So a couple of months ago my drivers side headlight went out. I was very surprised because the car was less than 6 months old, and generally HID bulbs last much longer than that. After a week at the dealership, they informed me that the ballast was bad, and they would have to replace the entire headlight assembly, which is an $800 part.

Last week I noticed, much to my surprise, that the other headlight was out! I just got the car back from the dealership today, and sure enough it was another faulty ballast. Now it may have been a complete fluke with my car that both ballasts would go out within a year of owning the car, but I really hope this isn't a trend that I start to see!

Has anyone else experienced this issue? Was there a bad HID design that Lexus is replacing with a new design to last longer? I expect such an expensive feature as HID headlights to last at least five years before needing to be replaced.

 

strange - locally an IS250 member has had 2 d4s bulbs go out. wonder what's up about that.

 

As long as youre under warranty, which you should be. Than its all good

 

that is strange, I've owned my car since June of last year and they are both normal so far.

 

jlmichael, do you leave your headlights set to "auto" mode? I'm concerned that the short-cycling that occurs when pulling into garages, driving between open areas and areas with trees at dusk, etc., may be hard on both the bulbs and ballasts.

 

Exactly. That is why I had the sensitivity changed to have them come on in a darker setting, which means they don't automatically come on when you go under bridges or through tunnels. Previously the lights would come on when I pulled in the garage, now it takes about 15 seconds for them to click on. That gives me plenty of time to drive in and turn the engine off. It's one of the LPS settings.

 

I remember when you told everyone all the LPS settings you had done. There were a couple I wish I had known about when I went in. Now I am not about to pay them to change some more. They would probably do it for free, but still...

 

I know when i first joined here there was a thread about the auto switch, it was the general consensus to not use it. So... i dont.

Umm... ok i guess that had nothing to do with the topic... kinda...