Rear view mirror anti-glare not working....

The "1" is "on" and the "0" is "off". When it's on, there's a green light that's lit. Right next to the "1" button there's a sensor. Be sure that it's pointed towards the rear window. You might have to tweak the mirror position slightly. If none of this works, have your Toyota dealer look at it.

My 2005 Prius also had the auto-dimming mirror. They do work well.

 

It works poorly on the Prius, often because the sensor's view of the headlights of the car behind you are blocked by the spoiler between the top and bottom glass of the hatch (even though you can still see the headlights in the reflection). You can try adjusting the mirror up or down, it may make a difference, but it will probably just change where a car is behind you when it doesn't work right. Other solutions suggested before have included covering the front-facing sensor or flipping the mirror upside down (so the sensor is above the mirror, not below). I haven't tried any of these things - I mostly just live with it when it decides to not dim.

 

The front sensor works in conjunction with the rear one such that when the rear one senses much more light on it than on the front one it dims the mirror. If you block the front sensor it should take less light on the rear sensor to trigger the mirror to dim.

 

On Cadillacs, the front sensor let the mirror know when it's nighttime. The darker it got outside, the darker the mirrors got when someone was behind you.

 

Ours didn't work either (2010 Gen III model 5). For $20 I had it replaced with a manual dimming mirror that works fine - I'm still able to reach up twice a day and flip a tab...

 

Did you replace the stock auto-dimming mirror with the standard GEN III manual mirror?

I'm unhappy with the (under) performance of my auto-dimming mirror too. I'd like to replace it with a manual mirror as well- but I want the replacement mirror to look factory installed- so I guess I'm looking for the part number(s) for the manual mirror you used...

Thanks!

 

I'm afraid I won't be much help here - I went to the local junkyard and picked out a manual-dimming rearview mirror from the mirror bin that looked like it could be made to fit. The junkyard owner swapped the mirror on our Prius for that one, and charged $20 to install it. The installation doesn't look too bad, but changes were made that would probably make going back to an automatic dimming mirror very expensive. So you probably don't want to do what I did. -Sorry

 

I think I fixed the @#$%^ non-dimming auto-dimming rear view mirror in my 2012 Plug-in Prius. This might work for others too. Note: I have the Plug-in Advanced package, so the seat height geometry might (!?) not be the same as on the base or the Gen III Prius.

Coming off the Gen II Prius, the non-dimming autodimming rear view mirror was gettin' to me as well. I took a long look at it yesterday after reading the many posts about it here. The secret for me was in the swivel mount for the mirror.

Unlike in most cars I know, the mirror swivel mount has not one, but two (2) pivot ball joints, one at each end. Once I saw that, I played around with the mirror, turning it around and raising and lowering it to get the rear light sensor to clear the line of the rear spoiler. Well, I tried to adjust the double swivel left-to-right after the up & down didn't help much. Surprise!

When I adjusted the swivel "stick" so that the mirror is as high as it can be, i.e. as it touches the plastic black rib on the windshield behind it, I then moved (tilted?) the swivel mount as far left, to the steering wheel, as it could go. That was the magic sauce: the mirror is now a li'l higher than before, and it is also a li'l more parallel to the rear than before because its angle toward my face is a little less acute. Both moves together actually combined their effect so that the light sensor catches enough light from following headlights that it does dim the mirror noticeably better - good enough so that I don't squint anymore.

Again, the best adjustment (for me - I am six foot tall) was adjusting the swivel stick in both its ball joints UP and to the LEFT as far as it could go, while keeping the mirror in its correct aspect so that I can see the road behind me. Try it.

 

Thanks! I was wondering what was going on with my PIP Advanced. It would dim in some scenarios but not others. I, too, upgraded from a Gen II.

 

Glad it worked for you as well.

 

I finally fixed my " non-dimming autodimming rear view mirror" too- I traded in my Five for the base PIP with the regular rear view mirror! I think I still have some retina burn from that POS autodimming mirror.
Fixed....

 

I can definitely see the shadow line dancing around the sensor in traffic thanks to the rear bar in the way. Maybe they need to install a mirror array to reflect all that light to the sensor but then use that light to help power the car. a nighttime solar array?

 

My prius came with a manual mirror. I drive all night every night and all these fools with aftermarket headlights not adjusted were blinding me. The flip makes things too dark.

I tried two different gentex mirrors. The one that works well is the GM version with the rear facing sensor in the middle of the mirror not on the frame.

I also used a mirror mount extension cost 4x the price of the mirror. And a couple (two) of dimming dots on the forward facing sensor. Works great. I do turn off the mirror in daytime sometimes though.

I used:

Rostra 250-8602 1" Spacer Wedge Mount

NEW OEM GM 2007-2017 AUTO DIMMING REARVIEW MIRROR (15271286) (GNTX-5110)

$80 plus a bit of wire, I just grounded to the fuse block mounting screw, and powered off the 12 volt outlet fuse. 1 hour installation. You’ll need to connect the two wires to the mirror plug of course. I used the ends of an RC servo lead. The connector is perfect to attach to the mirrors pins. This whole process was frustrating for me and I hope this helps someone It’s worth it for sure in the end.

 

I know this is a very old thread but this issue has never, to my knowledge, been resolved. There are two light sensors in the mirror, front facing and rear facing.

If both sensors sense light then the anti-glare doesnt kick on.
If rear facing sensor sense darkness and front facing sensor sense light then the anti-glare is not on either.
If the front facing one senses darkness and so does the rear facing one then the anti-glare is off still.

Lastly, when the front facing one senses darkness and rear facing one senses light then and only then the anti-glare is switched on, this so it only would be on when there are blinding lights coming from the back.

The issue with the prius is exactly as some members have pointed out, the rear facing one never senses the light coming from the cars behind the prius as the light is blocked by the spoiler. I may have a solution for it, all you need is a mirror that doesnt have the rear facing light sensor on the bottom of the mirror. I may have found the perfect replacement, the lexus frame less rear view mirror has the sensor located in the top middle of the mirror, behind the mirror actually.

87810-0WM20 Genuine Lexus Mirror Assembly, Inner Rear

A used or even new one can be had for as little as $150 from ebay, pins connections is identical to the ones in the prius. I bought one yesterday and it should be here soon, I'll update the thread once its in, everything looks to be identical as far as pin, pin-out etc. The mirror only needs ACC power for the mirror, constant on for the homelink connection and ground, position of the pins is the same, you can check the linked pdf for details on the mirror and also see the position of the rear facing light sensor as an added bonus, it has a built in compass.

I really hope that this fixes it as I am sick of being blinded at night, doesnt help that I drive a lot at night; my rear window is tinted and that helps a bit but not much.

 

Update, new mirror is installed, no cutting, no splicing, no modifications needed. It looks great and works perfect. Anti-glare works like a charm now.

Plus the new mirror looks 10 times better than the old.

 

Still need to install the wire/plug cover.

 

Is the Lexus one really meant to be wider at the top instead of at the bottom, or is it twisted around?