Hello,

I have got a March 21 Fabia estate in SEL trim. I tried to adjust the wing mirrors from within the car and got nowhere at all. I looked up the instructions for this in the handbook and expected it to be easy but it isnt, I used the rotary knob to go onto left and right and try as I might I couldnt adjust either mirror nor could I align the knob with the heat function. This is very frustrating to say the least.

I would like to be able to do this if for no other reason than to reset them if someone knocks them, either accidentally or otherwise.I spent ages trying to get the glass to move but I couldnt do it. I tried joggling the knob, I tried pressing it but I couldnt get the glass in either the right or left hand side to move at all.

I had interior adjustment of the wing mirrors on both my previous Skodas and only had to use it once when the milk or the paper was being delivered and one of the mirrors got knocked and that worked fine but this looks a bit different on this car. I dont want anyone to advise me to read the car handbook ; I have done that and am none the wiser. The handbook talks about arrows but I couldnt see any at all. .

I have asked the Skoda garage to help but havent heard back. I could go to my independent but I dont want to be seen as a complete imbecile by either and am wary of the Skoda garage charging for the advice. I really need a step by step "idiot guide", nothing else is going to help and if I dont manage to get that on this forum I shall just have to forget about it .

Thanks for reading.

Strange thought,

Assuming you have recently bought it.

Is it labelled clockwise from left to right

fold/L/off/R/heat?

If so and it won't turn beyond R.

See if it will go beyond Fold.if there is no fold, will it turn beyond L

If they fold when you do it's just the knob in the wrong place?

Edited 16 October, 202516 Oct by Stonekeeper

1 hour ago, hetty1 said:

The handbook talks about arrows

There are no arrows on the switch.

You need to push the switch / joy stick in the direction of the arrow ( in the handbook ) that corresponds with the direction you want the mirror to move.

So pull down/back to lower the mirror.

This is with the dot on the end of the switch / joy stick lined up with the mirror you want to adjust.

L for Left, & R for Right mirror.

You need the ignition on for this to work.

HTH

Thanks. AG Falco

I can give a guide from an idiot.

My wife's car isn't here at the moment and going on my memory isn't always best but looking at the (PITA and yes even less well written) online manual for a 2021 it shows it as the same as in my wife's 2015 SE.

You have going clockwise, 'L' - '0' - 'R' - then gap and heater symbol. ETA: If you have a fold setting this appears to be first by Stonekeeper's post and as AG Falco has put you may need the ignition turned on.

First get the line on the knob to line up with '0' (for off).

Imagine that under the knob is the stalk like on your previous Fabias with manual (mechanical) adjustment - sorry, from my wife's 2015 'Owner's Manual' but it shows both types to help with this visualisation.

To adjust

To adjust the left (passenger side) door mirror rotate turn the knob to click on to 'L' (line on knob in line with 'L') with the knob like this with one finger you can lift (tilt) or push (tilt) the knob up, down, left, right from it's centre point to move the mirror glass in that direction. Once set you can let the knob sit in its centre position and rotate turn the knob to off ('0'). Or rotate turn the knob to click on to 'R' (line on the knob is in line with 'R') to adjust the right (driver's side) door mirror.

I hope that makes sense, give it a try and let me know if not.

If you use the heater position remember to return it to the off position when no longer wanted (unlike my wife and I didn't notice until that April as I never use that setting as when I scrape or clear the door and boot windows I also do the exterior mirrors at the same time, I'm very used to doing such.

Edited 16 October, 202516 Oct by nta16
ETA

Yes indeed, you need to lift up the knob and then it works fine. If the handbook had said that I wouldnt have had any problem at all. I still havent been able to work out how to get the mirrors heated as the knob definitely cannot be aligned with the heating symbol. I very rarely use that function so am not too bothered about it, Maybe there is a temperature sensor that activates it when the cabin heating is on? That doesnt explain why there is a symbol for heating though as that suggests its something that I have control of whereas a sensor would take all control of it away from the driver?

Both the mirror adjustments, the left and the right are on the right hand side of the knob, right at top right than 0 next then left hand nearer the bottom right. The heating symbol is on the left hand side of the knob but if you carry on turning the knob to the left you definitely cannot align the knob with the symbol which is why I think there may be a sensor involved. As I say, that doesnt bother me much at all and if it remains a mystery so be it.

Thanks very much to all who posted and who put me on the right track.

7 minutes ago, hetty1 said:

I still havent been able to work out how to get the mirrors heated as the knob definitely cannot be aligned with the heating symbol.

It's not you - the line never matches with the heated mirror symbol. Just turn it clockwise from L and it'll be the next 'click' and the heated mirrors will be on. Good not just for defrosting them but also keeping the rain off when it's wet as they evaproate it.

e.g my 2011 MkII Fabia Scout

My 2014 Rapid

Also, assuming it’s the same across models, the heat only comes on when the rear demister is also turned on.

So get the knob turned as close to heat as it will go (as said they don’t line up) and turn on the demister. Should work then.

10 minutes ago, mac11irl said:

Also, assuming it’s the same across models, the heat only comes on when the rear demister is also turned on.

So get the knob turned as close to heat as it will go (as said they don’t line up) and turn on the demister. Should work then.

Not needed the rear demister to be on on any of our Skuds for the heated mirrors to function 🤷

4 minutes ago, mac11irl said:

Also, assuming it’s the same across models, the heat only comes on when the rear demister is also turned on.

On my Fabia and VW UP the mirrors will heat up independently of the rear demister.

But yes anywhere between L and R will put the heated mirrors on.

Be warned they don't appear to turn off automatically and there is no warning light.

On a Peugeot I had they would automatically heat when you put the rear demister on.

And they would automatically all turn off after a short while.

But was no way to turn them on independently.

Thanks. AG Falco

Just now, Lee01 said:

Not needed the rear demister to be on on any of our Skuds for the heated mirrors to function 🤷

…..

Mine does 😵‍💫

1 minute ago, mac11irl said:

…..

Mine does 😵‍💫

You've got me questioning my sanity now 😂

I'll double check all three at the weekend 👍

I'll check tomorrow where the click stop is for heaters on my wife's car as I've never used it and can't remember the line position the one time when I had to turn it back from heaters.

As for the line not lining up with the heater symbol I'm sure there's some German engineering logic reason for it beyond the understanding of non-German engineers, a lot of what they do and don't do is beyond me being much more used to British and Japanese cars.

A very old story, I used to have a 1991 VX Cav GSI 16V 2000 4X4 (yes all that was on the rear badging!), heated mirrors only worked when the rear window demister was switched on, so in autumn/winter the mirrors were probably left switched on.

Moved onto a new VW Passat 4Motion in 2000, so when autumn came, I just left the heated mirrors switch on thinking the way they operated was the same as in the old VX Cav GSI.

Near the end of the first winter, I came across a thread in the world wide Passat forum - folk in USA talking about ending up with burned out mirror heater tapes - oh!

Checked the resistance of the mirror heater tapes on my Passat - very very high resistance, oh bother! Bought and fitted new mirrors and from then on used them "sensibly". The high resistance was not from along/through the heater tapes but along the blackened/charred PCBs.

I've read somewhere that some Audis had protection against this, ie used a thermal sensor somewhere - but I'm not placing my trust in that as heated mirrors can be a bit expensive.

I think Mk1 Octy had mirror heating paired with HRW.

Fabia from Mk1 has it independent.

Be aware if testing that it doesn't work with just ignition on; engine needs to be running.

I have read all of the contributions now. The point about the line not aligning with the heat symbol and you just to keep turning the knob until you hear a click was very interesting and I would never have thought of that, I will try it when the weather gets really cold and damp and see if the heat works then The symbol may not light up as was said in the posts but if they are being heated its easy enough to pull in briefly and check the glass in the housing to see it it is warm/hot.

Thanks very much to everyone, it does seem once again that the Skoda handbook is not as helpful as it should be and its not just me being ultra thick!

On 17/10/2025 at 20:58, nta16 said:

'll check tomorrow where the click stop is for heaters on my wife's car

To keep things simple (unlike VW) the click stop for heaters I found to be opposite the the off setting, as in the photos Lee01 put up.

7 hours ago, hetty1 said:

The symbol may not light up as was said in the posts but if they are being heated its easy enough to pull in briefly and check the glass in the housing to see it it is warm/hot.

The mirrors switch has backlighting but no more than that. I think you're being a bit optimistic about the glass being warm/hot but I might be wrong and you can let us know.

7 hours ago, hetty1 said:

it does seem once again that the Skoda handbook is not as helpful as it should be and its not just me being ultra thick!

I find the VWŠkoda Owner's Manual to be less helpful than many others (particularly with the silly way VW goes about oil specification and lack of fluid capacities that others manufacturers give freely and some bits do appear to have been written by a German engineering student in their native language to be sent to somewhere like China to be translated to English. And the later versions for the newer models seem to be worse.

The mirror surfaces do end being "warmer than ambient" to the touch, I normally only need to use them to demist the mirrors in winter after driving out of a cold garage into milder wet air - or when driving from a colder drier air area into a warmer and wetter air area.

All the VWs I've had since 2000 don't require the HRS on to enable the mirror heating, it would be much better IMO if they just came on/off with the HRS or switch off automaticall after 20 minutes or so like the HRS, I also saw something in VCDS about the temperature setting of the HRC, maybe 34C? which I think is settable so wonder can this also switch off the HRS before the time out period.

Edited 20 October, 202520 Oct by Johngerard

HRS - heated rear screen(?), HRC?

HRS....all the way, yes.