High-beam headlight failure

[miku_mkv]

Writing up this high-beam headlight failure I had with my car for anyone that might experience this in the future.

I had an Audi RS3 and Tesla M3P both of which had Matrix LEDs. Although, the Supra doesn't have Matrix LEDs, I find the triple beam just as effective as the individual LEDs from the matrix.

Unfortunately, my right headlight had experienced some issues which I initially thought was related to the automatic high-beam feature with the camera. However, the issue repeated itself on a rare occasion even with a clear windscreen. The fault would clear itself after restarting the car. I reported this to Toyota and the first time I left the car at the dealership, they simply stated they couldn't recreate the issue.

After it happened again, before turning off the car, I noticed that the headlight motor was considerably louder on one side. I showed them the video but they didn't seem to give it much weight. High-beam headlight motor noise The car was returned to Toyota for another diagnostics test. This time around they swapped one of the ECUs from the right headlight to the left to see if the fault will transfer over.

It was a rare issue and it finally triggered again when using the high-beam automatically but also manually. The car returned to the dealer for a third time but this time, they were able to reproduce the noise. This time they concluded that the headlight does indeed have a fault and ordered a replacement. One week later and a fourth visit to the dealer, they replaced my headlight and I have not had an issue since.

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[lucky phil]

Good info. Was your car under warranty?
Phil

 

[miku_mkv]

Good info. Was your car under warranty?
Phil

It is under warranty and thankfully all repairs were free. I imagine even without the true Matrix LED these headlights are still a couple thousand $$$

 

[lucky phil]

It is under warranty and thankfully all repairs were free. I imagine even without the true Matrix LED these headlights are still a couple thousand $$$

Here's a tip for future reference. Dealers try and duck intermittent faults because if they replace a suspected component and it goes back to the manufacturer and tests NFF (no fault found) then the dealer pays for the part and labour. In an instance like yours you tell the dealer and manufacturer if necessary that the vehicle isn't road worthy by law in the condition it's in so some sort of maintenance action and component replacement must be carried out before you accept the car. swapping the headlight control units isn't satisfactory as the possibly faulty component is still fitted. The dealer techs are paid for their professional knowledge so it's their responsibility to be able to identify faulty components, thats what they are paid to do. If it takes them a few attempts to do that by replacing multiple components until they get it solved then thats on them, thats their job.
I had a similar issue some years ago with a new Monaro with intermittent indicator operational fault. Dealer advised me they couldn't fix the issue as they were working at the time I left the car with them. I asked them who owned the new black Monaro parked in front of the dealer sales office as I'd seen it there several times. The Service manager told me it was the sales managers company car. I told the service manager that if you can't fix my car then I'll have the BCM out of the sales managers car and he can have the one out of mine and leave him with the intermittent indicator fault issue. Surprise, surprise they got my cars problem sorted.
If you don't push you don't get, in the dealer servicing world.

Phil

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