[s-cars] Rear Defroster Switch

[Huw Powell]

>  Here's where it ties in:
> The question is "would it be bad to leave the switch turned on at all
> times?"
> 
> And anecdotally, I've replaced quite a few mirrors that have failed heater
> elements on the newer Audis, including on my personal '00 S4.  Why would a
> more modern mirror fail at such a high rate? My theory is that it's due to
> the fact that Audi made a wiring change so that the mirrors are ALWAYS
> heated, and the rear window defroster switch position is irrelevant.  Now,
> that includes during the summertime, and the mirrors are only supposed to
> get so hot and shut themselves off... and I think that's the part that
> fails.  The mirrors then cook themselves.
> 
> The older cars have no safety design.  If the switch is on, so is the
> mirror.  And I'm saying if they were on all of the time, the older mirrors
> would likely fail much sooner than 300K miles.  And this would be a
> consequence of having the switch on.
> 
> Sorry I didn't explain myself, Huw.
> 
> Cheers!
> Mark Rosenkrantz

OK, I kind of read the original poster as asking if it was ok to leave 
it "on" for the rest of the winter (or until they fix the switch?).

Probably a matter of interpretation, and your warning not to leave it on 
once it's warm out is a good point to make.

-- 
Huw Powell

http://www.humanspeakers.com/audi

http://www.humanthoughts.org/