Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Disable Auto dimming mirrors (Tech)

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
Every now and again, I look in my rear view at night and all i can see is headlights - I wish I could easily disable the auto dimming at will - mainly to tell if "five-oh" is tailgating me.
Maybe I missed it in the "manual". Is it just me?
 
Every now and again, I look in my rear view at night and all i can see is headlights - I wish I could easily disable the auto dimming at will - mainly to tell if "five-oh" is tailgating me.
Maybe I missed it in the "manual". Is it just me?

I've never turned it off in past cars that had the feature, but always had the option to. Good point.
 
Every now and again, I look in my rear view at night and all i can see is headlights - I wish I could easily disable the auto dimming at will - mainly to tell if "five-oh" is tailgating me.
Maybe I missed it in the "manual". Is it just me?

I always have the camera on. No problem with seeing emergency vehicles. I don't know of any way to turn them off, however I really like how they work (around here there are a lot of trucks that just about blind you by shining in the outside mirrors).
 
Disabling mirror auto-dimming

Does any one know how to disable (or at least reduce the level) of the side and rear view mirror auto dimming?

I have a moderate (45) tint on the side and rear windows. I have no trouble seeing outside at night, but the mirrors are doubling up the dimming effect, make them too dark.
 
It will be a year old next week, but if they are going to lighten over time, I guess that's better than nothing.
When they were new, they were great. Totally blocked out the glare from the SUV in the next lane. Now at 20 months, there's zero dimming and I'm holding my hand up to block the glare.
 
Jerry33,

Are you sure there isn't something wrong with your system? My car is at almost 2 years and it still seems to work like it did when new. I hadn't ever heard that EC Mirrors change over time.

Peter

When they were new, they were great. Totally blocked out the glare from the SUV in the next lane. Now at 20 months, there's zero dimming and I'm holding my hand up to block the glare.
 
Last edited:
One way to prevent the dimming is to block the light sensors in the rear view mirror. I sometimes use an elastic wrist sweatband to do this. Slide it over the left side of the mirror so it blocks both the sensor looking forward (on the back of the mirror housing), and directly on the other side of that on the mirrored part is a sensor looking back (it's not visible except at some angles). A wide rubber band should work as well if placed exactly right. A sweatband covers part of the mirror but it's still quite useable.

The sensors seem to work in tandem such that when the light seen by the forward looking sensor is dimmer than the light seen by the backwards looking sensor, the mirrors dim. They dim pretty quickly, but undim much slower. You can use your hand to block the mirrored side temporarily, but it takes a long time to undim. In a pinch I've pushed a glove over the entire left side of the mirror.

It's not pretty, but it works.
 
Re: diminishing dimming ability, my car is 18 mos. and I had one mirror that stopped dimming, but it was fixed by service, other mirror and new mirror are identical.
Re: OP question, you might have a couple options, first see if your service center can disable it somehow? second, you could always find the fuse, but that would likely mean you would lose defrost and (if you have them) auto mirror folding.
 
I don't know how to disable the side mirrors, but the main rear view mirror is pretty straight forward. Behind the mirror is a plastic cover between it and the windshield. You'll need to separate it. Be careful in not damaging it! Once apart, there is a connector that plugs the mirror into the car wire harness. Simply unplug it and put the cover back on. This will remove all power from the mirror and should make it act just like a regular mirror now.
 
One way to prevent the dimming is to block the light sensors in the rear view mirror. I sometimes use an elastic wrist sweatband to do this. Slide it over the left side of the mirror so it blocks both the sensor looking forward (on the back of the mirror housing), and directly on the other side of that on the mirrored part is a sensor looking back (it's not visible except at some angles). A wide rubber band should work as well if placed exactly right. A sweatband covers part of the mirror but it's still quite useable.

The sensors seem to work in tandem such that when the light seen by the forward looking sensor is dimmer than the light seen by the backwards looking sensor, the mirrors dim. They dim pretty quickly, but undim much slower. You can use your hand to block the mirrored side temporarily, but it takes a long time to undim. In a pinch I've pushed a glove over the entire left side of the mirror.

It's not pretty, but it works.

Thanks. I'll try that.

- - - Updated - - -

I don't know how to disable the side mirrors, but the main rear view mirror is pretty straight forward. Behind the mirror is a plastic cover between it and the windshield. You'll need to separate it. Be careful in not damaging it! Once apart, there is a connector that plugs the mirror into the car wire harness. Simply unplug it and put the cover back on. This will remove all power from the mirror and should make it act just like a regular mirror now.
Thanks. That should be pretty easy to do.

I wonder if that will effect the light sensor on the mirror, which might disable the dimming on the side mirrors as well.
 
Are you sure there isn't something wrong with your system? My car is at almost 2 years and it still seems to work like it did when new. I hadn't ever heard that EC Mirrors change over time.

I thought that too when I first noticed it, but when I brought it up at the SC, they didn't seem to know what to do.
 
Has there been any update on how to disable, or at least lessen, the auto-dimming on all 3 mirrors?

Thanks!
Place something (a piece of light blocking tape or sticker, or a glove) over the light sensor in the rear view mirror. It's approximately where the arrow is in this image. This will prevent the sensor from detecting light from behind the car, which will prevent auto-dimming all three mirrors.
Light Sensor.jpg