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After 3 months of driving in the US I told myself that it is enough for me to drive with the flat driver's mirror. For those unfamiliar, in the US, all car drivers' mirrors are flat in contrast to European ones, which are convex. Convex mirror provide a broader view of the surroundings. I've observed many Americans installing mirror extensions or small convex mirrors in the corner of the main one to get the wider view angle. It seemed strange to me that, if they were aware of the issue, why not use convex mirrors everywhere? I suspect the problem lies in regulations. I imagine the background on this, that one dumb in 1950s was driving a car with a convex driving mirror and had an accident. This guy sued an automotive company that he didn't estimate the distance to the auto on his left well, because the convex mirror decreased the distance between objects. Since that time all the manufacturers use flat mirrors on their autos in US. The mirrors, which are, in my opinion, even more dangerous than convex ones, because when you drive on a highway... Damn! There is such a huge blind spot. I know the rules, before making a maneuver you have to turn your head to the left and see 3 fingers behind you seat. I guess one of these fingers will be the middle one from the guy in the car on your left blind spot...
Anyway, we all know that Kia Forte is sold in other markets as Kia Cerato or Kia K3 and these cars come with a normal, convex driver's mirror. So I've googled the part number of this mirror:
I purchased this mirror on Amazon for $68. Interestingly, the seller now claims that this mirror is for Kia Optima, while at the time of purchase it was for Kia Forte. I don't know exactly, but this is the OEM part number for Kia Cerato/K3. Regardless, as you can see the mirror came in an OEM KIA/Hyundai/MOBIS box with holograms. So it must be a genuine one.
Replacing the rear view mirror should be a straightforward task, right? I went to the car, put the plastic tool between the mirror and the cover, and removed the flat mirror.
Now when we have two OEM mirrors side by side, let's compare them.
Did you notice the differences? Well, there shouldn't be any because both mirrors are OEMs. Or not? I'll give you a hint:
There is another one, non visible difference, but let's deal with these ones first. So the blind spot indicator position is acceptable, as it is barely noticeable unless you simultaneously look at both mirrors. Which I can't do with my eyes, cause I'm not a pigeon.
The guide plates are in different places. And one of the plates prevents mirror from installing. I've removed the one is located near the wiring connector with pliers.
Addressing the heating connectors. They won't hold securely on the convex mirror, because of their width. In order to fix this, I put the pins on top of the endings of the original ones.
And now what about the non visible difference you've mentioned previously? First, let's install the mirror and try to start the car. Unfortunately I have no photos of this, but the blind spot indicator on the convex mirror didn't work. There was an error on the dashboard regarding blind spot monitoring system issue.
As you understand now, this was not the OEM mirror, but a cheap chineese copy packaged in an OEM box, which can be purchased on AliExpress 3 times cheaper ($20 with shipping). And if you take a look at left mirror's corner you can spot a small logo - BD-CAR. This is a small chineese company that produces lot's of replacement mirrors on AliExpress for the different cars.
But thanks to Amazon, I submitted a return to the seller, describing all the issues I encountered. I wanted to have specifically the OEM mirror, not a copy. Especially for these money. But then what was my surprise, when Amazon issued me a refund and asked to keep this mirror to myself "to improve my shopping experience".
Ok, you've got me, guys. Now that this mirror cost me $0 it's a different story. Let's try fix the blind spot indicator issue. The indicator is essentially nothing more than just an LED lamp with 2 wires. But, why it isn't working? Well, maybe the lamp is broken. Unfortunately in the contrast to the OEM mirror, the chineese copy has the lamp cover soldered to the mirror plate, which can't be removed. The only way to check the lamp is to connect 9V battery to the connector wires. Which I did and it worked. Then I decided to check the lamp on the flat mirror and noticed the last, hidden issue, which I described earlier.
It seems like the chineese engineer who assembled the convex mirror reversed the wires in the connector. So "+" became "-" and wise versa. Unfortunately the connector in the mirror can't be disassembled or, at least I didn't find the way how to do that. Hence I decided to make a simple adapter. The mirror have JST connector type which can be purchased on AliExpress for less than $5.
With this adapter I connected the mirror and reassembled everything. And, oh my God, now I feel much safer on the road! In contrast to the flat mirror using the convex gives me a broader view. For example, on the highway now I see the two lines on my left as well as two lines on my right. Considering that I spent only $5 on this upgrade, it's a bargain.
And this is it for today. Thanks everyone for reading this and safe travels. Love your cars!
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