Toyota is facing more legal trouble, this time over the Prius' headlights.
A class-action suit filed in Manhattan Federal Court claims 2006-09 Prius hybrids have defective High-Intensity Discharge headlights that shut off at "random intervals," according to Courthouse News Service.
Toyota "admitted it had received numerous complaints about HID System failures but attempted to blame the HID System failures on normal bulb outages," the suit claims. "Toyota's pattern and practice of withholding information about defects or failing to properly analyze and fix major safety defects has now become highly public.
"Prius drivers suddenly lose illumination from one or both headlights while driving, but this is not the results of bulbs simply burning out over time, as Toyota would have customers believe," the suit alleges. "This is evident from Prius drivers reporting that their HID headlights that stop working will suddenly begin functioning again without bulb replacement. Similarly, those persons that have had bulb replacement often, soon thereafter, experience bulb failure."
The suit alleges Toyota installs replacement parts that suffer from the same defect and that Toyota profits from selling the replacement bulbs.
On Tuesday, the U.S. government ordered Toyota to turn over documents related to its massive recalls. The Transportation Department is demanding that Toyota reveal when and how it learned of problems with sticking accelerators and with floormats trapping gas pedals, and the company must respond within 60 days or face fines.
Those defects and problems with brakes on new Prius hybrids have now led to the recall of 8.5 million vehicles.
Toyota said it was halting production at three facilities amid concerns that too many unsold vehicles may be building up at dealerships because of the recalls.
--The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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