I bought a new 2007 Prius and from the first 30 days of having the car I have had my headlight on the passenger side keep going out. I have taken it back to the dealer many times and they keep replacing the light bulb. I have been pulled over by the police 2 times because of it. They are now telling me that I will have to replace the light bulbs at $400 a shot because it is out of warranty. I will be driving at night and all of a sudden my light goes off. It isn't always the same side it goes back and forth. Since I have seen that many other Toyota Prius owners are having the same problem I know that something is not right and Toyota needs to stand behind fixing the problem. It is dangerous when you are driving down the highway at night and all of a sudden your lights don't work.

- Saint Albans, MO, USA

2007 Toyota Prius, new, October 2006; no problems until Sept. 2008, approx. 26000, miles; headlight on passenger side intermittently goes out; comes back on later. I did not know that I could possibly make it work by turning off/on, as I recently found out on this site. The driver side headlight also has gone out a few times-unknown if they were both out at same time. Right side taillight also goes out occasionally. Unlike the headlight, I could make the taillight go back on by "banging" on it. After being stopped by police, both lights out on passenger side, I made appointment with dealer where purchased, then went on line to check for similar problems: Wow! 25 pages on this site, and 50+ pages on Toyota chat forum. Dealer indicated "no problem", less than 36,000 miles, still under warranty. I had repairs made today, all working fine at present. One big difference noticed: Headlights much brighter tonight than they were. I don't know how long it has been since they became dim, since it probably was gradual. I asked dealer, with all these reports of failure, how long is warranty on new bulbs, and was told 1 year. Dealer price for installing new bulbs: About $400 each; they can be purchased from dealer for the "low" sum of only $150 ea. I strongly feel that there is something major wrong with such a lighting system, as it is quite difficult to know when one light is not working, as they become dimmed. There should definitely be a recall to correct this problem. How many other owners have experienced this problem, and simply paid huge $$$ to have it taken care of, not knowing that it is apparently widespread?

- Green Bay, WI, USA

2007 Prius headlight goes out without warning. When the light switch is turned off and then back on the lights come back on. This has been a recurring issue with Prius, but Toyota does not acknowledge the problem. It has happened on my car 5 times in the past month that I am aware of.

- High Point, NC, USA

2007 Toyota Prius. Drivers side headlamp malfunctions often. Driving at night is dangerous!!!!

- Havre De Grace, MD, USA

1. driverside front head light shuts-off by itself when in the on mode, passenger side head light stays on. 2. occurs at random, there is only half amount of light being emitted from the headlights and this causes a dangerous driving condition. 3. brought car to dealer to have two tech's to see what the problem is only to be given the text book answer of the issue is "normal wear and tear". no repair was done at the dealership even though the vehicle was covered under warranty.

- San Mateo, CA, USA

2007 Toyota Prius, hid headlights go out intermittently, at first passenger side only, now passenger will go out and moments later both lights go out.

- Springville, CA, USA

My vehicle is a 2007 Toyota Prius. The headlights have started to work intermittently. Makes it very dangerous at night. Replacement is very difficult and expensive, due to bad engineering/design. However, many owners report that even replacing does not always solve the problem, which seems to be a Toyota Prius -wide defect. For safety and consumer protection reasons, these should be recalled and repaired.

- Dumfries, VA, USA

In the last month the headlight on my 2007 touring Prius have had intermittent outages. One headlamp or the other might fail to come on, or stop working while driving. Every so often, both headlight stop working while driving. And once, in the fog, when I turned on my foglights, the headlights turned off. If I turn the headlights off, and back on, both lamps might work, or one or the other remain off... that this can happen while driving is a safety issue. Toyota service offered to change the failed headlamp at $400, but since I could not identify a particular lamp, would do but at double the cost, but could not guarantee that would fix it. And from the information on various Prius forums, changing the bulbs out will not solve this issue.

- Deer Park, CA, USA

I have an intermittent headlight problem. This has caused me to be pulled over by the police for a faulty headlight. When I turn the power off and then on again, the headlight usually comes back on. This has happened every time we drive the car. Dealership says it's not a problem that Toyota or the dealership is responsible for because it isn't a consistent problem with this car.

- Fountain Inn, SC, USA

The hid headlamps on my 2007 Toyota Prius will cut out sporadically while driving. Sometimes it is the left lamp and sometimes it is the right lamp. Fortunately both headlamps have not cut out at the same time (so far). Strangely, when this happens, if I turn the headlamp switch off and quickly turn it back on, the affected lamp will come back on - for a while- not always for the same length of time. If it happens repeatedly, the off and the on again switch action will work every time. The Toyota service people say that this behavior is typical of an hid lamp going bad and offered to replace them for $203+ per lamp. Upon reviewing many discussions on several internet forums such as priuschat.com is becomes clear that this problem has been widespread on Prius models with hid headlamps as far back as 2006, and no single fix has been identified for the problem. I therefore, have not replaced the headlamps since this does not, in and of itself, always cure the problem, and I didn't want to make the $400-$500 experiment that likely would not solve the problem. Since these hid lamps are touted as lasting as long as the car, it seems to me that this is not a normal wear and replacement situation. I first noticed this problem at around 30,000 to 35,000 miles- hardly approaching the car's lifetime. I consider this to be a significant safety issue and a major manufacturing flaw for which Toyota should be responsible for correcting at their expense.

- Export, PA, USA

For the past 2 months my hid bulbs on my 2007 Toyota Prius have been flickering and shutting off of their own Accord. I researched online and found this is a very common problem w/ the 2007. Took the vehicle to the dealership and was told it wasn't covered. I have less thank 50K miles on my car and the hids are rated to last 150K. There is obviously a consistent problem that Toyota isn't acknowledging.

- Tempe, AZ, USA

Headlight on either side will go out while driving. This happens every day. I have to turn them off and back on to get both of them working again. The problem is that I don't always know when they have gone out. One time I noticed that both of them were out. I have found numerous complaints like mine on the internet. This is a very dangerous situation, especially during bad weather in the daylight hours. I have about 45,000 miles on the Prius. The dealer is going to check the problem again. Initially they didn't find anything, but they suspect it to be bad bulbs. They said the bulbs cost $300 not including the labor.

- Hamden, CT, USA

1. hid headlights on 2007 Prius with less than 20K miles failed in pouring rain at night. 2. first passenger headlight went out. Next both headlights went out. 3. pulled over and turned off car. 4. turned car on again and both headlights went on. 5. passenger headlight went out again. 6. both headlights failed. All is a distance of about 5 miles.

- Mountain View, CA, USA

The contact owns a 2007 Toyota Prius. The hid headlight bulbs became inoperative while driving less than 45 mph. The headlights illuminated intermittently. The dealer replaced the bulbs under warranty and stated that the failure should not persist. On a separate occasion, while driving 40 mph, the headlights failed again. The dealer stated that the bulbs needed to be replaced a second time in less than a year. The estimated repair cost would be $300 per bulb. The failure mileage was 25,000 and current mileage was 42,000. Updated 2/5/09 updated 02/10/09.

- Hawthorne Woods, IL, USA

I own a 2007 Toyota Prius. When I start driving and turn on the lights, after a short period of time, the lights dim out. When I turn off the light switch, the lights come on bright and dim out again and return to full brightness after I turn them off and on again. This pattern continues until after the car has run for a period of time.

- Fredericksburg, VA, USA

I've been having issues with my right headlight going out intermittently. If I cycle the power the headlight usually comes back on. The dealer says there's nothing wrong. I've been pulled over once for an equipment violation already. Last night the headlight went out leaving me with limited visibility. As I rounded a corner I almost hit a deer standing on the shoulder as I couldn't see him/her due to the limited visibility.

- Stafford, VA, USA

Both headlamps (individually and together) intermittently go out. Turning off the headlamps and turning them back on clears this problem temporarily. This is becoming more than an inconvenience, it is a serious safety issue.

- Austin, TX, USA

I have had a 2007 Toyota Prius and bought it new. It now has 40K miles and hid lamps will go out when driving or idling. Sometimes both lights will go out at the same time. This is a safety concern. The lights will typically go back on if you turn off the switch and then turn it back to "on" I have read other Prius and Toyota owners in the Prius chat site with similar problems. Hid lamps should last longer than 2 years.

- Monroe, CT, USA

Passenger side headlight goes out periodically and when lights are turned off and then back on, headlight works. I read about this problem on priuschat.com and so far there does not seem to be a fix for this. I was stopped tonight by a state trooper and when I turned the lights off, the headlight came back on.

- Montross, VA, USA

I own a 2007 Toyota Prius and the headlights keep going out intermittently. It's never both at the same time. When I notice it, I turn the light off and then turn them on again and both headlights are working again at least for a little while until one of the lights go off again. I will take it in to Toyota for repair because I would rather pay for it myself than get into an accident. Obviously this is a widespread problem and Toyota should put this out as a recall and take care of their responsibility. This is a safety issue.

- Mechanicsville, VA, USA