Passenger/side mirror out of synch, replacement is the only solution?!?!

[villager]

I brought in my '20 SX to the local dealer because the side mirror has been acting up, sometimes it folds, sometimes it unfolds. Lately it has had a mind of its own and will work when it wants to. After assessing the issue, the dealers response was the mirror has signs of impact and has failed outside of normal mechanical short of malfunction and is not a warranty repair. Instead their solution is to look to file a claim with insurance or pay out of pocket. Mirror assembly is $800+, paint $75, labor $75. The tech suggested someone / something appears to have hit/pushed the mirror off the mechanism and cannot be reseated as is. Am I missing something here? Look at the photos do you see any damage? Is this part that sensitive? You'd think Kia power mirrors with a camera and heating element would have some flex to accommodate such an issue. This has got to be a very common issue. I reached out to another dealer and they mentioned this has happened several times and each time the mirror had to be replaced at cost. Anyone else experience something similar? Annoying to have a faulty mirror you would think it would be more robust than this. Thanks for any feedback.

 

[Tellthemride]

I once hit a Uhaul side mirror with my side mirror on a tight street. Caused it to manually fold. When I parked and manually unfolded it, the mechanical auto fold works fine. Has been about 6 months since it happened, still no problems.

Have you tried using the fold mirror button to fold and unfold a few times and maybe it will “reset” the gears?

 

[villager]

I once hit a Uhaul side mirror with my side mirror on a tight street. Caused it to manually fold. When I parked and manually unfolded it, the mechanical auto fold works fine. Has been about 6 months since it happened, still no problems.

Have you tried using the fold mirror button to fold and unfold a few times and maybe it will “reset” the gears?

Thanks for your response. Yes I have used the door panel button several times, even to recreate the issue in front of the tech. Nothing. Their other suggestion to prevent the mirror from folding is to wrap black electric tape along the edges WTF kind of suggestion is that or they can disconnect internally - then I loose out on all the mechanical features of the mirror.

 

[TheNip73]

My solution to this would be to turn off that feature and leave the mirrors out all of the time.

Not worth the money to fix and if it is that sensitive to breaking, your going to get to keep fixing it again and again.

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[villager]

My solution to this would be to turn off that feature and leave the mirrors out all of the time.

Not worth the money to fix and if it is that sensitive to breaking, your going to get to keep fixing it again and again.

Yep. Turned off and manually folded it when I recently got a hand wash. IDK what I'm going to do long term with this mirror. Should I keep it as is or eventually replace it. I can spend 1K on something more substantial than a faulty Kia design issue.

 

[TheNip73]

Yep. Turned off and manually folded it when I recently got a hand wash. IDK what I'm going to do long term with this mirror. Should I keep it as is or eventually replace it. I can spend 1K on something more substantial than a faulty Kia design issue.

So far so good with my mirrors, but I anticipate it only being a matter of time. In my previous Volvo, if it was hot out the mirror stopped working. The overload protection on the motor or something like that must have been getting triggered. Used the “turn off the feature” solution. Total waste of money to fix.

 

[Socal949]

I brought in my '20 SX to the local dealer because the side mirror has been acting up, sometimes it folds, sometimes it unfolds. Lately it has had a mind of its own and will work when it wants to. After assessing the issue, the dealers response was the mirror has signs of impact and has failed outside of normal mechanical short of malfunction and is not a warranty repair. Instead their solution is to look to file a claim with insurance or pay out of pocket. Mirror assembly is $800+, paint $75, labor $75. The tech suggested someone / something appears to have hit/pushed the mirror off the mechanism and cannot be reseated as is. Am I missing something here? Look at the photos do you see any damage? Is this part that sensitive? You'd think Kia power mirrors with a camera and heating element would have some flex to accommodate such an issue. This has got to be a very common issue. I reached out to another dealer and they mentioned this has happened several times and each time the mirror had to be replaced at cost. Anyone else experience something similar? Annoying to have a faulty mirror you would think it would be more robust than this. Thanks for any feedback.

That sucks that it went bad! But if I was in the same boat I would look on eBay or other sites and find a good used one. You can do it for under $400 find one already painted. You can do the labor yourself. I found new ones going for $350 or so. But then that would require for it to be painted. Whatever you choose hope you get it all resolved. Definitely not worth the 1k they quoted.

 

[villager]

Just a quick update, the side mirror behaves most of the time. meaning it occasionally folds out when I unlock and folds in when I lock. I am a happy owner when it behaves. Each time I have brought it in for my weekly wash, the mirror has folded in. We will see how long this lasts. (((mummbling)))

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[Nac]

I would take it apart to see what is actually wrong with the mechanism that moves the mirror. It may be able to be repaired without parts and if it has a broken or bent parts they can be replaced by buying an ebay or junk yard mirror and transplanting the defective/damaged parts, this way no paint is required as the original housing accepts the parts and is remounted on the vehicle.

If you are not the mech/tech type able tackle this repair, maybe you have a friend that is and can help you.

The reason a dealer will not do this is because they would have to charge for technician time and would also have to warranty the repair, the technician time alone would cost more than a mirror replacement and paint, and there is no way they will warranty a non factory approved repair.

 

[villager]

I'll tackle that job when push comes to shove. I elected to disable the side mirror convenience feature
User settings -->Convenience -->Welcome Mirror -->on door unlock --> uncheck

 

[Tellmeride]

A few days ago I took it through an automatic car wash, I know, but who cares, company lease. Anyway, the minimum wage dude there decided to fold in the mirrors manually while the car was still running. When it came out of the tunnel and I saw what I saw, I knew right then and there something aint right. Needless to say, locking and unlocking and then shutting off and restarting, did nothing. Then they messed with the window buttons and then they popped back out.

Was ready to go . Oh well, saving it for another day.

 

[bmkt]

Old thread but my '20 SX driver's side mirror has been acting up for awhile and I'm trying to get it fixed. I'm pretty sure it started within a month of buying it, one of those things where I wasn't sure if it was a one time thing, but now it's more frequent like twice a week, especially if the car has sat all day.

When the door unlock button is pressed, the driver's side power mirror won't unfold, but the passenger's side does. I can press the inside mirror button twice (once to tell it to fold back, then again so that it does unfold). The rest of the day it's fine.

The dealer pressed the button a couple of times and said it didn't happen so they can't do anything about it. I was also asked if the mirror was hit and it definitely was not. So, even though I showed the SA a video of it stuck, and complained it happens frequently, he won't do anything until it can be demonstrated in person.

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[20Telly20SX]

I would take it apart to see what is actually wrong with the mechanism that moves the mirror. It may be able to be repaired without parts and if it has a broken or bent parts they can be replaced by buying an ebay or junk yard mirror and transplanting the defective/damaged parts, this way no paint is required as the original housing accepts the parts and is remounted on the vehicle.

If you are not the mech/tech type able tackle this repair, maybe you have a friend that is and can help you.

The reason a dealer will not do this is because they would have to charge for technician time and would also have to warranty the repair, the technician time alone would cost more than a mirror replacement and paint, and there is no way they will warranty a non factory approved repair.

This same issue has popped up on mine. Spent the better part of a day disassembling it with a new motor on standby. The replacement motor has about a two inch pigtail and the original wires go into a sealed mirror module that’s attached after the motor is placed in its housing. I was able to just barely access the screws to open the drive assembly below the motor thinking a gear was stripped and I’d just swap the gears from the new motor assembly to the old. The gears inside are very robust and I didn’t see any damage. Replaced them anyway since it was already opened up. Reassembled everything and the mirror now folds most of the time on lock or unlock but only folds sporadically using the button on the door panel. It seems like the issue is not the motor or the gears but rather possibly the module inside the mirror assembly. Dealers should be making this right.

 

[O'Fred]

I brought in my '20 SX to the local dealer because the side mirror has been acting up, sometimes it folds, sometimes it unfolds. Lately it has had a mind of its own and will work when it wants to. After assessing the issue, the dealers response was the mirror has signs of impact and has failed outside of normal mechanical short of malfunction and is not a warranty repair. Instead their solution is to look to file a claim with insurance or pay out of pocket. Mirror assembly is $800+, paint $75, labor $75. The tech suggested someone / something appears to have hit/pushed the mirror off the mechanism and cannot be reseated as is. Am I missing something here? Look at the photos do you see any damage? Is this part that sensitive? You'd think Kia power mirrors with a camera and heating element would have some flex to accommodate such an issue. This has got to be a very common issue. I reached out to another dealer and they mentioned this has happened several times and each time the mirror had to be replaced at cost. Anyone else experience something similar? Annoying to have a faulty mirror you would think it would be more robust than this. Thanks for any feedback.

This same issue has popped up on mine. Spent the better part of a day disassembling it with a new motor on standby. The replacement motor has about a two inch pigtail and the original wires go into a sealed mirror module that’s attached after the motor is placed in its housing. I was able to just barely access the screws to open the drive assembly below the motor thinking a gear was stripped and I’d just swap the gears from the new motor assembly to the old. The gears inside are very robust and I didn’t see any damage. Replaced them anyway since it was already opened up. Reassembled everything and the mirror now folds most of the time on lock or unlock but only folds sporadically using the button on the door panel. It seems like the issue is not the motor or the gears but rather possibly the module inside the mirror assembly. Dealers should be making this right.

I currently have the same problem. Mirror shows no sign of impact and I am not aware of any. Very frustrating for a really nice vehicle with 35k miles to need a $ 1400 mirror. (2025 price)

 

[Joaquin]

I currently have the same problem. Mirror shows no sign of impact and I am not aware of any. Very frustrating for a really nice vehicle with 35k miles to need a $ 1400 mirror. (2025 price)

Hello to all. I have Telluride 2021 and ghis week Sept 2025 , it started acting up be not closing or opening automatically upon approaching or locking and stayed making a clicking sound for a few seconds. I was able to resolve it, at least it's continued to work upto now, by pushing the button to close the mirrors and while making the clicking rapidly pushing the mirror towards the FRONT os the vehicle, then pushed button again while mirrors closed automatically. Had to do this about 3 Times until they continued to work correctly. It seems as if the mirror had lost it's "home" position. I hope this helps others. God bless you all.

 

[O'Fred]

I brought in my '20 SX to the local dealer because the side mirror has been acting up, sometimes it folds, sometimes it unfolds. Lately it has had a mind of its own and will work when it wants to. After assessing the issue, the dealers response was the mirror has signs of impact and has failed outside of normal mechanical short of malfunction and is not a warranty repair. Instead their solution is to look to file a claim with insurance or pay out of pocket. Mirror assembly is $800+, paint $75, labor $75. The tech suggested someone / something appears to have hit/pushed the mirror off the mechanism and cannot be reseated as is. Am I missing something here? Look at the photos do you see any damage? Is this part that sensitive? You'd think Kia power mirrors with a camera and heating element would have some flex to accommodate such an issue. This has got to be a very common issue. I reached out to another dealer and they mentioned this has happened several times and each time the mirror had to be replaced at cost. Anyone else experience something similar? Annoying to have a faulty mirror you would think it would be more robust than this. Thanks for any feedback.

We've got the exact problem on a '20 Telluride Sx. With only 38K miles it's a shame to have such a nice car that now I don't recommend KIA to people like I did before!

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[MrMCar]

Hello to all. I have Telluride 2021 and ghis week Sept 2025 , it started acting up be not closing or opening automatically upon approaching or locking and stayed making a clicking sound for a few seconds. I was able to resolve it, at least it's continued to work upto now, by pushing the button to close the mirrors and while making the clicking rapidly pushing the mirror towards the FRONT os the vehicle, then pushed button again while mirrors closed automatically. Had to do this about 3 Times until they continued to work correctly. It seems as if the mirror had lost it's "home" position. I hope this helps others. God bless you all.

This or the reverse of such, is often the fix on many cars with fold in's.