I learned something that might save some serious $$$ when their integrated LED tail light seemingly goes out ($350 dealer only for replacement). HINT: Pretty rare fo the actual LED brake light to go out, so read on... First of all, when my driver-side tail light went out, soon after the brake light also went out. I didn't know about the unrepairable LED brake light yet, so I just went and bought all the rear light bulbs i could (figured it had been several years, so I'd replace them all while i was at it). I decided to buy LED "BULB" replacements so I wouldn't have to do this again and i installed them for the backup lights and the tail lights. Well, when I put them all in, my driver-side integrated LED brake light started working, but now the RIGHT-side was out. I thought, "Proof that the integrated taillight was indeed NOT BAD, and was likely a voltage issue from one of the bulbs not working right (they are all on the save voltage line. Easy fix... Thanks to reading on Priuschat, someone said when you replace the bulbs to "LED", they may snap in either way, but often only work one way. So I just started flipping bulbs 180 deg and re-inserting them until everything worked. Serious, once I flipped my passenger side tail light bulb 180 deg, it all light up and worked, including brake lights. I was about to take my 2006 Prius in to the dealer and I know they would have quoted me a $350 repair instead of suggesting messing with my bulbs for a minute. So for about $20 worth of bulbs, everything works great, and I saved myself a net of $330.
This is the thing with LED bulbs, as they are a diode (think one-way valve), they must be wired positive to positive and negative to negative, otherwise they will not work. The current must flow from positive to negative. Regular incandescent bulbs don't care which way they are wired. Thanks for highlighting your experience and glad you got it sorted out without having to take to a shop.
