History: I had a 2002 Bora which had an auto-dimming rear-view mirror - no fuss, no led's - it just got on with it.

I then had a 2004 Octavia 1 with a manual-dimming mirror.

 

I find that the Octy 3 Scout has a not-quite auto-dimming mirror, which you have to turn on, and when on it shows an annoying green led. That is not my idea of 'automatic' - byt there we are.

 

Anyhow, the thing is that it doesn't seem to dim at all, ever: Led on or off, it doesn't seem to react to lights at all.

My question is therefore - is the dimming very sublte (so that I can't spot it), or is my mirror not working properly?

 

Thanks!

Not subtle, it is very noticeable when it gets dark (greenish). It is comparable to any other car with auto dimming mirrors. 

 

What trim do you have? Scout should come pretty well equipped, meaning, you could have all 3 mirrors dimming automatically in a very same way.

 

edit:

check if sensors aren't dirty or something:

 

Edited 22 September, 20187 yr by nidza

Thanks!

 

I think therefore, having had a play with it on and off, covering and illuminating both sensors alternately (having carfully cleaned them) that despite the little LED coming on it is not working at all.

Which explains why I get dazzled by folk behind me at night.

 

If there are any remedies for this problem, I'd be pleased to hear them - otherwise a trip to the dealer's will be necessary, I think.

 

I drove mine early Friday morning at 5am and the auto dimming in my Scout worked fine, it does have to be dark though.  To test drive at night on an unlit road with a car directly behind and see if it dims.

 

The LED doesn't bother me, you could always use a permi marker and colour it in to cover it.

 

The ability to turn off the dimming is a useful one .... I have dimming exterior mirrors as well and they are run off the rear view mirror sensor.  Sometimes I do turn it off, for example driving through a town / city as I want to see whats coming up behind at the lights .... cyclists for example.or reverse parking.

Edited 22 September, 20187 yr by ScoutCJB

On 22/09/2018 at 19:41, ScoutCJB said:

The ability to turn off the dimming is a useful one .... I have dimming exterior mirrors as well and they are run off the rear view mirror sensor.  Sometimes I do turn it off, for example driving through a town / city as I want to see whats coming up behind at the lights .... cyclists for example.or reverse parking.

I confess I hadn't thought of that - with the old Bora I guess I'd just got used to it doing its own thing and adapted to it.

 

With this new one, I hadn't noticed any problem apart from being dazzled occasionally - but the reason for that is now clear!

I have found the Skoda O3 mirror to dim less often (hence more dazzling) than my previous car, a '56 reg Mercedes C class coupe.

 

It's not the best system, the sensors should be on top of the mirror. I also agree there shouldn't be a light on the mirror, should have been a toggle switch down near the gearstick.

Do you have a dashcam or phone which is putting light onto the windscreen?

Behind the Mirror there is an ambient light sensor which will disable the dimming if it detects light e.g. from a dashcam screen.

The switch on the bottom of the mirror is to disable the automatic dimming (which is good in my opinion).

 

Never found the green LED to be a distraction but you can always just colour it with a sharpie marker or put a bit of tape over it.

I have to say that on my 2014 O3 the rear-view & side mirror dimming works extremely well for me & is comparatively better than in my previous Mondeo.

You can also test the dimming using the small hole next to the LED sensor is a light sensor.

If you put your finger over it at night, it should cancel all the dimming as it assumes nobody is behind you & you should see the lights start to glare

Thanks for all the test-tips - these confirm it definitely isn't working!

 

 

Acid test ....I've just done this now and tested for myself.

 

Using an LED torch (I used one from Tescos that cost about £3), shine it at the rear view mirror at an angle so you can actually see the torch beam / LEDS in the mirror, then turn the dimming on and see if you visibly see the beam /LEDS appear to go darker or off to see if it gets brighter.

 

Ensure its really dark out and no nearby lights.

Edited 24 September, 20187 yr by ScoutCJB

A quick folllow-up on this: I took the car to the main dealer who fixed it under guarantee.

They tell me they didn't need to replace the mirror; but rather changed some of its settings, which had some how got out of adjustment.

 

Anyhow, it does now seems to work!

A quick follow-on from this.

 

Although it did appear to work after they made adjustments, the improvement has not been maintained.

 

They've had another look at it and decided that as the adjustments didn't work, the unit needs to be replaced: so one has been ordered.

 

That, with any luck, should be the last chapter of this story.

Having chased the main dealer up numerous time about their ordering the new mirror, they now tell me they have it.

 

Also, however, they now tell me that it is not covered by my warranty, and costs about £300.

 

Hm.

Dealer confirmed it didn't work, then why is it not covered under warranty?

 

I personally find it hard to class a not dimming interior mirror to be wear and tear item. Leave it to the stealers to work their word magic to wiggle out of any warranty work.

It's ludicrous to suggest a rear view mirror is listed as  a wear and tear item for the purpose of warranty - was that their actual words?  It may well wear thru time but 3 years?  That's taking the mickey.

 

Is this the same dealer where you purchased the car from? Write a letter to the supplying dealer explaining the problem and say if the problem isn't fixed, that you'll have the mirror replaced at the quoted price of £300 and then claim it back via small claims court.

 

To be honest it really doesn't matter about the warrranty, providing there was no damage, an auto-dimming rear view mirror is expected to last more than 3 years from new.

 

Edited 7 December, 20187 yr by Guest

I think you need to put a call into Skoda UK on this one - cannot see any situation where this wouldn't be covered - unless there were signs you'd been smacking it around or something.

23 hours ago, Sangrail said:

Having chased the main dealer up numerous time about their ordering the new mirror, they now tell me they have it.

 

Also, however, they now tell me that it is not covered by my warranty, and costs about £300.

 

Hm.

Sangrail, if you still havent got it sorted could I suggest that you have a look on ebay or amazon. There are some new ones at the £50/£100 mark not to mention many used ones. 

Thanks for all the thoughts. It seems that the mirror is indeed not covered under the warranty I bought with the car. The point about using the Consumer Protection Act and small claims is a good one too - but having noted lately that the mirror was in fact dimming sporadically, and when it stopped it often started again when sharply tapped, I thought I'd take it off and have a look.

 

Using the soft plastic 'gap opener' supplied with the Brodit telephone mount I'd bought when I got the car, I carefully removed the outer casing from the screen, and putting a spanner on the relevant part of the exposed mirror-stem I detached the mirror/stem unit and unplugged it.

 

Using the same tool, I took the plastic rim from around the mirror-glass and thus freed the glass and the circuit-board behind it, The cable plugs into the circuit-board with a multi-pronged connector, which was firmly in place. The two-pin lead from the circuit-board to the glass was less-firmly connected - so on the basis that that might have been the problem I pressed it securely home, then reassembled and refitted the whole thing,

 

On a 40-mile drive this evening it worked faultlessly - so I hope this has cured the problem.

Happy days if it was such an easy fix ... saved yourself some wonga!