Auto Dimming Side Mirrors a hazard?

[ckc123]

So.. I came across this weird condition with my 2017 Platinum last night.. I had paper directions, and made a wrong turn, so I pulled over to the side.. I turned on the single internal night (drivers side) to check an address.. once I figured out I turned the wrong way, I went to make a u-turn, and I couldn't see out of the drivers side mirror at all...(Passenger side was fine..).. I found it weird as no one had driven close to cause it to dim.

after getting home I played around with it and found out what was causing it.. here are two pictures of the differences.

There is also a video of it in action..

https://www.burke-consulting.net/tmp/20171123_171953.m4v


what causes this is the sensor is in the center rear view mirror immediately in front of the internal lights, so when you turn on the light, it dims the side mirror VERY DARK.. almost that you can't see through.. I'm not sure if they are supposed to go that dark..

you would figure that a) they wouldn't put the light so close to the sensor b) they would ignore the sensor if the internal light was on.. but I guess not..

going to mention this to the service guy on my next visit..

 

[thefranchise713]

That's an interesting observation, I never thought about the courtesy lamp fooling out the sensor.

You're right though, the driver side dimmer mirror takes input from the center auto-dim mirror. Truly one of my favorite features about the car--and my only defense against Brodozer trucks who think they understand proper lighting. HID's for all, what can go wrong?

 

[peterk9]

So.. I came across this weird condition with my 2017 Platinum last night.. I had paper directions, and made a wrong turn, so I pulled over to the side.. I turned on the single internal night (drivers side) to check an address.. once I figured out I turned the wrong way, I went to make a u-turn, and I couldn't see out of the drivers side mirror at all...(Passenger side was fine..).. I found it weird as no one had driven close to cause it to dim.

after getting home I played around with it and found out what was causing it..

What causes this is the sensor is in the center rear view mirror immediately in front of the internal lights, so when you turn on the light, it dims the side mirror VERY DARK.. almost that you can't see through.. I'm not sure if they are supposed to go that dark..

you would figure that a) they wouldn't put the light so close to the sensor b) they would ignore the sensor if the internal light was on.. but I guess not..

going to mention this to the service guy on my next visit..

I could be wrong but I believe the mirror only has one darkness setting similar to the rearview mirror. I personally don't see this as a big issue since I doubt many people would be in a similar situation. With the map lights on it would be very difficult to drive at night with all the internal reflections. I don't see it as a hazard or any way to prevent it without redesigning the entire set up. Just an inconvenience. Very interesting though. Thanks for the post.

Peter

 

[thefranchise713]

Peter: the auto-dim driver mirror and center rear view mirror are variable in their dimming ability based on rear glare received on the center mirror. It was a good comment though, encouraged me to go look it up before I made the comment. I wasn't 100% sure myself.

Bonus points: When the car is in reverse, the mirrors will return to full visibility regardless of glare within a couple of seconds.

 

[reserved50]

I disconnected the connector going to the rear view mirror, it was really annoying auto dimming. Not really needed anyways especially on mine since it has extra tint on the windows