A warning!

Don't be tempted to leave your heated door mirrors switched on all the time.

Talking to my local dealer's service dept, they've now had 3 Yetis in to replace the mirror glass 'cos the heating elements have failed on both sides. It seems that all 3 owners hadn't realised that the heating elements are permanently on when driving unless you return the rotary knob to R or O or L. And there's no warning light to warn you that you've left them on (a mistake I feel - a small red LED could have been incorporated in the control knob, or maybe they should only work when the heated rear window is on - like my 15 year old Escort).

Edited 23 October, 201015 yr by speedsport

I thought they worked when the heatedvrear screen was on.

Thanks for the warning speedsport.

I will never use mine as the car is garaged overnight and they will (probable) never got a frost on them

Many thanks for the warning. I have found that they are not very effective, especially at clearing condensed water droplets from the right mirror.

I had thought that they were only active for about 10 minutes and switched off automatically. However - forewarned is forearmed.

Cheers

On my A2 the heated mirrors work with the rear window demister and thus have a timer. If the mirrors don't clear I just press the button again. So no chance of ever leaving them on. This new system is really daft I have to say and means I'll probably never ever use it.

Though in saying that with the electric folding mirrors you can also set the angle of the passenger mirror when you select reverse. This mirror only moves when the mirror switch is left in L. So if it does not move I'll know the mirror switch is set to heat. Still daft in my book.

On the Fabia2, Octavia2, Superb2 and Yeti the heated mirrors are independant of the heated rear screen, ie. the heated mirrors remain on as long as the switch is in the heat position regardless of rear heater. Element burnout is quiet common, especially if the switch is always in the heated position.

They should be very effective and clear the mirror of ice/ light condensation quickly, if they dont then they may have failing heater elements.

On the E46 BMW 3 Series the heated mirror glass was on permanently irrespective of any switch positions.

Used to find it amusing that the glass was being warmed even in the height of summer!

Despite suffering from chronic delamination they never failed...

Agree that the Skoda switch is poor though if the heating elements themselves are similar in design to BMW's then them being on all of the time shouldn't cause premature failure...

Wouldn't in a million years thought to look at the position of the switch ......Thankyou !

How much is it to fix a broken heated mirror? Just noticed in this cold weather that mine isn't working on the right hand side. Still under warranty until the weekend!