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I did not find that the entire headlight assembly was burned out. Had my body shop buddy replace all four bulbs, this time sticking with Phillips HIDs and Toshiba HIR 9011 high beams. I hope, but a sure wouldn't count, on these lasting longer. Otherwise this will be a yearly event.
These headlight assemblies are the biggest pieces of junk I've ever dealt with. My '07 Suburban with >100K miles is still running on the original set of generic halogens. And I can change them myself in 20 minutes. And they're like $20/bulb. And they are pretty bright. And I paid extra for the HIDs. Dummy.
Thx! Sandy
Thx Sandy
The issue had to do with the HID Headlight Control Unit also called ballast.
This was definitely a defect in the assembly unit because it was redesigned for the 09's.
I initially paid the $800 to get new units and then went on a campaign to get fully refunded by Toyota. After several letters and promises to escalate another Toyota defect to the papers and TV, they agreed to reimburse me fully.
The new units have had absolutely no problems. Vehicle has ~60K right now.
Good Luck!
Sandy
Welll know effect, which is why most european manufactures use a small ~5W halogen bulb running at full 12V as DRLs.
That same heating can damage, long term, the headlight assembly itself.
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If you REALLY think that a class action lawsuit will get you resolution, I suggest checking out the results of previous class action lawsuits against manufacturers. First, it will take several years to be resolved. Second, the outcome for consumers is likely to be a choice between two options: 1) take the vehicle in to get the issue fixed at no cost, or 2) get a $500 coupon toward the purchase of a Toyota. Half of the consumers in the class will likely no longer own the vehicle by the time it's resolved. The lawyers' compensation will be more of a financial windfall. Much more.
If you want real resolution, you're better off continuing to post complaints - manufacturers have taken action based on reports across the internet. You're also better off working with your dealership and/or personal legal counsel if you truly seek to get the problems resolved in a manner that benefits you.
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Toyota has been EXTREMELY disappointing to me as I have an 07 Avalon LTD, Oil Hose connector broke, windshield washer reservoir failed, electric sunshade (rear) broke, now rack & Pinion steering going out!! they run you around and wear you down with BS.
But...As host Kirstie had pointed out in earlier post, class action lawsuits are useless, and IMHO are a huge scam perpetuated by the legal industry. As an individual participant in a class action, the best you can hope for is a "gift certificate" for $50 towards the purchase of your next Toyota, or some other equally stupid, meaningless compensation, assuming you win the suit.
The ONLY ones who profit are the lawyers, who run to the bank with the 30% of the settlement worth millions, laughing at the suckers who initiated the suit in the first place. What a joke.
I'm with Kirstie. Apply leverage where you can, on a local level. Keep your expectations reasonable. And buy a Ford next time.
American makes have made a recent comeback in both style and dependability, yes. But it will take a lot to get me back in an Ford or GM product. The Japanese names are simply too good overall from my experience. Would not touch a new Benz or a BMW either although some models are better than average in reliability. Again, if you don't like it... don't buy it..... they will make it better or go out of business.
http://www.ownersite.com/tsb/tsbs.cfm/2008/TOYOTA/AVALON/
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20000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Bulletin No: SB-0044-10 R
Date of Bulletin: 05/26/2011
Summary Description:
TOYOTA: ON SOME 2008-2010 AVALON VEHICLES, THE HIGH BEAM LIGHT BULBS MAY NOT WORK OR SHATTER. *RM
***************************
Unfortunately, I cannot find any other information on this issue.
I have found free TSB details in the past, but this one does not seem to be available.
I also noticed that one of the lo beam lights works intermittently. Don't know if it is the bulb or the power supply.
you should go back and read the series of posts that I and others have made concerning the dreaded, POS HID headlights (assuming you have a Limited with the HID bulbs). Intermittent failure is almost inevitably a sign of impending bulb failure. Unfortunately, unlike the high beams, the HID bulbs are extremely difficult to replace. There have been some who have done it, but they describe a process well beyond someone like me. I have replaced mine twice in my '08 Limited. Each time I've had my buddy, who owns a body shop, replace the bulbs. He found the easiest way to do it was to drop the front bumper (!). Fortunately, he charged me only around $100 to install, on top of the roughly $50 for each bulb (purchased online--second time I bought name brand bulbs as the first set of no names I bought lasted only about a year). That was MUCH better than the obscene $800 my Toyota dealer wanted to do the job. The HID bulbs are a well-known weak point for these Avvy's, and one of many reasons I won't be buying a Toyota again.
This seem to be really a manufacture defect. Toyota has to accept and fix it with no charge further.
thanks
I had similar experience: replaced both HID bulbs, only to have them go out about a year later. Those bulbs were "no-name" bulbs purchased online. The second time I specifically purchased Phillips bulbs hoping that perhaps they will last longer. Tell you in a few years.
So today, the crowning blow. My Avalon headlights have become misaligned, aiming almost straight down, so the low beams focus about 5 feet in front of the car. Basically impossible to see with them, so I have to drive with high beams constantly, annoying the heck out of oncoming traffic. This happened once before, and they "did an adjustment" while under warranty. Today I get call from dealer--left headlight assembly is broken, can't be adjusted, and installation of new unit will set me back $1300. Oh, and BTW, the right high beam is dead.
I am escalating to toyota customer service hoping to get some help in reducing costs. Pray for me, this has been an ongoing nightmare!
We purchased an 08 Limited with 19,000 miles in July. The first time I used the high beams I noticed one light out. I took a look at it in the daytime and saw all the little pieces where the bulb had exploded. I looked online and found this thread, which really got me concerned. It also provided a wealth of information!
We took the car in to the dealer in late July. They checked it out and verified that ours was one of the cars affected by this problem; however, since it was over 3 years since purchased new they were going to make us pay $2600 to replace the headlight assemblies. We couldn't afford that, and since it truly is a manu/design fault, I had no plans of paying for it myself (although I fully intended to see it fixed).
We appealed to corporate, who basically shrugged us off. We didn't escalate the issue, and due to a hectic schedule over the past couple months we didn't persue it further. I bought a set of halogen high beams for $35 and put them in myself in 10 minutes.
Last week, while driving home on the freeway at night, my right HDI low-beam flickered and went out! I know from these forums that you can sometimes get them to come on again by turning them off and back on again, and it worked. Then last night it started flickering again, this time in a parking lot. I repeated the procedure, which stabilized the light until I got home. But it's obvious that these things are going to go out soon, and the helpless feeling that you get knowing that you can't count on your car to light the way is absolutely not what I expected from an Avalon. I loved my '06.
Ironically, I had awoken this morning and started preparing an official letter to corporate. I realized that having to replace the headlight assemblies was going to cause an undue financial hardship, and recognized the need to appeal to the local media for donations. I giggled as I thought of the looks on the faces of the Customer Service reps as they escalated the issue again and again, nobody wanting to own it and nobody having the authority to make it go away. A 3-year old car with faulty $2600 headlights that the company refuses to replace is a sad thing indeed... and the last thing corporate wants is someone appealing to their community for help fixing Toyota's mistake!
But now, thanks to Mookie, I have the news... the headlights are covered! And I verified it with the local (Phoenix, AZ) dealer. They are covering it now for 5 years or 70,000 miles.
Thank you, Mookie!!! And thank you, Toyota!
Can you please let me know, where I find the bulletin about extended warranty on headlights. My local dealer might not be aware of this..
Thanks,
suresh
I'm trying to find some brighter ones, but don't really know, if there brighter, because I don't know
how bright stock ones are.
Skip
Due to state laws regulating how and when they can be used, useful, they are really only there for "ricer" BLING purposes.
So, I just got my letter today. My big problems have really been three:
1) frequent burnouts of the HID low beams
2) malfunction of the autolevelers leaading my dealer to tell me the headlight assemblies needed replacement
3) frequent burnout of the high beams (working on third set)
So, the extended warranty is on the "bulb housing assemblies." Dannyb3, it sounds like this will fix both problems #2 and #3--in other words, does the new assembly also fix the auto leveler as well as the exploding high beam bulbs?
I am assuming I'm still stuck with the short-lived HID bulbs. Better than nothing, or the $2600 my dealer wanted from me.
Does this extended warranty covers only high beam. Actually I have this issue with low beam lights. My dealer turned me down. I hardly use high beam lights.
I believe HID bulbs are on low beam and normal bulbs on high beam. Myn 2008 avalon touring.
The amount of incompetence in the '08 headlight design is staggering. I just had both high beam headlight assemblies replaced under the new extended warranty (thank god I had 69.6K miles on, as the extension was good only to 70K miles). The "list price" of these units was something like $2000, fortunately replaced at no cost, though as usual, thanks to a series of dealer mistakes ("Oh, I thought we were nly supposed to replace the BULBS--followed by "Oh sorry, we only got the LEFT assembly shipped in time, you'll have to come back for the fourth time to get them done) it was a fiasco.
I'll try to remember to call Toyota cust svc to lodge complaint about the HID bulbs, but I don't have much hope. Make sure you get the high beam assemblies replaced under warranty. All it takes to authorize the replacement is at least one high beam bulb having burned out at any prior point. That's at least one headlight problem hopefully fixed.