Magellan55

So why does Lexus auto-dim the side view mirrors, and then not let you default them to "off"? Now that DST is over, my commute home is in the dark, and I can't tell which lane cars are in, or how close they are, as I'm merging onto the highway and heading for the fast lane. All I see are little specks of light, with no lane markers or outlines of the cars so I can judge position and distance. Turning the auto-dim off takes 5 seconds or so, and is an annoyance (and of course I always forget as I'm heading out of a well-lit parking lot).

The dealer didn't have a clue how to default them to off, or how to disable them. I still want the ability to dim the rear view mirror, so I don't want to just pull the fuse.

Any ideas? Am I the only one that can't see cars in the next lane at night with the auto-dim feature on?

YotaCarFan

I've never found the auto-dim feature of the outside mirrors to be a problem; it's actually one of my favorite features. I assume you already have your mirrors adjusted to show at least a sliver of the vehicle's body so you have a reference point from which to gauge what lane cars coming from behind are in, correct? Other than that, having the mirrors dimmed in dusk/dawn is the same as driving at night - total darkness except for headlights.

The only option is to shut off the auto-dim feature of the inside rearview mirror (via button next to green LED on mirror bezel), so that the outside mirrors will no longer dim either.

My quibble is that there's no way to force activate the dim mode of the interior mirror to deal with tailgater high-beams at dusk/dawn or the setting sun shining in the rear window and reflecting off the mirror into my eyes.

Magellan55

Adjusting the mirror so I see the side of my car leaves too much of a blind spot, at least for where my seat is adjusted. And that doesn't help tell me whether a headlight belongs to a close car in the next lane or one far away 2 lanes over. With any other car, and with the HS when the auto-dim is off, I can see the outlines of grilles and lane markers and relative brightness of headlights so I can tell which headlights belong to which cars, and whether the cars are in the next lane or 2 lanes over. Maybe it's an age thing, but when the auto-dim is on, all I see out the driver side mirror at night are lots of specks of light.

I'm happy it works for some people - my main complaint is that I can't default it to "off", or control it separately from the rear view mirror. It would be really useful if they handled it like the reverse-down function - disable it when you place the side mirror adjuster to "neutral". Or if that auto-dim switch just defaulted to the last position it was in, rather than always defaulting back to "on" every time you start the car. That would make the most sense - meetings the needs of both those who like it and those that dislike it.

asantis92

iTrader: (1)

mine auto dims in the day time now on the right side. it doesn't really bother me, it just makes everything look blue. it's weird.