I am a new member with a 2006 prius charcoal with package 8.
I have had the car two years now and am happy with it except for two now nagging problems both are safety problems in my book.

1. The HID headlights seem to be dim or aimed down even when I have my "brights" on. Two different dealers have "checked" them and report everything is normal, and the self adjusters operate properly...in short there is nothing that can be done. I drive with my "brights" on almost all the time and so far not other car in two years has ever "blinked" his lights asking me to put my "dims" on. If I put my "dims" on they are really dim and they "hit the ground" about 60 feet in front of the car.

Anyone experienced this problem or know of a fix??

2. The self dimming rear view mirror doesn't do much. It is supposed to minimize the glare from other car and truck headlights following the car. The mirror green "on" light is illuminated indicating the anti-glare system is "on". The image I see in the mirror will turn a bit grayer and "smokey" if I put my finger over the "sensor" which is actually on the back of the mirror (facing the front of the car!) but it does little if anything to minimize the glare from rear following headlights. Both dealers advise me the system is working and there is nothing that can be done.

Anyone experienced this problem or know of a fix??

I have a similar problem with my headlights but they seem to be too high. Everyone blinks their headlights at me.

You can get more dimming out of the rearview mirror by using a filter over the sensor on the backside of the mirror. I used a piece of a red tab from a page divider sheet.

Thanks for the hint on putting a "filter" on the rearview mirror sensor. I'll try it.

I reported both problems to Toyotas customer satisfaction 800 number in California since. I got a case number and then got a couple of phone calls explaining that they contacted my dealer who serviced the car and "investigated" the problem. They confirmed exactly what the dealer told me...the headlights and mirror are "working" as intended and there is nothing that can be done. So much for the customer satisfaction.
I still think that these items are a problem and they don't work!

My suggestion is to future Prius lookers to stay away from the packages which include the new headlights and the "self dimming" review mirror(it is the one which comes with the garagedoor opener built in).

Alli7

Check out:

http://www.sector13.org/jason/prius/headli...ightsensor.html

or

http://priuschat.com/forums/knowledge-base...ghts-fixed.html

(there is a .pdf file available - look at the replies)