Auto dimming Rear view mirror

Zammo

Active Member
Apr 7, 2018
5
0
I've only had my Seat Ibiza FR a few weeks and so far I'm loving it. But one niggling problem arrose last night driving home in the dark for the first time. Which was that I could barely see anything out of my rear view mirror. I thought I was losing my eyesight! However on getting home and doing a bit of research I found that the mirror has a function that automatically detects if the light from behind the mirror is greater than the light in front, in which case it dims. Unfortunately for me this meant I could barley see jack out of it. So I want to switch this off, unfortunately I can't seem to find a button on the mirror or anywhere in the car settings that allows this. I've checked the manual which also makes no reference of the ability to switch it off and have also phoned the dealership who are also saying the same thing. As a last resort I thought I'd post on here to see if anyone has found a way? I'm thinking there must be a fuse that feeds the electricity to the mirror, so if I can locate this I can just pull it out. Thanks in advance.
 

Scrogg

Living life only a short bus ride from the edge...
Dec 31, 2017
735
238
50
Would it be a stupid question to ask what you want to see?

The whole point of a rear view mirror is to see at a quick glance what is behind you, and even when fully dimmed the headlights of any car behind are clearly visible. If there is no car behind there is nothing you need to see.
 

Zammo

Active Member
Apr 7, 2018
5
0
I want to be able to see more than a black outline of a car and some headlights. I find it really disconcerting that it gives such poor visibility.
 

Pew.

Active Member
Mar 23, 2012
1,451
142
Scotland
You might be the only person on the planet that has an issue with auto dimming mirrors at night

It's a god send if a lorry or higher level Jeep is behind you

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 
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Pew.

Active Member
Mar 23, 2012
1,451
142
Scotland
However it can't be switched off. You'd need to buy a new manual mirror

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 

Pew.

Active Member
Mar 23, 2012
1,451
142
Scotland
Try blocking the sensor with black tape or something

If it can't receive light, it can't dim

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 

Zammo

Active Member
Apr 7, 2018
5
0
Tried it, unfortunately when I then started the car it dimmed to it's maximum capability. Well saying that I only blocked the back sensor, not sure where the front one is.
 
Last edited:

Peter

Active Member
Jan 5, 2018
157
1
West Sussex
I too have never had a problem with autodimming mirrors, and I think every car I’ve had for the last 20 or more years has had one. Audi’s though do have switch on the mirror to turn the feature off (which I’ve never used), so maybe swap the mirror with an auto dimming one from an A1?
 

Zammo

Active Member
Apr 7, 2018
5
0
Maybe I just need to get used to it. I'll give it a few more weeks, then see about replacing it or taking more drastic actions.
 

Rowan83

Active Member
Dec 5, 2017
241
82
I think the auto dimming mirror is great, always found it useful when you get blinded by the vehicle behind!
 

KXL

KXL
Dec 15, 2016
1,581
197
London, UK
I had the same 'shock' with this, as I've always had the manual mirror (actually even on the manual mirror at night, i rarely would flick the switch for 'night mode.'). Ok to be honest, I didn't know that switch existed, until I wondered what it was during day and everythign went 'dark.'

I kinda got used to it (auto dimming function), but it's not very consistent in it's dimming, if it's one car behind, but quite a bit away, doesn't dim, when it's many lights behind it does dim. On highways with no cars behind it doesn't dim (which is great), and sometimes with nothign behind at night, it stays dimmed.

But you will get used to it...