The windshields come with the mirror socket attached. The rain/light sensor in the mirror foot is delicate and may not function if the silicone lens becomes detached. The whole assembly is rather heavy. Not sure how long the Loctitite super glue kit would hold.
It would take a new windshiel and maybe a new sensor to make me happy. Check the harness, too.

 

Thanks, I was afraid it would be something like that. I'm going to talk to VW about it today. I believe they should fix this issue regardless of warranty status as it's a pretty big safety issue. If it had come off while me or my wife were driving, I'm sure it would have been a big distraction, possibly causing an accident...

Has anyone else had the rearview mirror fall off like this? I did a search and didn't find anything, kind of curious as to how common this problem is.

 

So I paid a visit to VW on Monday. At first, the service advisor told me the mirror could be glued back on. I explained that the vehicle was purchased at CarMax and that it is covered under an extended warranty. Turns out the warranty I got through CarMax is also honored at VW. The service advisor then suggested I go to CarMax first, and to come back if there are any issues. Now things get really good. Just after leaving VW, while accelerating to merge with traffic, my center driveshaft carrier bearing let go! I've had vibrations in the vehicle since I purchased it and CarMax refuses to fix anything unless they can positively diagnose the problem. Up until now, I wasn't 100% sure it was the driveshaft causing the shakes, it looked good when I did a visual inspection... Anyway, nursed the Treg back to VW and asked them to take care of everything. Waiting for warranty approval at this point, but I'm really kind of ticked off with the CarMax service dept! I even suggested that the driveshaft was causing the vibrations.

Oh yeah, and yesterday the VW service advisor called to inform me that the windsheild DOES need to be replaced to fix the rearview mirror!

 

What a great spot of luck. Which dealer are you using?

 

I'm dealing with Rod East Volkswagen. So far they have been great. Even gave me a ride home on monday!

 

Glad to hear it. I have developed a good relationship with the service manager, Raul. While he does have protocol that he needs to follow, he'll do everything he can to make it right.

 

Just wanted to update this. Driveshaft replaced by dealer under my extended warranty . It turns out that the windsheild in my Treg is not the original. It's an aftermarket piece of glass and the mirror was glued to it. Because it's not a factory part, no help from VW... I'm just gonna reglue the mirror to the glass and hope the rain sensor still functions. If not, oh well. I can't afford $700+ for a new windsheild just to make the automatic wipers work.

 

This just happened to me today. Looks like many others are experiencing the same problem.

This is clearly a safety issue. Rear view mirrors should not just randomly fall off and should certainly not require $700+ dollars to the stealer to repair. I would strongly suggest that anyone experiencing this problem file a claim with the NHTSA, hopefully leading to a recall or repair at VW's expense. If VW has to cover the expense, they will very quickly engineer a $50 bracket repair kit.

https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/

 

Amphicar, is your windshield original? If not, is it a factory replacement? When I had my issue I discovered that the factory windshield has the mounting bracket built into the glass. This bracket should not fail, but factory windshield costs $700. My vehicle has an aftermarket windshield which was installed previous to my owning the vehicle. New aftermarket windshields cost around $250 but do not have the mirror mounting bracket. It is necessary to glue the mirror to these windshields. I re-glued my mirror last summer when it fell off and so far it is holding fine, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time before it falls off again...
So, in my case a safety complaint can't be filed against VW because my windshield is not a VW part. Has anyone with a factory windshield had a failure?

 

People with this problem, go look at the lower corner of your windshield, and read the name of the windshield and report back here.

 

Good catch. It is indeed an aftermarket windshield. :-(

The challenge I see with gluing it is that the glue goes on black outermost part. The square piece with the sensor seems to be sort of spring loaded. Thus, it is always pushing the mirror away from the glass. Not sure how to hold it steady in place long enough for any adhesive to dry.

 

I've needed a Nissan and VW windshields replaced. Both times I requested OEM logo replacements. The Nissan was going to be $800 OEM or $300 aftermarket. The glass shop swore there was no difference except price and logo. I went aftermarket and indeed it was indistinguishable except for logo. A different shop did the VW and they said they always use genuine VW part due to "issues" with aftermarket. FWIW.

 

One other difference with aftermarket windshields versus OEM, that I have seen especially on BMW's is the tint colour. My BMW had ever so slightly green tinted windows all around, ditto with the windshield. All the aftermarket ones were blue. No one would usually notice this, as it was a subtle difference, but the fact remains.

I'm not sure if the tint colour is an issue with aftermarket windshields on the Touareg to the discerning eye.

 

Amphicar, you will need to take the mirror base apart. The black plastic housing splits down the center, I think there are locking tabs on it so be careful not to break anything. There should be a square metal piece with the rain sensor in the center of it. This piece will slide out of the base once the plastic housing is out of the way. This metal ring or bezel is the part that is built into the factory windshield and acts as the mounting bracket for the mirror. Clean the windshield and the bezel really well then glue this piece to the windshield. Once the glue is set, the mirror will clip onto the bezel and the plastic trim can be put back on. Be careful not to damage the rain sensor during all this.

This seems complicated, but once you take everything apart and look at it, it should make sense. When my mirror fell off, all the plastic trim came apart too so it was easier for me to see how everything works...

Hope this helps, good luck!

 

So I'm the latest victim of the hanging rear view mirror. We bought our '06 Touareg used from a dealer with an extended warranty, which has expired. At the time we bought it, we complained about a whistle coming from the windshield and the dealer had the windshield replaced to fix it. They had a company come out to our house and do the work. Turns out it's an aftermarket windshield... lovely.

Just over two years later, and having moved away from the state where we bought the vehicle, I'm driving around and the mirror starts drooping and then falls off. So I call the service department asking them what I should do after I explained it all and they give me the phone number of the company they "think" they used to have the work done and want me to call them to see what I should do.

Yay. This is going to be fun.

 

The tint is definitely an issue on the aftermarket Treg windshield. The Safelight guy brought out a Pilkington in spite of my request for OEM (Guardian).

I was surprised as I headed home into the afternoon sun at its brownish tint. But the real clincher was the number and size of tiny bubbles sparking in the setting sun, something I had been unable to see at noon in the bodyshop parking lot.
I had him redo it with a Guardian, far fewer bubbles and nice OEM tint. I daresay the rearview mirror mount will not fall off of the Guardian, either.

BTW, had a look at the NAGM(?) catalog listing for Treg. Amazing how many different options were listed there.

 

^^^^^^Nice post, thank you for clearing that one up!

Now I know, its either OEM or nothing.

 

Mirror is finally back on but what a hassle.

I first bought rearview mirror adhesive, as soon as I went to put the mirror back up, the bracket came right off. Then tried super glue, that almost worked but failed in the end. Tried another product before I brought out the nuclear weapon of adhesives ... JB Weld. I do not think it will come falling off again.

Thanks LPknack for the assembly instructions.

 

Even the JB Weld give up after a few days. I am now trying some loctite glass glue along with marine epoxy but my hopes are not high. A check with the IR thermometer shows 170f at the mirror mount, no wonder everything fails. If latest attempt is a bust, will have to look at replacing the windshield. I'm not sure what make windshield is in there now but not only is there the mirror issue, I notice that it blocks the vin on the glass.

 

Mine came off again a few days ago. I used the loctite stuff last time and it lasted over a year. Gonna go one more round of the loctite then most likely suck it up and replace the damn windshield... My current glass is a Benson Lamishield model 43R-001703

 

You would think that these aftermarket windshields with falling mirrors would be illegal, since I don't see how they would pass any of the crash tests with the mirrors flying all over the place in the cockpit in the even of a rear collision.

 

My failing windshield is made by PPG.

 

So, the epoxy glass glue combo failed after 24 hours, once the sun got things nice and hot.

I cleaned up the bracket, sanded it to bare metal on the stick side. Cleaned up the glass best I could and stopped over at Safelite figuring I would be getting a new windshield.

The guy there came out with his own bottle of primer and glue and said, "you can't buy this stuff in the store". He put it back on, and it was ready for the mirror within a minute. It's only been less than 24 hours but it did sit in the sun all day and is still holding.

I should add some extra kudos to Safelite. They did not charge me anything to reglue it even though they are not the ones who did the original install.

Hopefully it sticks this time.

 

So, the epoxy glass glue combo failed after 24 hours, once the sun got things nice and hot.

I cleaned up the bracket, sanded it to bare metal on the stick side. Cleaned up the glass best I could and stopped over at Safelite figuring I would be getting a new windshield.

The guy there came out with his own bottle of primer and glue and said, "you can't buy this stuff in the store". He put it back on, and it was ready for the mirror within a minute. It's only been less than 24 hours but it did sit in the sun all day and is still holding.

I should add some extra kudos to Safelite. They did not charge me anything to reglue it even though they are not the ones who did the original install.

Hopefully it sticks this time.

Good luck on this round. I've always liked the Safelite commercials. That's how I know if a company is good

 

Yeah, keep us posted on the Safelite glue. I re-hung my mirror with a glass and ceramic epoxy this time after a lengthy discussion with my local NAPA employees. The good thing for me is that I now live in Maine so I'm not dealing with triple digit temps anymore. Only time will tell how this round goes...

 

So epoxy is definitely not the way to go here. Lasted two days before letting go... Amphicar, how is your Safelite repair holding? My father restores cars and is suggesting I use the stuff they use to glue in windshields. Anyone have thoughts on this? I need to figure this issue out...