Electrochromic Mirrors

[rvgraham]

I just had my used (new to me) '99 LS 400 at the dealer today to have the radio replaced (missing segments) and also had them look at the outside mirrors. They're supposed to dim in concert with the main inside mirror, but they don't do anything perceptible. If I have a bright set of headlights behind me at night, and I press the "auto" button on the mirror, the inside one changes radically, but the outside ones do not change at all that I can perceive. My dealer said they "check out" by comparing to a like vehicle. That doesn't cut it. Any one else have experience with this?

I'm extremely bothered by bright lights in my peripheral vision at night, I was hoping that with this car I wouldn't have to adjust my outside mirrors down and out of use at night.

Bob

[SW03ES]

Yes the mirrors should absolutely dim with the rearview BUT I don't think they dim when you manually dim the mirror. Leave it on auto and see if they work.

Ask the dealer to show you, show you another LS400 that is the same way.

[rvgraham]

Ask the dealer to show you, show you another LS400 that is the same way.

I found a thread on another newsgroup that was helpful; there's a sensor on the back of the mirror, pointing forward, that senses the ambient light condition. If you block this sensor with your fingertip, you can see the mirrrors all dim. My outside ones do work, but it's somewhat more subtle than the inside mirror, and it changes to a bluer color rather than the greenish hue of the inside mirror. I believe that sensor may be somewhat differently located on the ES, as I had an '04 ES for a loaner today, and the mirror was quite different from the one in my '99 LS.

The good news is that they did replace the radio head unit for missing lcd segments!

Thanks, Bob