# Installed Auto-dimming Mirror



## dhpnet (Mar 2, 2014)

As the title says, I installed the auto-dimming mirror in my 1LT Cruze. It works great and I love it. 









A couple months ago I was wondering how hard it would be, so I did a little research. I found out that my '14 Cruze has all of the wiring, except for the wires in the headliner harness. It even had the fuse in place. I only had to run two wires from the body harness connector, up the passenger side A pillar, under the headliner and into the mirror harness. 

I purchased the mirror on ebay for $30. It came out of a '14 Buick Regal, but it is the same mirror that is used in the Cruze (according to GM Parts Direct). The part number is 13584891. These cost about $140 new online. A lot of sellers on ebay have used ones for around $60-$80. Sometimes you can find a deal. These mirrors are also used in the Verano, some Cadillacs, and many other GM cars. You can tell if they are the auto dimming mirror if they have a small black circle on the top, center of the mirror, and they have a white square on the back of the mirror. Those are the sensors. 

For the headliner to body harness connector (Connector X211)
The wires connect to pins 5 and 6. Pin 5 is the Run/Crank Ignition 1 Voltage. On the '14 Cruze the wire color for pin 5 is Violet/White. Pin 6 is the backup lamp supply voltage. This tells the mirror that you have the car in reverse and it turns off the auto-dimming feature. On the '14 Cruze the wire color for pin 6 is light green/white.

I couldn't find out which terminals I needed for the headliner to body harness connector, and I eventually gave up and just purchased the terminated leads from GM Parts Direct. They are basically just a 6-inch wire with a terminal already crimped to one end. They are way overpriced at $6 each, and I needed 2. The part numbers are 13575805. I would still be interested if anyone knows which terminals are used for this connector. 

For the mirror harness (Connector A10)
The wires connect to pins 1 and 2. Pin 1 is the backup lamp supply voltage, and pin 2 is the Run/Crank Ignition 1 Voltage. 

You can also get terminated leads for this connector. They are part number 13579944. I purchased the pins in the link below for the mirror harness. I bought 20 of them so that I could do some test crimps and have a few spares in case I screwed up. 

http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?qs=XoGB3caz5/Y8PiQ%2bQiK/pQ==

To crimp the terminals, I already had this crimper from another project. It worked perfectly. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007JLN93S/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

To get to the body harness, there is a hole in the dash on the right side behind the glove box (you have to remove the glove box to see the hole). There are two plugs inside this hole. The one toward the rear of the car is the one that has the connections for the mirror. I also found that it was easier to unplug this connector by removing the lower door sill trim. This allows you to put your arm under the dash and disconnect the connector while you look through the hole behind the glove box. I disconnected both connectors in this location and then pulled the harness up through a hole behind the a-pillar trim. This made it easy to insert the terminals. Then I ran the wires up the A pillar, under the headliner, and out to the mirror. 

I already had the wire and crimper, so total cost was less than $50. It took me a couple hours to install because I went super slow to make sure I had everything right.


----------



## BowtieGuy (Jan 4, 2013)

Nice work! Looks like you really did some research on this one. A great guide for anyone else looking to add the auto dimming mirror. I really like my auto dimming mirror too.


----------



## dhpnet (Mar 2, 2014)

Thanks. I thought it might help someone if I shared what I learned. The auto-dimming feature is very nice, and I think it adds value to the car.


----------



## joshuab (Apr 16, 2014)

I really enjoy my auto dim mirror, mainly when those big trucks roll right up on you & when you look through that mirror it will blind you - but w/ the auto dimmer it just fades the light - which is neat!


----------



## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

Does the Cruze's auto-dimming mirror actually work. My wife's Solara has an auto-dimming mirror and I still have to reach up and move the mirror.


----------



## pandrad61 (Jul 8, 2015)

> does the cruze's auto-dimming mirror actually work. My wife's solara has an auto-dimming mirror and i still have to reach up and move the mirror.


it does a absolutly great job. Obly down side is when the truck is barreling down no dim untill he is within 5 car lengths then dims. So normal following ditance great but for those who leave a good cusion youll still get some white light


----------



## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

obermd said:


> Does the Cruze's auto-dimming mirror actually work. My wife's Solara has an auto-dimming mirror and I still have to reach up and move the mirror.


Indeed it does. Some folks are still too bright (perhaps a SUV with high beams behind you), but I find it does work well.

While it sounded like a novelty, I have come to see it as a safety feature. Because it's based on the light coming from behind (rather than day/night or headlights) it allows you to see things normally when no headlights are behind you. It gives you a better chance of seeing a unlit car behind you.


----------



## dhpnet (Mar 2, 2014)

obermd said:


> Does the Cruze's auto-dimming mirror actually work. My wife's Solara has an auto-dimming mirror and I still have to reach up and move the mirror.


It works very well. Had it in a little over a month now and I really like it. I have never had to move it, other than to get it in the right place in the beginning.


----------



## dhpnet (Mar 2, 2014)

ChevyGuy said:


> While it sounded like a novelty, I have come to see it as a safety feature. Because it's based on the light coming from behind (rather than day/night or headlights) it allows you to see things normally when no headlights are behind you. It gives you a better chance of seeing a unlit car behind you.


Agreed. When no cars are directly behind you the mirror automatically returns to normal and you can see everything clearly. To do that with a regular mirror you would have to constantly flip it back and forth.


----------



## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

Auto dim in the few loaner cars I had worked wonders even w/o factory tint like on the SUVs. I'm that guy who turns the illumination down and tells MyLink to "turn off display/screen" so I can focus on the road better. I find bright interior lights limit my night driving viability distance especially on a long turnpike run. I suck at wiring so I would have to pay someone to do this mod if my car didn't already have the wires there for me.


----------



## pandrad61 (Jul 8, 2015)

> Auto dim in the few loaner cars I had worked wonders even w/o factory tint like on the SUVs. I'm that guy who turns the illumination down and tells MyLink to "turn off display/screen" so I can focus on the road better. I find bright interior lights limit my night driving viability distance especially on a long turnpike run. I suck at wiring so I would have to pay someone to do this mod if my car didn't already have the wires there for me.



my ctd has continence pack so it came with it. great think to have. as you say turbn down the brightness to help night driving. ive noticed the impala and all others have a traditional wheel o bright vs our stupid pressure toggle....don't like ours and the car when turning on headlights at night most time dims everything but some nights it keeps max brightness.


----------



## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

pandrad61 said:


> my ctd has continence pack so it came with it. great think to have. as you say turbn down the brightness to help night driving. ive noticed the impala and all others have a traditional wheel o bright vs our stupid pressure toggle....don't like ours and the car when turning on headlights at night most time dims everything but some nights it keeps max brightness.



The hi beam light and the shift light are beacons that light up the whole interior in pitch dark. I'll try and find the pic again of just that. its the pic I used for my avi on slack app during lordstown meet.

*Edit* found it, seem like the traction control off was the brightest one.


----------



## Blasirl (Mar 31, 2015)

dhpnet said:


> A couple months ago I was wondering how hard it would be, so I did a little research. I found out that my '14 Cruze has all of the wiring, except for the wires in the headliner harness. It even had the fuse in place. I only had to run two wires from the _body harness connector_, up the passenger side A pillar, under the headliner and into the _mirror harness_.
> //edit//
> To get to the _body harness_, there is a hole in the dash on the right side behind the glove box (you have to remove the glove box to see the hole). There are two plugs inside this hole. The one toward the rear of the car is the one that has the connections for the mirror. I also found that it was easier to unplug this connector by removing the lower door sill trim. This allows you to put your arm under the dash and disconnect the connector while you look through the hole behind the glove box. I disconnected both connectors in this location and then pulled the harness up through a hole behind the a-pillar trim. This made it easy to insert the terminals. Then I ran the wires up the A pillar, under the headliner, and out to the mirror.


Do you have a graphic or exploded view from the manual you could upload for these two harnesses / locations?


----------



## Blasirl (Mar 31, 2015)

dhpnet said:


> //edit//
> For the headliner to body harness connector (Connector X211)
> //edit//
> 
> For the mirror harness (Connector A10) //edit//


Are these Mouser numbers or numbers from the repair manual? If they are Mouser, (I tried to find them) can you give a direct link to them?


----------



## dhpnet (Mar 2, 2014)

Blasirl said:


> Are these Mouser numbers or numbers from the repair manual? If they are Mouser, (I tried to find them) can you give a direct link to them?


X211 and A10 are GM's numbers for those connectors. I put all the links I had in the original post. 



Blasirl said:


> Do you have a graphic or exploded view from the manual you could upload for these two harnesses / locations?


Sorry, don't have any images I can upload. The service manual doesn't have much about these connectors. Just a simple line drawing of the connector with pin 1 labeled and the pin out below. You can get that just by looking closely at the connector. Connector A10 connects directly to the mirror. See original post for location of X211.


----------



## Blasirl (Mar 31, 2015)

dhpnet said:


> //edit//
> 
> I couldn't find out which terminals I needed for the headliner to body harness connector, and I eventually gave up and just purchased the terminated leads from GM Parts Direct. They are basically just a 6-inch wire with a terminal already crimped to one end. They are way overpriced at $6 each, and I needed 2. The part numbers are 13575805. I would still be interested if anyone knows which terminals are used for this connector.
> 
> //edit//


Would you post the pinouts for this harness? Also does the X211 refer to the body harness connector or the headliner connector or the pair?

Thanks.

PS Is this is the A10 connector?


----------



## Blasirl (Mar 31, 2015)

Can anyone post the pin-outs for body harness connector?
I am picking up the last pieces to the puzzle tomorrow at the Dealership and only have to wait on Mouser as the pins are on back order.
I really want to finish this install so I can move on to the next project.


----------



## 89stingray454 (Jan 19, 2017)

This is the first vehicle that I have owned with an auto-tinting mirror. Maybe I'm just old school, but I don't like it. If anyone wants to send me the manual style, I'll gladly give you my auto-tinting one.


----------



## CruzeBy (Apr 29, 2015)

dhpnet said:


> X211 and A10 are GM's numbers for those connectors. I put all the links I had in the original post.
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, don't have any images I can upload. The service manual doesn't have much about these connectors. Just a simple line drawing of the connector with pin 1 labeled and the pin out below. You can get that just by looking closely at the connector. Connector A10 connects directly to the mirror. See original post for location of X211.


Did your Cruze have OnStar in the mirror before you started? Did you keep OnStar in the new mirror?


----------



## khancock70 (Jun 4, 2018)

As the title says, I installed the auto-dimming mirror in my 1LT Cruze. It works great and I love it. 

Quick Question.

Would you be interested in making those two wires for me, and showing me, with pictures, exactly where they plug into, for $20 bucks?

I ask, because I am about to take the inside apart (and I only want to do this ONCE) and upgrade a few things.


----------

