Issue with Heated side mirrors

[JoulesThief]

The main issue I have with the 2015 e-Golf manual is that it depicts features that are not available ANY 2015 e-Golf.

This is a prime example.

The fact that this version of the turn signal stalk exists and they put it in the manual yet they didn't bother to put it on the LE and SE that don't have the fancy steering wheel is crazy.

That is cruise control on VW grades that have entry level cruise control. Higher end VW's have either a separate cruise control stalk, located at 8 0'clock on the steering column, (think CC or Touareg models, on up into the Audi lineup) or if they are a high end model in a MK7 chassis like an SEL, the cruise control is installed as a feature on the steering wheel.

My Passat SE has a cruise control identical to that shown in your photo. The logo's aren't rocket science.

All the money in the e-golf went into the battery pack, it seems, on any e-golf under $34,600, or what ever list was on the LE model or SE model at $29,900 or what ever. You get cruise control on the left side of the steering wheel when the MSRP is over $36,000. I am pretty certain you could retrofit a cruise control stalk off of any mk7 golf, and with some expert fiddling around on VCDS, with the proper selection of bits and bytes, you'd get it working, no problem.

Frankly, you're just going to have to accept that with the e-Golf being built on German MQB arckitekture that is a shared platform by all power palnts, TDI, gas 2.0, TSI 1.4, hybrid in some parts of the world, and pure BEV, that there will be some overlap, and some features missing, in every market, as VW builds to a price point. These e-Golfs, originally thought to be a compliance car, well, you can bet, VW is losing money on every one of them to keep CARB states happy with Zero Emission Credits.

Generally speaking, sooner or later, someone does a youtube video that will cover most the the features on the car. Try this one, it may or may not cover what you need to know. https://youtu.be/8fxB-umYATo

 

[RonDawg]

The OP has acknowledged early in this thread, before it turned into a bitchfest, of their mistake. I don't consider the title of this thread accurate in any way, shape or form, there is no issue with the heated side mirror, only with the operator not being able to take the time to figure it out.

I didn't see a single other person pull their owners manual out to direct the OP to the page in the owners manual that addresses this operation function. Maybe, the OP was really just trolling, since it really is a simple solution if you just take a look at it while stationary, instead of attempting to adjust or turn on the mirror heat while driving, which is what I suspect happened. If you open your door and take a look at the mirror switch, it really is self explanatory and intuitive... if you take the time to look at the indexing of the switch.

The problem Joules is that this seems to be your routine whenever someone asks a question: RTFM. It's annoying, and totally unproductive. Nobody is forcing you to read these threads, much less reply to them.

I am not new to VAG products, having owned an Audi A3 since 2009, and having grown up with VW's in my family going back to the Super Beetle (with Automatic Stick Shift!). My car in high school, before I got into an accident with it (not my fault), was a '77 Rabbit with fuel injection and automatic that I got from my Mom when Dad bought her a new '81 model. But the manuals for these vehicles, including the one for the A3, were/are far easier to digest than the one for the eGolf.

 

[JoulesThief]

The OP has acknowledged early in this thread, before it turned into a bitchfest, of their mistake. I don't consider the title of this thread accurate in any way, shape or form, there is no issue with the heated side mirror, only with the operator not being able to take the time to figure it out.

I didn't see a single other person pull their owners manual out to direct the OP to the page in the owners manual that addresses this operation function. Maybe, the OP was really just trolling, since it really is a simple solution if you just take a look at it while stationary, instead of attempting to adjust or turn on the mirror heat while driving, which is what I suspect happened. If you open your door and take a look at the mirror switch, it really is self explanatory and intuitive... if you take the time to look at the indexing of the switch.

The problem Joules is that this seems to be your routine whenever someone asks a question: RTFM. It's annoying, and totally unproductive. Nobody is forcing you to read these threads, much less reply to them.

I am not new to VAG products, having owned an Audi A3 since 2009, and having grown up with VW's in my family going back to the Super Beetle (with Automatic Stick Shift!). My car in high school, before I got into an accident with it (not my fault), was a '77 Rabbit with fuel injection and automatic that I got from my Mom when Dad bought her a new '81 model. But the manuals for these vehicles, including the one for the A3, were/are far easier to digest than the one for the eGolf.

The problem, is your opinion, versus my opinion. We agree to disagree. I really am not interested if you do or don't agree with my opinion. The routine seems to be owners fail to read the owners manual. You can deny it all you want.

Here's a sample, from 2012, on VWvortex, from a Google search on "how to defrost heat the side view mirrors on a VW golf" heck, try speaking it to Siri and see what you get?
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?5910961-Side-Mirror-defrost



You'll note response #8... that's not me... but again, there's the solution... read the manual, you might learn even more cool features.

Here's another thread on the same subject. http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?5070995-How-do-I-use-the-heated-mirrors
going back to 2010. Funny, Last post refers to "until I read the owners manual, I didn't know this." Do you notice a theme here? Does it matter whether "RTFM" is mentioned sooner or later in the thread? I guess I waste less time than others getting to the solution to the problem.

Unproductive is not reading the Owner's Manual first... think of all the bandwidth it would save, as well as all the potential misinformation on the internet. It might even improve the productivity of businesses, instead of IT personnel reading threads like this on company time.

 

[GadgetGav]

I didn't see a single other person pull their owners manual out to direct the OP to the page in the owners manual that addresses this operation function. Maybe, the OP was really just trolling, since it really is a simple solution if you just take a look at it while stationary, instead of attempting to adjust or turn on the mirror heat while driving, which is what I suspect happened. If you open your door and take a look at the mirror switch, it really is self explanatory and intuitive... if you take the time to look at the indexing of the switch.

I know how to operate the heated mirror switch as I too have owned other VAG cars in the past. I still don't think it's intuitive from looking at the switch though. The switch 'feel' like it's off in the center and rotates slightly left and right to select each mirror for adjustment. I certainly felt to me like I might break something if I turned it all the way around to the bottom. The icon for heating being at the bottom could be construed as meaning push rather than twist 180 degrees...

 

[GadgetGav]

Unproductive is not reading the Owner's Manual first... think of all the bandwidth it would save, as well as all the potential misinformation on the internet. It might even improve the productivity of businesses, instead of IT personnel reading threads like this on company time.

Not only are the entitled kids not reading their manuals, the IT people (probably also millennials) are wasting company time and money reading these boards..! It's a terrible world you live in JoulesThief... I'm glad I don't live in SoCal. :lol:

 

[Jiffy]

Is there any indication, other than the position of the switch, that the heated mirrors are turned on? I've been through the manual and couldn't find anything, but it seems like it would be too easy to turn it on and forget that it's on without a light or text or other warning that it's been left on. It's not a control switch you usually mess with once the mirrors are all set, and it's not at all obvious that it's even on unless you look at the switch itself.

 

[JoulesThief]

Is there any indication, other than the position of the switch, that the heated mirrors are turned on? I've been through the manual and couldn't find anything, but it seems like it would be too easy to turn it on and forget that it's on without a light or text or other warning that it's been left on. It's not a control switch you usually mess with once the mirrors are all set, and it's not at all obvious that it's even on unless you look at the switch itself.

Nope, the germans expect you to pay attention to settings. Turn it on, when the mirrors are clear, turn the heated mirrrors off.

I've always considered it common knowledge that when owning a German car, before shutting the ignition off, you should have a checklist of all the items that you turned on in the first place, to shut them off, before you shut off the ignition. Lights, wipers, radio, HVAC fan, heated windows, heated mirrors, heated seats, etc. So that you don't put a heavy load on all the switch contacts when you turn the ignition switch on the next time. Pretty much the same checklist a pilot goes through on shut down, or start up.

Seems like common sense to me, from an electrical point of view. You'd do the same with a circuit breaker panel, energize the main circuit breaker first, then energize each 15 or 20 amp circuit, one by one.

 

[GadgetGav]

Is there any indication, other than the position of the switch, that the heated mirrors are turned on? I've been through the manual and couldn't find anything, but it seems like it would be too easy to turn it on and forget that it's on without a light or text or other warning that it's been left on. It's not a control switch you usually mess with once the mirrors are all set, and it's not at all obvious that it's even on unless you look at the switch itself.

Nope, the germans expect you to pay attention to settings. Turn it on, when the mirrors are clear, turn the heated mirrrors off.

I've always considered it common knowledge that when owning a German car, before shutting the ignition off, you should have a checklist of all the items that you turned on in the first place, to shut them off, before you shut off the ignition. Lights, wipers, radio, HVAC fan, heated windows, heated mirrors, heated seats, etc. So that you don't put a heavy load on all the switch contacts when you turn the ignition switch on the next time. Pretty much the same checklist a pilot goes through on shut down, or start up.

Seems like common sense to me, from an electrical point of view. You'd do the same with a circuit breaker panel, energize the main circuit breaker first, then energize each 15 or 20 amp circuit, one by one.

I think Jiffy has a good point... the heated mirrors are one of the few physical switches on this car and on top of that there's no indicator light to say it's on.

To go through your checklist JoulesThief:
Lights - automatic setting (at least on the SEL).
Wipers - automatic, rain sensing (on the SEL).
Radio - shuts down with the ignition or on a timer if you listen to it with the main power off and you know when it's on.
HVAC - resets with every power cycle, much to the annoyance of many drivers.
Heated windows - both are on timer circuits and shut off automatically or when the main power is turned off. Rear has indicator light, front has an icon on the screen that changes color though that's not always visible.
Heated seats - turn off with the main power, and you can't forget they're on if you're sitting on them. The passenger one might get turned on but only until the car is shut off.
Heated mirrors - by far the odd one out.

Aside from the mirrors, you don't really need a pilot's checklist with a modern car.

Do we know for sure that there's no timer behind it? Even though it's a physical switch maybe it times out and you have to move it back to the neutral position and then back to heat before it will actually heat the mirrors again.

 

[forbin404]

You know a funny thing about VW?
I'm renting a Jetta right now and the mirror switch is completely different (While remaining the same)

Using a 12 hour clock to describe the settings.

On the Egolf

10 - Left Mirror Control
12 - Neutral
2 - Right Mirror Control
6 - Heated Mirrors


On the Jetta
10 - Left Mirror Control
9 - Neutral
8 - Right Mirror Control
3 - Heated Mirrors.

Why would an ICE car like the Jetta even have the Heated mirrors on the switch itself? Silly

 

[RonDawg]

Heated mirrors are popular on cars with "cold weather" packages to help keep them clear when it's snowy or icy out. Here in SoCal I have no use for them (and have never used mine).

Why are you renting a Jetta? The eGolf's in the shop already?

 

[forbin404]

Heated mirrors are popular on cars with "cold weather" packages to help keep them clear when it's snowy or icy out. Here in SoCal I have no use for them (and have never used mine).

Why are you renting a Jetta? The eGolf's in the shop already?

The Egolf went in for it's 1000 mile check out and I asked them to fix the Delayed Charging, and they don't seem to know what to do, so they called VW to send in an expert and hence I got a free rent a car out of it.

Should be resolved this week.

 

[ElectricRide]

I looked in the manual when I couldn't figure out the heated mirrors. It wasn't very clear (maybe the Canadian version?) and it certainly didn't mention turning the dial.

I figured it out after Google brought me here.

JoulesThief, you don't sound very fun to be around. No one likes that guy. We're all here to talk shop, so why poop on people's parades?