Auto-dimming mirrors in 2021 worth the upgrade?

Posted by Icy_Sheepherder6629@reddit | askcarguys | View on Reddit | 10 comments

I have manually dimming center rear view mirror (knob push activates/deactivates dimming for that mirror)

Since it's base LE trim the side mirrors do not have them, and I'm hoping to upgrade the entire rearview mirror system (including side mirrors) to auto dimming ones to protect my eyes. Anyone has suggestions or have done this in their cars ?

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Revolutionary-Farm57@reddit

My current vehicle is a 2016 Toyota Sienna Limited Premium that has electrochromatic dimming exterior mirrors (both drivers and passenger side) and interrior mirror. They work perfectly and I love them. They will dim anytime day or night, whenever they detect bright headlights from the rear. I thought that they would only work at night, when my headlights would automatically turn on. But no, I think that there is a sensor at the bottom of my interior rearview mirror that activates them whenever it detects significantly bright lights from behind. The other feature they have, besides being heated, is that they automatically tilt down a little to help you see closer to the ground when reversing. This is a great feature if there are kids in the area - or just need to see lower objects like short walls, garbage cans, etc.

With todays super bright factory headlights, cheap DIY aftermarket upgrades, etc. - I think automatic dimming rearview mirrors should absolutely be a mandatory required safety equipment in all new vehicles along with other required safety equipment, like airbags. Temporary blindness, on dark roads at night are a serious safety issue in my opinion. What do you think?

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BoondockUSA@reddit

Am I the only one here that hates auto dimming center rear view mirrors? They take too long to adjust and they don’t get as dark as manual mirrors. They seem to do worse with detecting LED headlights or when it’s cold. Meanwhile, manual is just an instant flip of a lever and it’s darkened or not. I’d never pay extra for an auto dimming center mirror.

I think the only people that like auto dimmer center mirrors are those that never bothered to flip their manual mirror, or those that don’t do most of their at night.

Auto dimming side mirrors are nice though because there’s no other alternative to dim those.

The biggest complication that you’ll have to running a switched power source to the mirrors. You don’t want them to have constant power or else they may become a parasitic power loss when the car is off. You may get lucky and find factory wires if your make/model had the factory option of auto dimmers.

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The_Tipsy_Turner@reddit

My auto dimming center mirror automatically dims when it's dark outside and the headlights are on. It dims better than all the other manual mirrors I've used.

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BoondockUSA@reddit

Out of curiosity, how old is the mirror and do you live where it gets subzero in the winter?

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The_Tipsy_Turner@reddit

It's a 2010 BMW and it doesn't typically get subzero here.

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MysticMarbles@reddit

I absolutely hate mine, to the point where I'm considering removing the thing, which would mean losing functional buttons and bricking an entire system or 2 (or I guess just lengthening the wires and stuffing the module from the rear view mirror into the glove box to avoid warning lights?) and installing a previous generations mirror.

It does not dim as dark. I can not force it to dim, no control whatsoever. It does not activate until mid dusk when I need the fucking thing active at noon some days, and the delay on it is atrocious. Further, when I actually need full brightness when backing up somewhere, it usually finds a street lamp and tints it down so it's less useful.

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mtrbiknut@reddit

You don't say which car it is and they may be different, but when I worked in a Toyota plant the wire harnesses installed usually did not have the extra features available. For every feature included in a car, there was a different wire harness.

Early 2000's I worked on the Door Line. At that time we had manual and electric regulators, alarm systems, 2 different tweeters or no tweeter, power and/or heated mirrors. Ever car had a wire harness that only connected to the parts included, there was no singular wire harness that everything would work with. The plugs were the same, but the pins in the plugs had no wires to them.

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