the day because I never expected a $900 price tag to change out the bulbs on the headlights, and I am unable to pay that cost right now. Also, I live off of hwy 78 in saint clair county which is a very curvy, hilly rural road with very little light. If the lights had spontaneously blinked off on me on this road when either I or one of my teenagers were driving the vehicle, it could have had a far different result. Will it take a death or injury to initiate a recall on the headlights? to replace bulbs on 2004 Prius, you must remove the front bumper and have a special tool to remove back of headlight assembly.

- Pell City, AL, USA

Hid headlights intermittently go out. Turning the headlights on and off recycles the lights for a few minutes.

- Ellsworth, MI, USA

The hid headlights on a Toyota pruis (2004). The headlights flicker on and off periodically, changing what headlight goes out and sometimes both for no apparent reason. I can turn one or both back one by turning on and off the high beams (which both work no matter what) or by turning on and off the headlights. This has occurred on our mountain road, in which both headlights went off, without even hitting a bump. It is dangerous, I have been pulled over numerous times for a headlight out and when I took it into the dealer, they reported it as a $393/each replacement of a bulb that I have learned will go out again in 20,000-40,000 miles.

- Eldorado Springs, CO, USA

2004 Prius headlight on passenger side started flickering about 400 miles ago and has now stopped working. Will cost $500 to replace. This is ridiculous. I understand that this is an ongoing issue with the Prius, regardless of the year. I have read on the internet in chatrooms of several people with this issue. Is anything being done to resolve?

- Hillsboro, TN, USA

My hid headlights go out at random intervals, if I turn them off and back on the headlight may remain on for days, weeks or months without doing the above procedure again. Sometimes it the left light other times its the right light, so far it has not happen to both lights at the same time.

- Copiague, NY, USA

Beginning at about 60,000 miles one of the headlights on my 2004 Toyota Prius began to fail intermittently. Switching the lights off and on seemed to temporarily fix the problem. Now at 100K miles both headlights are failing, leaving me driving in the dark until I turn the light knob on and off several times. The lights are now failing every time I drive at night and several times per trip.

- Hollister, CA, USA

My 2004 Toyota Prius has hid headlamps. The drivers side lamp will extinguish, usually after a few minutes. If I turn the lights off and then back on the headlights come back on only to go out again after a few more minutes. The right side headlight works ok.

- Clinton, WA, USA

Hid headlights turnoff on the 2004 Prius. First episode started last summer. Cost $600 dollars to replace one of the headlights. It has been approximately 7 months and the other head light is starting to turn off. This issue is dangerous and needs to be fixed before someone gets hurt.

- Stanwood, WA, USA

Both headlights on my wife's 2004 Toyota Prius started going on and off. First the driver's side went out and came back on, eventually both of them went out and we were driving at night in the mountains. This seems to be a common problem with Prius owners after researching the issue. Toyota repair cost have been estimated around $1000.

- Raleigh, NC, USA

High intensity discharge headlights intermittently going out. No rhyme or reason as to when the outage occurs but turning the circuit off and back on again will re-illuminate the hid headlight...but for how long??

- Trout Run, PA, USA

The hid headlight on my 2004 Toyota Prius has not been working right on the passenger side for a while. It was going off from time to time. But, now it appears not to be working at all. I took the car to the auto shop and was told that this is a common problem with many Prius cars and that it will cost $457.99 to replace the unit. This appears to be an ongoing issue/defect with many Prius cars, which needs to be addressed asap since this is a huge safety issue. There should be a recall on Toyota Prius headlights since there seems to be a great deal of complaints on this issue which involves the safety of the consumers. Thank you very much for your immediate attention to this matter.

- Oakley, CA, USA

For the last 30,000 miles on my 2004 Toyota Prius, left hid headlight keeps going off. However, when I switch headlights off and back on, it would go on, and stay on, for couple minutes, sometimes hours. After that it goes off again. At Toyota dealership they told me that computer with the headlight assembly must be replaced. It would cost me around $400. My car is still under warranty, but they said it does not cover it, even though at the day of the purchase of my car, I bought "bumper-to-bumper" additional warranty. Why the headlights are not covered remains a mystery. Research that I did on the issue, showed that many people are having the same problem with their Toyota and have no choice but spend hundreds of dollars on something that looks like a defect in the headlight assembly. I think Toyota should make a recall for this particular part.

- Whitesboro, NY, USA

Drivers headlight continuously goes out. I can replace bulbs and it may last 1 week. I can turn my headlights off and back on then it will start working but no more than 1/2 a mile. This is definitely a safety hazard with going down the road and flipping your headlights on and off to get them to work. Took to dealer he told me that most Prius was having this problem but it would cost around 500 to get it fixed. After researching I found a message board with 35 pages address the same complaint with the headlights. Not having both headlights operational is a safety problem that needs to be addressed with the root cause ascertained and repaired by the manufacturer.

- Puxico, MO, USA

Driver-side hid headlamp in 2004 Toyota Prius was noticed to be very, very, dim (effectively off) around 2008/10/14. Turning headlamps off and on restored brightness. But the problem recurred at unpredictable times--frequently enough to be a serious safety problem. Frequently the driver can't tell while driving, whether one headlamp is off, and obviously it's unsafe to fix it by turning it off and on while driving. Toyota dealer replaced driver-side headlamp on 2008/10/15, for $600! on 12/15 the driver noticed the same headlamp again was misbehaving in exactly the same way, and the problem has recurred since then at apparently random times. Priuschat.com's many posters about this problem make it unlikely that just the bulb is the problem. Probably the ballast. But Toyota won't comment. I do still have the original bulb, and the box from the new bulb. Lisa at Toyota corporate customer experience center replied around 2008/10/18 that Toyota would reimburse half of the $600. But as of 2009/1/3 no reimbursement has been gotten. I called Toyota corporate again on 2008/12/16 and damian said he must forward my new complaint about the repeated failure to lisa, and that she was "required" to respond in one business day. She has not responded as of 2009/1/3. there are many complaints about exactly this problem on priuschat.com at priuschat.com/forums/care-maintenance-troubleshooting/34584-headlight-problem-26.html.

- Pleasanton, CA, USA

Random headlight failure. When fog lights are not on total failure of headlights has occurred. Right, left or both headlights will go out with no correlation to weather, speed, temperature, location of lamp or time of day. Quickly turning the light switch off then on will reilluminate both lamps. The lamps may go out again, stay lit, the same lamp will go out or the previously lit lamp may fail and the previously failed lamp may light. There is a reduced interval between failures. Lightbulb replacement has been suggested but this has not solved the problem for similar complaints.

- Orefield, PA, USA

Prius 2004 headlight goes out periodically. Turns back on only when all lights are shut down and turned on again.

- Pensacola, FL, USA

I own a 2004 Toyota Prius. I just paid $332.50 to have my 2 headlights' hib bulbs replaced - and that didn't include the parts cost because I provided the hid bulbs from an online auto parts supplier. The symptoms were the same as noted by so many other Prius owners: Frequent loss of light from the headlight, and recovery by rotating the light switch off then on again...only to have it re-occur a few minutes later. Each headlight had its own pattern of inconsistency, but both had the dysfunction. I have received two traffic citations for driving with a headlight out. The dealerships in glen burnie, Maryland and in laurel, Maryland both quoted me a price for one hid bulb of $351.02 I was able to find the exact bulb online at partsquick.com for a price of $57.27 that's right, the dealership wanted to charge me $293.75 more per bulb. I purchased two online, which - with free shipping - cost me $114.54 for both. Do the math...for two light bulbs only (not counting labor) online I saved $587.50 had I not purchased the bulbs online, the total out-of-pocket to replace both headlamp bulbs would have been: $ $702.04 parts ($351.02 X 2) $ $332.50 labor $1,034.54 total the dealership told me they couldn't guarantee that the bulbs were the problem, nor that replacing the bulbs would solve the problem, but that Toyota instructs them to replace the bulbs first. This is insane, and certainly unsafe.

- Millersville, MD, USA