A check on the 2008 Prius display of miles-per-gallon yielded the follow results:
Gallons: 9.72 Miles: 481 MPG: 49.48 The display read 48.34 for the same 481 miles. ............................................ The headlights had been flickering occasionally since it was bought from the dealer. I thought it was a headlight going bad and would wait until the defective light quit completely. Then, 3 nights ago, while driving to the grocery store on a dark road; both lights went out. I flipped on the foglights and got off on the shoulder. Flipping the switch turned the lights back on. The dealer said the bulbs were bad, and since they had failed shortly after purchasing the car, he would split the cost of replacing the bulbs which were $200+ each. (I checked and they were $180 at FLAPS). The dealer said a circuit in the Prius computer turned the lights off when the bulb went bad. This was surprising considering the lawsuits that could result from both headlights going out, so I Googled and got the following: ................................ http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/toyota-prius-headlight-failure-sparks-class-action-suit/?_r=0 http://www.toyotaproblems.com/trends/prius-headlights/ ....or click on Bing for more info: "2008 prius headlight failure" ................................ Since the suit had been settled with the assumption that any newer Prius uninvolved in the class action lawsuit would not have that problem, there was no chance of making the dealer pay the whole cost of replacing the bulbs, and the amount of money involved did not warrant a small claims court lawsuit. Since headlights have gone out on several other makes of cars including Mercedes, this hasn't turned me against Prius. It's simple enough to flip on the foglights if it happens again, so the risk is minimal. The high intensity lights are quite effective and don't seem to blind oncoming cars. I'm getting used to the bouncing around on rough roads, and I've bought aftermarket add-on seat supports that let the seat go back 4 inches further so tall people won't have their knees bumping the steering wheel. Sadly, the $200 paid to the dealer has cancelled the saving on fuel for a few thousand miles. Hopefully there will be no more unusual expenses. The Mercedes addiction still seems to be present since I'm looking forward to mechanical jobs on the '83 300D after the 20 year upgrade on the shop is complete. I've decided to sell the pristine, all mechanical '83 240D instead of the '83 300D; but I don't want to sell it here since a local buyer will likely be calling every time some little thing needs fixing. Haven't yet decided where to advertise it, though. Looking around the internet and on the newsstands, the stick shift/all mechanical 240Ds seem to be scarce and high priced. Gerry _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list owner has no control over the content of the messages of each contributor.
