Toyota Corolla S heated mirrors question

2013 Toyota Corolla S , 4door, 48K miles.

I was filling my sons car up at the gas station as we were both there. I happened to be scraping the ice and snow off the car and noticed that he had heated mirrors or what appears to be heated mirrors but we couldn't find the switch that activates the heated mirrors as the lights on the mirrors don't come on.

They're not turn signal mirrors as they don't flash and they have a heat logo but just need to figure out how to activate them.

The rear window heat switch don't do activate it. HE says he's never seen them on but if they're automatic with -5 temps and -25 windchills one would think the lights would light up.

Does anyone know if these are automatic?

IS this a option you have to buy, activate or something involving the dealer?

Don't know if there'd be a relay, fuse or something else.

One thing I can say is I didn't put my hands on them to see if they were warm.

I wonder if this is something I could have bidirectional control with? If anyone has Toyota experience in this area please feel free to enlighten me on how I can approach this.

This was a used vehicle with 39k miles on it when we bought it about a year ago for my son for college commuting on weekends when he comes home.

Good question! I had to dig into the diagrams for the answer, but it appears that the mirrors DO come on with the rear window defroster. Or, they're supposed to, anyway. :silly:



The easiest check would be the MIR HTR fuse, in whatever main fuse box this thing has (as the diagram doesn't specify). If it's good, and getting powered with the rear defroster switch, then you're probably good to go.

Tyler wrote: Good question! I had to dig into the diagrams for the answer, but it appears that the mirrors DO come on with the rear window defroster. Or, they're supposed to, anyway. :silly:

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The easiest check would be the MIR HTR fuse, in whatever main fuse box this thing has (as the diagram doesn't specify). If it's good, and getting powered with the rear defroster switch, then you're probably good to go.

Thanks! Golden info there Tyler! Do you know if the lights on the mirrors are suppose to come on? I know the rear defrost comes on or at least the light does. I should check the voltage at the rear and see for sure. Had that issue with my impala a few years ago when the common shorted wire smoked unknowingly. Came to find out that was a very known issue with GM. Must've been the final hail mary of the old pre bailout GM.

I'm sure it has panels inside the mirrors which I can check voltage for also so I'll check there as well as I think the light would light up on the mirror but could be wrong as I've been before.

Thanks Again! You're the Man!

Nah, you're the man! I found another diagram of the same system, but it still doesn't show any lights in the mirrors.

Ok tried a Photo with a Flash and it doesn't show on the mirror so I turned the flash off and luckily it's white enough out that you can see it in the mirror I also put a yellow square around it just to enhance the picture a little bit. Hope that helps or I'm going to get schooled on a symbol.

The rear window defrost works or at least my son says it does. I don't think it does as I think the heat from the vehicle is hitting the back window and causing the elements to heat some as it's a very slow melt where the lines are.

The reason I say this is I used my thermal Imager and I can see heat coming out the vents clear is a day in the vehicle but nothing on the back window and even the seats are warm and they're not even heated seats it's just the heat hitting them causing them to warm up creating a heat signature. The defrost light is on it puts a little bit of a draw when you kick it in as they do in most vehicles but I'm not getting any heat signature off of the mirrors either.

It's a little too cold for me tonight -8 or below with 25 below wind chill so I'm going to head inside and rethink a different approach tomorrow which will probably be hitting the fuse box first as I have to sit down and look at your supply diagrams which I thank you for and you're still the man!!!

I knew that thermal imaging device but come in handy more than just a few times. It was a demo so I saved a little bit of money compared to retail I don't know if that was good or bad but it's definitely proving to be a good tool as my Nepali neighbor had me over tonight checking his heater vents because they think it's too cold in their house.

I showed him everything was working fine and rest assured him that it was and he was okay with that. They're fairly new to the US within a couple years so whenever they have troubles or whatever they call me as I know quite a bit about a lot or try at least. There's always Google when all else fails as I tell my kids and you just have to decipher the information from there.

Thanks for finding those diagrams for me! I am amazed at times how you guys come up with that stuff. Some of you guys must have hidden cubby holes you keep that stuff stored in and just poof upload it and there it is for us. Ha Ha... Lol....



Heat signature pics from car. Marked with yellow wording.





No Heat Signature from the mirror,

Ah yeah, that mirror isn't heating at all, is it? :lol: In that case, I suspect you're gonna find a popped fuse. That MIR HTR fuse doesn't feed anything else, so your list of suspects is pretty short.

I was very pleasantly surprised to find that diagram on BBB Industries. :silly: They're a great resource, but coverage newer than 2012 is patchy.

OH man forgot about that BBB website. One of you guys showed me about it awhile back.

Gotta thank Dtnel for this thread, came in super handy today.

4Runner is in for assorted services, also has a busted side mirror, customer wants an estimate. The price difference between heated and not is about $100, but how do you tell the difference? :huh: There's no symbol on the outside, and no dedicated switch. I know! Hit the defroster button and watch the mirrors with the infrared imager. :yay:

Saved me tons of time on digging up diagrams/disassembly/BS.

That was funny considering we'd only discussed it just a few days before. Fresh in ur memory....