I have a 2009 SH-AWD Tech CPO still under the full warranty.
I noticed after dark when the headlights turn on, that the head light indicator on the dash gets bright, then goes dim, then gets bright again, it almost looks like its blinking. The dash lights stay the same, just the headlight indicator blinks between bright and dim.

At the same time, when the headlights are on, if I turn on the wipers, they go at full speed no matter what I set them to. When I turn them off, they keep going and will stop at whatever position that happen to be at when the headlight indicator goes back to dim.

This only happens if the headlights are in auto mode, if I turn them on, or off, it doesn’t happen.

I took it to the dealer last week which happened to be on a dark rainy day, they observed the problem as it was occurring then. They said they think it’s a ground fault and began working on it, and now 4 days later, the service manager called me back and said they can’t find the problem, and it hasn’t happened since I left. I explained it only happens when I drive after dark with the headlights in auto mode. He said they can’t test that because they are only at work during daylight hours, and that since it doesn’t happen when they are turned on manually that I should just use the headlights manually and not use Auto mode anymore. I protested and he said they spent enough time looking for it and were not willing to spend any more time on a problem that can be solved by operating the headlights manually.

I know I can just “operate the headlights manually.” But after buying a $40,000+ luxury car with a warrantee, I really think the car should work, and the dealer should be able to fix it. Any suggestion on how to get the dealer to actually fix the problem? Has anyone else had this problem?

 

No car is immune from problems. Given that thousands of cars are sold every month, once in a while, there will be 1 or 2 odd-ball ones that experience hard to diagnose and even harder to fix problems. Toyota and Honda are no exception, even though there are already the topmost reliable auto brands on earth.

Even $100K cars are not problem-proof, let alone a $40K car.

I know it's frustrating, but if the dealership can't duplicate the problem, they have no way to catch the phantom.

 

Have some odd electrical gremlins in mine too (not like yours). Can't seem to duplicate the issue at the dealer. Keep taking it in until the fix it. Don't let that warranty expire.

 

Try another dealership, maybe they might have a better idea on what it might be.

 

After another week of them saying they can't test for the problem, I suggested the tech put electrical tape over the sensor to simulate night. They tried it and said the wipers went nuts after turning them on and wouldn't turn off. They replaced the wiper switch and said it is no longer happening. They also said even with the tape, the head light indicator would not blink for them. That one I guess I can deal with, but the wipers were a big issue for me.

I picked it up and it hasn't rained after dark since, so I have no clue if they actually work properly or not yet. I also haven't driven around dusk since which is when the headlight indicator seems to blink the most. Hopefully the new switch fixed it all.