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@Action Jackson: Thanks for the confirmation that you feel the warmth. Were you indoors? I will try again to detect the warmth, but first try to find an indoor location. As I posted above, however, the issue seems to be persistent lack of edge coverage on one mirror rather than lack of heating.
I was outside. Usually I clean the mirrors off before driving. When the heated feature is on, then I see the middle of the mirror clear out first and slowly enlarging outwards. It is the same on my other cars. If I'm lucky, I'll get almost all of the mirror clear except at the outer edges.
The only time the mirrors would not clear as well was during a sideways blowing sticky snowstorm and it blew directly into the mirror (tailwind).
@Bassguitarist1985: Thanks for all the pictures. I don't think I'll be doing it myself. Assuming that there are at least a handful of heating lines per mirror, the photos tell me that there isn't an individual wire for each heating line. If some of the lines aren't working, therefore, it isn't the result of the replacement of interior electrical systems after my car was flooded. It's likely that the entire mirror can be replaced. Probably an hour or two of a professional's time at a Honda garage (at over $100/hour in Canada).
The heating grid from the 1/64" terminals run to each side of the grid vertically. In the middle are horizontal heating wires, think of your rear defroster grid. No mirror will have the extreme edges covered by the grid as you need the adhesive to hold the mirror glass to the plastic black frame. Give it enough time the entire mirror will defrost unless you get a tailwind of snow as action jackson mentioned.
Replacing the entire mitror assembly is MAD MONEY, and not necessary. Just change the mirror sub assembly and snake the wires through the door into the cabin, and back out through the firewall into the engine bay where the relay is located. I'd say 2-3 hours for me, now that i have done the job twice (2015 and now my 2017) im confident thats how long the job would take. My videos are not very succinct and likley over detailed. However, a worth while upgrade. The winkers I added later, overpriced, but love the look! :-)
@Fitchet: Default heated mirrors might country-specific so that they don't get added in countries in which large areas don't experience frost on the mirrors.
Yes, that's what I learned from this thread.
But I still think it's a poor choice by Honda. The US is a huge country with diverse climates from state to state, region to region, but we also travel a lot. And most States, do get some form of Winter.
I think it would be nice to include the feature standard on all produced Honda Fits. I can't imagine it would be impossible to design it so that it's not an issue using the rear defroster in warmer climates.
Really maybe as simple as creating a separate button for just the side mirrors.
02-17-2019, 09:39 AM
