[wmcbain]

Had a concerning moment with my ride last week.

It was last week in Toronto where it rained all day and then the temperature dropped to -10 over a few hours, so there was a thin layer of ice spatter everywhere on the exterior.

Without thinking, hopped in the Treg to fire it up and defrost/warm up like I usually do when it's crappy out.

As the lights all fired up and the beast came to life, I heard a horrific crunching whiney noise and realized that the crust of ice was on the area where the side mirrors rotate, and causing it to bind. It didn't make the full rotation and got stuck about half way. I immediately powered down and they folded back, then scraped the ice off the surface with my hands before turning it back on (it was fine).

I have since disabled the auto-fold feature when I lock the car (even though its one of my favourite features) for fear of breaking the mechanism... with all of the fancy features on those side mirrors I'm sure that they cost over $1000 to replace.

Just something to note for the folks that don't have the luxury of indoor parking.

 

[Jimbuffalo]

Good tip for crappy icy weather, I suppose.

Your post makes me wonder:

If your mirrors are set for auto retract - like mine and yours (were) - and you encounter ice build up like you did....

What if you manually moved the mirror setting inside the cabin to the retract position before starting the car? Would it override the auto setting in the settings menus? (I'll try it later if I remember).

Lesson learned will be to disable the auto setting and only use the door switch when you want them folded....

I wonder what VWs test regimen was for this

 

[rmeyer]

Had a similar incident last week as well but the ice was thick and hard enough I couldn't easily scrape it off. Resorted to pulling into the garage and using a hair dryer to melt. So this got me thinking with all the clever and thoughtful features in this and many new luxury vehicles. If the vehicle registers an outdoor temp of below a certain setting oh let's say the same one that causes it to ding at us and the snow flake icon to come on then don't fold the mirrors automatically additionally if up start up they are folded and it's below that same set point then don't extend them! Along the same lines wouldn't it be nice if the rain sensor was tied into the windows and sun roof when the vehicle is off? Detect rain and open windows then close them! Wishful thinking I know but wouldn't be surprised to find these features in some higher end vehicles.

 

[rmeyer]

Had a similar incident last week as well but the ice was thick and hard enough I couldn't easily scrape it off. Resorted to pulling into the garage and using a hair dryer to melt. So this got me thinking with all the clever and thoughtful features in this and many new luxury vehicles. If the vehicle registers an outdoor temp of below a certain setting oh let's say the same one that causes it to ding at us and the snow flake icon to come on then don't fold the mirrors automatically additionally if up start up they are folded and it's below that same set point then don't extend them! Along the same lines wouldn't it be nice if the rain sensor was tied into the windows and sun roof when the vehicle is off? Detect rain and open windows then close them! Wishful thinking I know but wouldn't be surprised to find these features in some higher end vehicles.

Anyone feeling adventurous with VCDS?

 

[wmcbain]

Ouch a hair dryer! The part that makes me sad is that I usually use the folded mirrors as my visual indication that I remembered to lock my doors, so now I'm the annoying guy in the parking lot that presses lock 10 times.

It would be excellent if they didn't fold automatically after the 4C temperature warning. I'm just sad that they didn't have the same 'kick back' feature as the windows/sunroof/tailgate where it would stop on its own with resistance. The noise was scary!

 

[yuyueyuyue]

I disabled mine too. It's a very good bowl to hold snow when folded. Does nothing except making more things to clean in the morning.

 

[JFly]

Good tip for crappy icy weather, I suppose.

Your post makes me wonder:

If your mirrors are set for auto retract - like mine and yours (were) - and you encounter ice build up like you did....

What if you manually moved the mirror setting inside the cabin to the retract position before starting the car? Would it override the auto setting in the settings menus? (I'll try it later if I remember).

Lesson learned will be to disable the auto setting and only use the door switch when you want them folded....

I wonder what VWs test regimen was for this

Yes it does, I select this daily to park my car in a tight garage.