Dimming the Airbag Light on Rearview Mirror

[mistr3ss]

I finally got so sick of the airbag light on my rearview that I decided to tear it apart. I took some pictures, thinking it might help somebody who wants to do the same thing. I didn't want anything stuck to the outside of the mirror, because I was afraid I'd screw it up, and then it would look goofy. Here's what I did -

Step 1 - Remove front trim piece. There's 9 tabs that hold it to the rest of the mirror body. I used a small screwdriver to carefully pry them off. Picture (1) shows the location of the tabs.
(No alcohol was harmed in the making of this post)

Step 2 - Remove the circuit board from the mirror body. There's a few white clips that hold the board in place.

Step 3 - Cover as many of the LED's with electrical tape as you want. I covered all of the "Passenger Air Bag" lights, and left one LED uncovered for each the "ON" and "OFF" indicators. I figure I don't need to be reminded what the lights are for when it's dark out, and the ON/OFF indicators still work, they're just (theoretically) half as bright.

Step 4 - Put it all back together.

[GRRRR8]

Nice DIY project. :cheers:

[R.Penguin]

I prefer flat black spray paint. Much quicker. :p

[wreckwriter]

I just cut a piece of window tint and stuck it on, works great.

[todds87ss]

Nice alternative to the tint...

[Chewy]

I replaced mine with a mirror from a Silverado for 40 bucks or so and now it dims its self...

Agreed! Great DIY project! Which is why I moved it to that forum...

[mistr3ss]

I prefer flat black spray paint. Much quicker.


I just cut a piece of window tint and stuck it on, works great.

Your ideas gave me another idea - spray tint. It'd be nice and flat like the paint, but tinted like the tint. Hmmmm ...


I replaced mine with a mirror from a Silverado for 40 bucks or so and now it dims its self...

Just curious - do you have a vibration issue with the Silverado mirror, like we have with the stock G8 mirror?

[Chewy]

Your ideas gave me another idea - spray tint. It'd be nice and flat like the paint, but tinted like the tint. Hmmmm ...



Just curious - do you have a vibration issue with the Silverado mirror, like we have with the stock G8 mirror?

Nope! Solid as a rock! hehehe... Like a rock... Never noticed my stocker vibrating but I had maybe 10 miles on it when I replaced it.

[G8V8]

I used a smoked mirror message overlay from Grafxwerks. It is made to the outline of the black area the message is in. I actually stacked up 2 to make it even darker.

[wreckwriter]

Nope! Solid as a rock! hehehe... Like a rock... Never noticed my stocker vibrating but I had maybe 10 miles on it when I replaced it.

Mine doesn't vibrate.

[99-LS1-SS]

I just cut a piece of window tint and stuck it on, works great.

If they haven't addressed this on the GXP, this is the route that I'll be going.

[MANOFSTEEL69]

Just picked up a dimming/onstar mirror on ebay for 41.00 with shipping, brand new in the box. Made an offer of thirty (was listed for 45) and 35 was the accepted bid.

[GRRRR8]

Jay post a pic so I can see what mirror you have now.

[mistr3ss]

Mine doesn't vibrate.

I tend to have the radio, errr, loud. The subs get that mirror vibrating so much, it becomes almost useless. I was wondering if that problem goes away with a different mirror.

Of course back in my day, a mirror was just a mirror, and you didn't have to plug it in to use it.

[blackbirdws6]

Nice work. I replaced my mirror with a 07 Malibu auto-dimming mirror for $35 shipped and it works great. It has no airbag light at all and all the same functionality.

[GN driver]

Well, I will admit that I am totally envious and yes, even jealous of the work that you guys put into your cars but I have to ask. Are all of you unmarried, living in maintenance free condos, with no kids, play no golf, do not fish or chase women? Maybe my mistake is living in a state that has only 24 hour days.:)

[Chewy]

Well, I will admit that I am totally envious and yes, even jealous of the work that you guys put into your cars but I have to ask. Are all of you unmarried, living in maintenance free condos, with no kids, play no golf, do not fish or chase women? Maybe my mistake is living in a state that has only 24 hour days.:)

Not married... Have a serious G/F though. I like my toys to be the way I want them to be. My G/F just calls me a dork and lets me play. She KNOWS full well when we get married that this may reduce but will NEVER go away! lol

Chris

[G8GTlawride]

Nice job on the mirror. All I did was to add the tape to the outside cut to fit the contour of the cutout and poke a 1/16" hole over the "ON" light.

Also for you northern folks, here is what makes Florida so nice!

[GotMyG8V8]

I have a serious girlfriend also, and she realizes that this is the one thing i really wanted, and that i'm going to baby the hell out of it and do some cool stuff and make the car last as long as possible because of how much i'm paying for it and how much i enjoy driving it. I just don't have the thousands to spend that some people do on mods!

[jbradsh1]

Just a terrific write up. Thanks.

[mikesgt]

I went with G8V8 and got the overlays. Thanks for mentioning it. That stupid thing was driving me nuts.

[gearhead455]

I went with G8V8 and got the overlays. Thanks for mentioning it. That stupid thing was driving me nuts.



Got a link where to get them? I'm going crazy!!!

[Jastheace]

maybe I'm missing something, but I have a 09.5, and the "passenger airbag" and "ON"/"OFF" lights auto-dim whenever its dark enough for the auto headlights to come on

[00 Trans Ram]

A - I don't like auto-dimming mirrors. They never dim when I want them to, half the time they don't dim at all, and I don't like the car doing things for me.
B - I don't want ANY lights on my mirror, except the compass. If I want to know if the passenger air bag is on or off, I can just look in my passenger seat and see if there is a passenger sitting there.
C - I don't want anything visible from the outside of the mirror.

So, I taped over all the lights when I took the mirror apart. On Star, telephone, air bag - everything. Now, I get a nice, soft compass direction and NOTHING ELSE!

[TurboMike]

I put solid tape over the "passenger airbag" (no reason at all for that to light up... I know what on/off is for)

I put semisolid tape over "on". This way I can tell if the airbag sensor is seeing someone in the passenger seat, without "passenger airbag" lighting up at all.

With the recall on the passenger seat sensor and my gf having a 12yo skinny kid, I figured it would be good for me to know when/if the sensor was working.

[Panzer Leader]

A - I don't like auto-dimming mirrors. They never dim when I want them to, half the time they don't dim at all, and I don't like the car doing things for me.
B - I don't want ANY lights on my mirror, except the compass. If I want to know if the passenger air bag is on or off, I can just look in my passenger seat and see if there is a passenger sitting there.
C - I don't want anything visible from the outside of the mirror.

So, I taped over all the lights when I took the mirror apart. On Star, telephone, air bag - everything. Now, I get a nice, soft compass direction and NOTHING ELSE!

I agree, I taped over the whole mirror:rofl:

[travis gore]

great suggestions guys.The air bag light has never bothered me.:huh:

[polo]

great suggestions guys.The air bag light has never bothered me.:huh:

The first night that I drove my car I realized that I needed to do something about that light. Yet over a year has gone by and I haven't messed with it, and now I'm used to it.

[pokey]

Not sure if this was mentioned anywhere but the autodim mirror Sellers Auto Sport sells dims the light automatically when dark. I hesitated spending 200 bucks on the mirror but have not regretted the purchase. The autodim feature is cool too! (just noticed this was mentioned, I still recommend the one Sellers sells, great product)

[hikeskool]

Very nice mod! Good idea, I had the tint on there but it just looked sloppy to me. Although I do like th concept of the auto-dimming mirrors, my wife has on her Ford Edge that works well.

[00 Trans Ram]

See, both my parents have them (Lexus and MB) and my wife has one (Pilot). And I hate every single one of them. They don't dim when someone is far behind you, only when they get close. And, they don't dim all the time. I really LOVE my manual mirror.