Question about Electric Door Mirrors

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MysteryMan
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Question about Electric Door Mirrors

Post by MysteryMan »

I m seriously considering one of the new Polos and wonder if anyone who already has one can answer the following question, please.......

You can get "Electrically heated, adjustable and foldable door mirrors" either fitted as standard or as an optional extra and I would like to know if you can you set these to fold away automatically when you leave the car or can you press a button to fold them in/out or do they only fold away by manual means?

Thanks
SRGTD
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Re: Question about Electric Door Mirrors

Post by SRGTD »

Hi MysteryMan. I’d imagine that the electrically foldable function of the mirrors on the new Polo works in the same way as it does on the outgoing, previous generation Polo model. I have a 2016 Polo GTI with electrically folding mirrors, and mine work in the following way;
  • In the car settings in the infotainment unit, there’s an option for the mirrors to ‘fold when locking’. If this isn’t selected, then the flooding function doesn’t operate.
  • If the option is selected, then the mirrors will automatically fold when the car is locked. When the car is next unlocked, they don’t automatically unfold until the ignition is switched on and the engine is started.
  • You can also ‘manually’ fold and unfold the mirrors by turning the rotary mirror adjustment control knob on the driver’s door to the ‘mirror fold’ position, whether the ‘fold when locking’ option is selected or not - so you’re effectively over-riding the auto function. Turning the mirror adjustment knob to this setting will still fold the mirrors in electrically.
I do use the manual over-ride for my mirrors when I park my car in my garage, so I don’t clip the mirrors on the garage door opening. I leave the mirrors folded while my car’s garaged (I leave the mirror adjustment control in the ‘mirror fold’ position) and while I’m reversing out of my garage.

I think the mirrors on all the new Polo models other than the entry level S model have the electric heating and adjustment function, but not all have the folding function as standard - standard on R-Line and GTI+ and optional on SE, SEL, Beats and GTI.
MysteryMan
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Re: Question about Electric Door Mirrors

Post by MysteryMan »

Thanks, that is what I hoped they would be like.

The reason I ask is that I have an e-Golf at the moment and its door mirrors are electrically adjustable and heated and they fold away, so, they fit in with the description of "Electrically heated, adjustable and foldable door mirror". However, they do not have ability to fold electronically/automatically. You have to give them a shove! As you can imagine, this was a great disappointment when I found this out and I subsequently discovered that I needed to have ordered it with an optional "pack" to get the auto-fold.

I would hate to end up in the same situation and would be very grateful if someone who already has the new 2018 Polo can confirm what they are like on the R-Line or GTI+ model or if you have added the Door Mirror option, please?
wizzywig27
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Re: Question about Electric Door Mirrors

Post by wizzywig27 »

Don’t think anyone has the models you have mentioned but I have the SE and they are electronically adjustable and heated but do not fold in electronically. In fact they will not fold in at all which is disappointing!
MysteryMan
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Re: Question about Electric Door Mirrors

Post by MysteryMan »

wizzywig27 wrote: Fri Mar 30, 2018 5:22 pm Don’t think anyone has the models you have mentioned but I have the SE and they are electronically adjustable and heated but do not fold in electronically. In fact they will not fold in at all which is disappointing!
OK, thanks - looks like I need to be a bit more patient!
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Re: Question about Electric Door Mirrors

Post by RUM4MO »

wizzywig27 wrote: Fri Mar 30, 2018 5:22 pm Don’t think anyone has the models you have mentioned but I have the SE and they are electronically adjustable and heated but do not fold in electronically. In fact they will not fold in at all which is disappointing!
I'd think that you must be able to fold them in by hand, the rules governing car safety will demand that these mirrors will "break away" when contacting someone, which most manufacturers have chosen to mean that they will fold if forced to to so, so you should be able to fold your mirrors by hand, they might be a bit stiff, but them they need to be to avoid folding when driving at speed.

The term/description "electrically heated, adjusting and folding" might be slightly vague it seems, I would not have expected that - but maybe it is like that.

Edit:- what I've left out is, if "folding" is included in the description then I'd expect electrically folding - as as I pointed out earlier, they must be able to fold always have had to since car safety design rules mandated that, so including that in any sales blurb must be VW etc adding in powered folding, kick your salesman from here to hell if he tries that one!
wizzywig27
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Re: Question about Electric Door Mirrors

Post by wizzywig27 »

Ok, so after your comments I thought I would take a look.

For the life of me I can’t work out how to fold them. I have taken a pic, feel free to explain.

Image
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Re: Question about Electric Door Mirrors

Post by mike sel »

Go to infotainment screen , car settings, mirrors, ensure the auto fold is on.

To be honest I am not sure if I want to leave mine on, the motor weeers away when you lock the car and of course the mirrors fold away. however every time you unlock the car they naturally fold out.. no I don't know how many times these things will work before you need a new motor, but last night I arrived home, get out and lock car, mirrors weeer away and fold. I go in the house a realise I left my reading glasses in there so I go to car unlock, mirrors weeeeer away and deeply. I get my glasses and ….yea, yea you know the story from there. Anyway by the time I had finished with the car I had been back to it about 3 times during the evening. That's 6 mirror operations just in one night . If I add the locking and unlocking during the day its a total of 10-12 mirror operations a day, I sure my car almost every day. Just not sure now long those motors last 12,000 cycles in 3 years of use?

I am thinking of leaving the auto fold function switched off during normal use and only use it when I park in a tight space (aint gona happen if I can avoid it) or if I park at the road side. At the moment the auto fold is a toy and I am leaving it like that. But not for long I think.
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Re: Question about Electric Door Mirrors

Post by SRGTD »

mike sel wrote: Fri Jun 29, 2018 6:18 am Go to infotainment screen , car settings, mirrors, ensure the auto fold is on.

To be honest I am not sure if I want to leave mine on, the motor weeers away when you lock the car and of course the mirrors fold away. however every time you unlock the car they naturally fold out.. no I don't know how many times these things will work before you need a new motor, but last night I arrived home, get out and lock car, mirrors weeer away and fold. I go in the house a realise I left my reading glasses in there so I go to car unlock, mirrors weeeeer away and deeply. I get my glasses and ….yea, yea you know the story from there. Anyway by the time I had finished with the car I had been back to it about 3 times during the evening. That's 6 mirror operations just in one night . If I add the locking and unlocking during the day its a total of 10-12 mirror operations a day, I sure my car almost every day. Just not sure now long those motors last 12,000 cycles in 3 years of use?

I am thinking of leaving the auto fold function switched off during normal use and only use it when I park in a tight space (aint gona happen if I can avoid it) or if I park at the road side. At the moment the auto fold is a toy and I am leaving it like that. But not for long I think.
Interesting to hear the way the auto fold function for the mirrors work compared to the previous generation Polo. On my 2016 Polo, the mirrors auto fold when you lock the car, but don’t automatically unfold when you unlock - they only unfold when you start the engine. So, in the circumstances you describe, mine would’ve folded in when I first locked the car after getting home, but they wouldn’t have unfolded/folded again if I had to go back to the car to get something I’d forgotten - they’d only unfold when I next wanted to use the car and I’d switched on the ignition.

Presumably you also have a manual fold option on the mirror adjustment control? Mine has 0, L, R, mirror heating and mirror fold, and I use the manual fold/unfold option for fitting through tight spaces like my garage door opening (I’ve a small garage). I turn the mirror control to manually fold them in as I drive into my garage and leave the mirror adjustment knob in the manual fold position while parked up in the garage. When I reverse out of the garage, I leave the mirrors folded until I’ve cleared the garage door opening, and then unfold them - again, using the mirror adjustment knob - you could turn it to any of the other mirror settings, but would be best to use ‘L’ to restore your kerbside mirror dipping function. That method would work better for you when parking in tight spaces rather than having to keep switching on and switching off the auto fold function in the car settings via the infotainment screen.
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Re: Question about Electric Door Mirrors

Post by Alan Mc »

wizzywig27 wrote: Mon Apr 02, 2018 10:08 pm Ok, so after your comments I thought I would take a look.

For the life of me I can’t work out how to fold them. I have taken a pic, feel free to explain.

Image
Did you get them to fold ? Just a thought my car played up yesterday and wouldn’t drive. When the chap come out and plugged it into the computer it come up with a mirror fault code. Mine are actually working as they should be. Maybe worth getting the garage to look at them if you can’t get them to fold.
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Re: Question about Electric Door Mirrors

Post by SRGTD »

Alan Mc wrote: Sat Jun 30, 2018 7:42 am
wizzywig27 wrote: Mon Apr 02, 2018 10:08 pm Ok, so after your comments I thought I would take a look.

For the life of me I can’t work out how to fold them. I have taken a pic, feel free to explain.
Did you get them to fold ? Just a thought my car played up yesterday and wouldn’t drive. When the chap come out and plugged it into the computer it come up with a mirror fault code. Mine are actually working as they should be. Maybe worth getting the garage to look at them if you can’t get them to fold.
wizzywig27’s Polo (an SE model) doesn’t have electric folding mirrors;
wizzywig27 wrote: Fri Mar 30, 2018 5:22 pm Don’t think anyone has the models you have mentioned but I have the SE and they are electronically adjustable and heated but do not fold in electronically. In fact they will not fold in at all which is disappointing!
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Re: Question about Electric Door Mirrors

Post by stevereeves »

mike sel wrote: Fri Jun 29, 2018 6:18 am Anyway by the time I had finished with the car I had been back to it about 3 times during the evening. That's 6 mirror operations just in one night . If I add the locking and unlocking during the day its a total of 10-12 mirror operations a day, I sure my car almost every day. Just not sure now long those motors last 12,000 cycles in 3 years of use?
I do as above, poss wear & tear are concerns of mine too but VW have 3 warranty so I woudn't worry about it too much.
The non-electrical folding mirrors on the SE look as if they - might - swivel where the mirror body itself attaches to the mounting stalk, if that makes sense. You could try it but be very careful, it should swivel easily if not don't force it. Think the tubing under the bonnet of the red car look like it could be the piping for the washer jets difficult to tell if there is also electrical cable, my Golf has heated washer jets I'll take a look later....
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Re: Question about Electric Door Mirrors

Post by Freddynewbert »

wizzywig27 wrote: Mon Apr 02, 2018 10:08 pm Ok, so after your comments I thought I would take a look.

For the life of me I can’t work out how to fold them. I have taken a pic, feel free to explain.

Image
Okay so nearly a year later, I have found the solution to your issue, if you haven't already! Place your hand on the squarish part or the mirror furthest away from you if your sitting in the drivers eat and pull, hard. Don't be afraid to use force, unless you have the electrically folding mirrors then you will have a function on the adjustability joystick.

Hope this helps
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Re: Question about Electric Door Mirrors

Post by tyler-owen.jones »

Hi all, I'm looking to purchase a polo and wondering on what specifications you get the powerfold door mirrors feature? I am aware the GTI does just wondering if any other do? Thank you very much 😃
SRGTD
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Re: Question about Electric Door Mirrors

Post by SRGTD »

tyler-owen.jones wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 11:41 pm Hi all, I'm looking to purchase a polo and wondering on what specifications you get the powerfold door mirrors feature? I am aware the GTI does just wondering if any other do? Thank you very much 😃
Assuming you’re located in the UK, electrically folding door mirrors are part of standard equipment on the R-Line and GTI+ models. Apart from the entry level Polo S where they’re not available, electrically folding mirrors are an extra cost option on all other models, including the standard ‘non-plus’ GTI.

On those models where they can be specified as an extra cost option, they’re available either as a stand alone option (cost; £160), or as part of a bundled option pack consisting of electric folding mirrors, lane assist, including blind spot detection and rear traffic alert (cost; £690).

If your location is outside the UK, cars in non-UK markets may have a different standard spec to UK cars, so the models that get electric folding mirrors as part of the standard spec and those that can have them as an extra cost option is likely to be different to the UK.
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