[UpstateNYBill]

Parts and tools used: T20 Torx bit screwdriver, 10 mm socket and wrench, small flat bladed screwdriver, pliers, door panel trim removal tools (not required but recommended), door wiring harness, heated mirror assembly.

Also, don't forget the fuses (#60 and #61) in the engine bay fuse block. They are 7.5 amp fuses in my 2012 Cruze.

Warning: There are 7 different door wiring harnesses according to Chevy as of this writing for the 2012 Cruze. The door harness I used may not work for you, depending on what options your Cruze has installed, or even what year Cruze you own.. Check with your dealer parts department or other reputable source before ordering, as electrical parts are not returnable. The Cruze I installed the heated mirror on is a 2012 1LT Cruze with Remote Keyless Entry, Outside Power Adjustable Mirrors, and Power Windows with Express Down and Driver Express Up. Any other options related to the door locking mechanism, mirror options such as lane departure warning found on 2013 models as of this writing, and possibly even side impact airbag sensors will require a different harness. I will not be held responsible if you order the wrong harness.

With that in mind, the drivers side door harness I used was part #96982216. I have not yet done the passenger side door harness, which I am told by Chevy is part #96949059. Order at your own risk.

Door harness ordered from Chevy. The connector that goes to the heated power mirror has five wires instead of my old harness which only had three wires.

Heated Cruze mirror, which I purchased on eBay.

OK, on to adding Heated Mirrors... FYI, I did not disconnect the battery. Door controls did not work due to: Engine was off, key was out of the ignition, all power was off inside car due to door being opened.

Remove rubber cover from frame connector by depressing in the area of my index finger and pulling cover off.

Pink latch swivels down to a 90 degree angle which pushes connector out of connector block for easy removal. Gently prying near the top of the latch with a screw driver may be necessary to get the pink latch started.

Remove inside mirror cover by grasping cover in the location shown and pulling away from glass.

Remove mirror connector by depressing tab and then pulling out. All connectors remove in the same manner except the frame connector above, and one connector at the far end of the door by the door locking mechanism.

Remove the three 10mm bolts as shown by the arrows and then remove the mirror from outside the car door.

Remove cover behind door handle with screwdriver.

Remove screw with T20 Torx.

Remove cover and T20 Torx screw from door recess .

Unscrew door knob and remove.

Using trim removal tools, remove door panel. Start at the bottom and work your way up. I did not use the tool, I just pulled outward with my fingers, but keep in mind the possibility exists that plastic can get broken this way, especially on an older car when the plastic panel can get brittle with age. Once you have freed the panel at the bottom and sides, lift it straight upwards to get the top of the door panel out of the window channel. The door panel is still connected to the door frame by two harnesses and one door handle cable, so don't go too far with it.

 

[UpstateNYBill]

Pry back blue cable lock tab enough that you can slide it back.

Once the lock tab is slid back, remove cable from door handle mechanism.

Remove both door connectors from the door panel.

Remove door bracket T20 Torx screws and door bracket.

Peel off plastic liner from door.

Door panel removed. Pay attention to routing of door harness for re-installation.

Door panel. If any of the yellow or gray plastic door panel "screws" remain on the door frame, remove them and place in the recessed slots in the door panel for later re-installation of the door panel.

Remove all door wiring harness connectors. The connector at the door latch end of the harness will require prying up the locking tab with a screwdriver as shown in the photo before pulling connector off. It is not really visible so you will have to do this by feel or with an inspection mirror. (This is what the connector looks like after I had removed it from inside the door.)

Push out the rubber from inside the door. Pulling from outside the door once you have it started will help.

Slide harness out from the hole in the door to remove.

I decided to use the new mirror I got from eBay, and just swap the body color matching cover from my old mirror to the new mirror. I pulled the non-heated mirror glass off my old mirror assembly. It cracked in the process. Be careful, as there will be tiny pieces of glass coming off the mirror when it cracks.

Back side of mirror glass.

Once the mirror glass was off my old mirror assembly, this gave me access to the inside of the mirror assembly where I carefully bent back the three tabs indicated by the green arrows from my body colored mirror cover until that part of the cover was loose. In trying to remove the cover completely, the other two tabs indicated by the red arrows broke off. This did not affect the mounting of my old cover onto the new mirror assembly. Once snapped into place, it was securely fastened with no sign of looseness.

Comparison of unpainted cover that came with the new heated mirror assembly to the body colored cover off my old mirror assembly.

Finally, I moved the foam pieces from my old mirror assembly to the new mirror assembly.

Install your new door harness, old door panel, and new mirror assembly. Installation is the reverse of the removal procedure. Then enjoy your new heated mirror. They turn on automatically when you push the rear defrost button.

 

[firehawk618]

Wow thanks for the great detail. I will be adding this to my car soon as well as heated seats. Been too busy at work to focus much on the car the last month or so but I will get these added.

Thank you.

 

[kfr291]

where did you get the parts for it all? from ebay?

 

[UpstateNYBill]

I bought the heated mirror on eBay. I ordered the door harness through my local dealer, after printing out what it would cost me if I ordered it through gmpartsdirect.com, and my dealer got it for me for only a few dollars more.

 

[XtremeRevolution]

What an excellent writeup! This is awesome. I might even try it myself once I get my 100 or so projects done! LOL.

Thanks for the writeup. It is so detailed, anyone can do it.

 

[Aussie]

That is very well displayed, my Cruze came standard with both heated mirrors and front seats. The mirrors have been used once in 16 months but really did work brilliantly and my wife loves the seats in winter. The climate here means that neither of these items get used much but the automatic climate control is brilliant.

 

[UpstateNYBill]

What an excellent writeup! This is awesome. I might even try it myself once I get my 100 or so projects done! LOL.

Thanks for the writeup. It is so detailed, anyone can do it.

Thanks! There isn't much that is more frustrating than poorly written (or illustrated) instructions. Pet peeve of mine, I guess.

Anyway... yeah, replacing a door harness, etc. might seem like a daunting task to anyone who isn't used to working on cars so I thought I'd show just how easy it is.

 

[iKermit]

Wow i wish this would have been out when i still had my Cruze. Great write up!

What an excellent writeup! This is awesome. I might even try it myself once I get my 100 or so projects done! LOL.

Thanks for the writeup. It is so detailed, anyone can do it.

You sound like me on a day off from work (I am going to do... (insert 100000 things) around the house today!

 

[kfr291]

it really was a great write up. i live in NY so cold weather is normal ( or it was untill this year). so its something i want to do.

what actaully make the heat, in other words do i need to replace the entire housing to get heated mirrors?

 

[UpstateNYBill]

I couldn't figure out an easy way to get the whole mirror assembly apart without breaking more stuff, which is why I just swapped my painted mirror cover over from the old mirror to the new mirror. The new mirror assembly came with the unpainted cover uninstalled, so once I got my old cover off the old mirror all I had to do was snap my old cover onto the new heated mirror assembly.

I had considered ordering just the heated mirror glass off eBay but that would mean I would still have to add two more wires to the mirror assembly, and that had it's own issues such as finding the correct size pins for the connectors, or splicing the wiring, and possibly other unforeseen issues. So in the end, I decided the eBay mirror assembly was cheap enough that it wouldn't be worth the hassle of trying to replace just heated mirror glass and then having to cob the wiring in the mirror.

For anyone who wants to read the thread about the tortured process of determining whether it was possible to add heated mirrors or not, here it is: http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/36-audio-electronics/12093-heated-mirrors-not-plug-play.html

 

[geiser]

The part numbers you listed for the harnesses I believe are for the 2012. I ordered the passenger one and had to alter harness to use (mine is 2014. The power window connector was different, due to express up down I guess. Can you confirm? You don't have listed what year yours is. Do you have access to what the part number for the 2014 harnesses are?

 

[geiser]

I think 96982216 is the same for both (drivers side) as it has express up and down early and late. Only the right door is express down on later versions and thus had a different connector. So the passenger with the later style express down harness / electric motor is either 95929883 or 95217252. Heated mirror is option (dwe). Without the express down early is 96949059. I used the 96949059 harness for my late express down door but had to change the sub harness that goes to the motor from the passenger switch. The pins were easy to swap in the switch harness whereas the actual door connection harness at the jam was extremely difficult to remove the pins from, thus negating the ability to add heated mirror wires to original stock non heated mirror harness.

I haven't decided to pull the trigger on the 96982216 yet. Worst case scenario I have to swap the sub harness again. Problem is they don't show it as being compatible with 2014. But does anyone show a DWE harness for driver (left hand drive)? no, no they don't. They do have one for passive entry. It is 94556314 Harness, With passive entry, 2nd design and might be the same as 94556311; 94556312; 94556313; 95322165. But that is all I could figure. Incomplete non-sense. If GM really wanted us to buy from them they would make it easier. Used and **** them I suppose. Could be that heated mirrors are hand and hand with passive entry and were only choice for second design heated mirror (1st gen).

It is just that it is clear as mud.

 

[UpstateNYBill]

The part numbers you listed for the harnesses I believe are for the 2012. I ordered the passenger one and had to alter harness to use (mine is 2014. The power window connector was different, due to express up down I guess. Can you confirm? You don't have listed what year yours is. Do you have access to what the part number for the 2014 harnesses are?

Mine was a 2012 Cruze. I got the part numbers for the harnesses from the parts department at my local Chevy dealer.

 

[geiser]

hmmm 94556314 is showing the correct at site:

https://www.gmpartsgiant.com/parts/...dware-front,,f0b19b8d751b8402ab96b70be87402c5

showing work: attempted to order 96982216. that site said no go. verified car (went with ltz to have most options)

The vehicle options this part fits:

• Fitting Vehicle Options: PL69(AXG,DWE,LHD)(EXC ATH), PL69(AXG,DWY,LHD)(EXC ATH), PL69(ATH,AXG,DWE,LHD), PL69(ATH,AXG,DWY,LHD)

Confidence high, but harness is $15 more. Holding pattern for a few minutes at least. If when I do break down and buy and subsequently receive, I will confirm.

 

[UpstateNYBill]

hmmm 94556314 is showing the correct at site:

https://www.gmpartsgiant.com/parts/...dware-front,,f0b19b8d751b8402ab96b70be87402c5

showing work: attempted to order 96982216. that site said no go. verified car (went with ltz to have most options)

The vehicle options this part fits:

• Fitting Vehicle Options: PL69(AXG,DWE,LHD)(EXC ATH), PL69(AXG,DWY,LHD)(EXC ATH), PL69(ATH,AXG,DWE,LHD), PL69(ATH,AXG,DWY,LHD)

Confidence high, but harness is $15 more. Holding pattern for a few minutes at least. If when I do break down and buy and subsequently receive, I will confirm.

If you have a competent parts guy at your local Chevy dealer, that is the way to go. He can look up your model year, and then a Cruze optioned with the features you want, and give you the part numbers for those parts. This is how I did it.

Since the original writing of this How To, I'm sure some of the part numbers have changed.