This is prompted by the desire to fit a dashcam without obscuring anything important.

Also, a few times when driving, my SatNav display has changed to night mode & the lights have turned on. I thought I was somehow knocking the light switch to manual but confirmed yesterday it's the sensor kicking in. I tried switching the lights off & got a persistent nag message to turn the lights on, in bright sunshine. I tried adjusting the sensitivity of the sensor & it made no difference.

So having a nose around, I have three mystery objects around the rear view mirror.

1) A grille on the leading edge of the mirror/camera assembly.

2) A square on the rear of the mirror itself.

3) What looks to be a foreign object in the rain sensor.

I'm guessing that the ambient light sensor is combined with the rain sensor, & the foreign object may be the cause of the spurious light switch on? If so, that's obviously going to be a warranty issue. But what are the other two?

Bonus question, if manufacturers fit front facing cameras for road sign recognition, why on earth can't they double as a dashcam?

To get back to the OP My dashcams are Blackvue and the front ones on both the Tiguan and the Kamiq are fitted right at the top of the screen just outside the black dots on the passenger side . Doesnt upset the passenger sview and as Im tall I dont want them on my side . In a LHD car position would be reversed but be careful you dont block the lens with the black dots if its too close to binnacle

Here is the Kamiq

@Exkiwi

Thanks, but I already own a Nextbase with a protruding lens, so it wouldn't fit that high up. It's likely to need to go behind the mirror, so need to know what's on the back of it.

I'd take a guess that the square object (arrowed right of screen) is sensor for HBA.

Grille in centre possibly microphone for voice command?

Edited 19 July, 202519 Jul by Warrior193
typo

19 hours ago, Rbz5416 said:

This is prompted by the desire to fit a dashcam without obscuring anything important.

Also, a few times when driving, my SatNav display has changed to night mode & the lights have turned on. I thought I was somehow knocking the light switch to manual but confirmed yesterday it's the sensor kicking in. I tried switching the lights off & got a persistent nag message to turn the lights on, in bright sunshine. I tried adjusting the sensitivity of the sensor & it made no difference.

So having a nose around, I have three mystery objects around the rear view mirror.

1) A grille on the leading edge of the mirror/camera assembly.

2) A square on the rear of the mirror itself.

3) What looks to be a foreign object in the rain sensor.

I'm guessing that the ambient light sensor is combined with the rain sensor, & the foreign object may be the cause of the spurious light switch on? If so, that's obviously going to be a warranty issue. But what are the other two?

Bonus question, if manufacturers fit front facing cameras for road sign recognition, why on earth can't they double as a dashcam?

A possible reason for not using the front camera as a dashcam is that some European countries deem their use illegal.

14 minutes ago, Warrior193 said:

A possible reason for not using the front camera as a dashcam is that some European countries deem their use illegal.

Surely easy enough to turn it off in software for those, especially since it's now harder to hack.

Had another look at the "foreign object" this morning & thought it looked like an air bubble. One very zoomed phone pic later & it's actually the sensor itself!

• The camera at the top is for Lane Assist.

• The thing beneath it is the ambient rain and light sensor, for automatic headlights and wipers.

• The thing beneath that is a vent for cooling - you'll see some long vents/slots on the curved part of the housing - same purpose.

• The sensor on the back of the mirror is for High Beam Assist.

Here is a photo of my dash cam install. I routed it through the headliner along the top of the windscreen, into the back of the housing, around the Lane Assist camera and then out of a small hole I made with a Dremel in the (replaceable, £5) plastic housing. It's done perfectly so that as the driver, the camera is hidden behind the mirror. You won't be able to do this, as you can't put something in front of the HBA sensor. You will need to do what @Exkiwi suggests.

You might have an issue with your sensor. You will be told to turn the lights on regardless, as the car likes being in auto mode.

Regarding the final question, I suspect that the Lane Assist camera isn't a normal one. I'm not saying it's LIDAR or anything fancy like that, but my guess is that it is very high contrast and possibly even monochrome or another un-dashcam-ey colour (purple is designed to cut I/R, etc etc). If you think about it, it has to be able to see road markings and signs (TSR) clearly, in all times, conditions and weathers, whether you've cleaned your windscreen or not.

In other words, the sensor in it is not useable for a dash cam.

That's not to mention that ADAS systems need to be separate from other stuff.

@OccyVRS

Thanks. I don't have HBA so I guess that's just a blank over where the sensor would be. So I'd be looking at the same location as you, just wanted to be sure what that was on the back of the mirror. 👍

17 minutes ago, Rbz5416 said:

@OccyVRS

Thanks. I don't have HBA so I guess that's just a blank over where the sensor would be. So I'd be looking at the same location as you, just wanted to be sure what that was on the back of the mirror. 👍

What car do you have, exactly? I don't have HBA either, but my mirror is completely blank. I found this for a Karoq, but even that looks blanked out with a black piece.

Even the VW mirrors have black blanks - yours looks like the actual sensor! Somebody else might know more about the Karoq.

@OccyVRS

SEL Edition. I believe HBA only comes with the matrix LEDs on the Sportline. There's no options in the menu & no reference in the spec list. Here's a better pic of the back of the mirror.

I'm going to default to Karoq-ers/others I'm afraid, as I don't know enough about production, etc.

To me, that is very clearly the transparent plastic you have on cars with HBA - not the black, ridged plastic insert on those without.

It may well very well be that, on the Karoq, it made more financial sense to give all the cars the same mirror assembly, and not have a separate one.

If you are sure you don't have any sort of HBA, and we're sure that is the sensor (I am 99% sure it is, and that is the only use for it - my Octavia doesn't have it and I have all of the ACC/ADAS stuff except HBA) then if it were me, I'd cover it with a bit of tape and see what happens for a few days.

if nothing is affected, and it is 100% just for HBA that you don't have, then that's brilliant as you can put the dash cam there, out of sight! Cover it up, drive it/turn it on once in the day and once at night - the car isn't stupid, if it doesn't tell you it can't see from that sensor, then it doesn't use it.

Just to update, whatever is on the mirror is inactive, so the SatNav can go there once I pluck up the courage to dismantle the glove box to access the fuses. 🙄

As for the switch to night mode, that was the sensitivity of the sensor. But if you change it once the threshold has already tripped into night mode, it doesn't switch back. So you have to change the sensitivity of the sensor, then power cycle via the ignition. 🙄

On 20/07/2025 at 02:07, OccyVRS said:

• The camera at the top is for Lane Assist.

• The thing beneath it is the ambient rain and light sensor, for automatic headlights and wipers.

• The thing beneath that is a vent for cooling - you'll see some long vents/slots on the curved part of the housing - same purpose.

• The sensor on the back of the mirror is for High Beam Assist.

Here is a photo of my dash cam install. I routed it through the headliner along the top of the windscreen, into the back of the housing, around the Lane Assist camera and then out of a small hole I made with a Dremel in the (replaceable, £5) plastic housing. It's done perfectly so that as the driver, the camera is hidden behind the mirror. You won't be able to do this, as you can't put something in front of the HBA sensor. You will need to do what @Exkiwi suggests.

You might have an issue with your sensor. You will be told to turn the lights on regardless, as the car likes being in auto mode.

Regarding the final question, I suspect that the Lane Assist camera isn't a normal one. I'm not saying it's LIDAR or anything fancy like that, but my guess is that it is very high contrast and possibly even monochrome or another un-dashcam-ey colour (purple is designed to cut I/R, etc etc). If you think about it, it has to be able to see road markings and signs (TSR) clearly, in all times, conditions and weathers, whether you've cleaned your windscreen or not.

In other words, the sensor in it is not useable for a dash cam.

That's not to mention that ADAS systems need to be separate from other stuff.

Why not lift it up till top of camera is level with the dotted section Only the lens has to be looking through the clear bit . Thats why I use Blackvue as they are narrow nad unobtrusive and not those horrible square models

2 hours ago, Exkiwi said:

Why not lift it up till top of camera is level with the dotted section Only the lens has to be looking through the clear bit . Thats why I use Blackvue as they are narrow nad unobtrusive and not those horrible square models

Absolutely, using a viofio the body of mine is attached to the black part and the lens just below. It's essential to get the maximum height possible for coverage, and the lens pointing down to avoid light balance issues.

What's even more important is that the cam screen isn't visible, if it doesn't have an auto screen off option after powering on.

13 minutes ago, Frizzbee30 said:

What's even more important is that the cam screen isn't visible, if it doesn't have an auto screen off option after powering on.

Why is this important?As far as I know, it isn't illegal as long as it is not in your eyeline. I had a lot of problems with one camera which kept on switching off, and if the screen wasn't on I wouldn't have noticed. I did solve the problem eventually. I also have a Viofo camera in our Karoq. This has the screen on for the first 5 minutes or so, then switches off. There doesn't appear to be an 'always on' option, so if it switches off I have no way of knowing. So farits been ok though.

20 minutes ago, Routemaster1461 said:

Why is this important?As far as I know, it isn't illegal as long as it is not in your eyeline. I had a lot of problems with one camera which kept on switching off, and if the screen wasn't on I wouldn't have noticed. I did solve the problem eventually. I also have a Viofo camera in our Karoq. This has the screen on for the first 5 minutes or so, then switches off. There doesn't appear to be an 'always on' option, so if it switches off I have no way of knowing. So farits been ok though.

So how do we get on with ones with no screen My BV's have LEDs and voice to tell me whats happening. They should be as high as possible because if they are too low they can block drivers view when turning and literally block out a pedestrian. Screens arent needed when running as you are looking out the window same as the camera Good on you for having the best cheaper model though

44 minutes ago, Frizzbee30 said:

Absolutely, using a viofio the body of mine is attached to the black part and the lens just below. It's essential to get the maximum height possible for coverage, and the lens pointing down to avoid light balance issues.

What's even more important is that the cam screen isn't visible, if it doesn't have an auto screen off option after powering on.

Eggzackerly See so many pointed too high and get flaring from the sky. mine have a word on the end so you mount camera with it level and than turn front downwards 2 clicks and get a bit of bonnet but cuts out the flaring.

The transparent plastic in the mirror is for auto mirror dimming. There is also a very faint circle with horizontal lines in the lower middle of the mirror glass if this feature is included. Basically if light makes into the interior sensor but the outer one is dark, the mirror dims to stop the driver from being dazzled by drivers from behind. On the superb all 3 mirrors dim, i assume it is similar here given a high enough spec