I recently had my 07 TL-S in the shop and I got an ILX as a loaner vehicle. I wasn't very impressed with the car but I did notice that at some point after 07, Acura decided to combine the rear window defrost with the side mirror defrost. I think this was a great idea because I am always forgetting to turn the side mirror heat off and by combining it with the rear defrost, they both automatically turn off at the same time.

Is there a way to either link the two features together, preferably when selecting the rear defrost, or could you possibly add a timed relay into the side mirror heat system? I have my doubts about the second solution only because of the type of switch that the side mirror heat is (click on, click off).

Any ideas?

 

1. disconnect switch from mirror heat
2. run a wire from rear defrost to the relay that is used to trip on the mirror heat circuit. If there is not one, you will need to add one as you do not want to overload the defrost switch with the heated mirror current. Even though it is small, it might be enough to burn out the switch (the rear defrost is definately on a relay)

In essense you are using one switch (the timed rear defrost) to enable both circuits via individual relay.

 

^+1

but having 2 separate switches never bothered me

 

I agree that it should be auto-off....but I think I can count on one hand I have actually used the mirror heat in the past 5 years. I guess it really does matter what part of the country you live in and the weather you experience.

 

I'll have to look into connecting the mirror heat to the rear window relay. I live in NE Florida and most morning I wake up to condensation all over the windows and the mirrors. I like to turn on the side mirror heat because the condensation dissipates quickly.