Was there a Model S side mirror change?

[Gizmotoy]

So I had a malfunction in the mirror movement mechanism on both my driver and passenger side side view mirrors. Sometimes the mirror would get stuck in position and refuse to move. My mirror are set to change position when entering reverse, so this would often end up with my mirrors stuck pointing at the ground.

I have an extended warranty on my 2013, so Tesla replaced them for the deductible cost. The new mirrors are of noticeably worse quality. The mirror stalks were metal, and now they're plastic. The seams are uneven and there are visible screws when the mirror is folded. Weather stripping kind of sticks out and hangs down.

Is this common across all Model S now? Did they change the side mirrors pretty substantially at some point?

 

[Ostrichsak]

What I've been told is that they no longer make the previous version and now all cars get the newer version which is the folding style. I too disliked them as I found they were more prone to getting knocked around in the car wash in a car w/o power folding mirrors. I also felt the quality wasn't quite as good as you mentioned. On the newer cars you can simply fold them when entering a car wash so this is the best solution but on a car where you can't do that you definitely want to keep the older style. TBH I'm not sure you can specify the "old" style as they may not keep them for refurbishment any longer. I don't know if someone can speak to that specifically but since we no longer have a Model S w/o folding side mirrors & sold ours shortly after getting the new replacement I didn't bother looking into this.

FWIW, I believe this feature is found under "Vehicle" or maybe "Driving" and I disable it on all of my cars. I prefer them to stay rear facing as I use them to gauge when I'm backing straight based on things around me like other cars or trees. Having them angle down throws off my perspective but I see how others may prefer this feature. More importantly, I don't want the wear and tear on the motors every single time I put the car into reverse. This is why the motor failed prematurely on the 2013 we had (previous owner had this enabled for about 80k miles I'm guessing) which caused us to have the side mirror replaced in the first place. The less you use the motors the longer they should last obviously.

 

[Gizmotoy]

I had folding mirrors originally on my vehicle, as they were introduced around Oct. 2013, and my car was built in Nov. They still had the metal stalks of the original non-folding mirrors. I guess they switched the construction at some point, though. I'd be less upset if they were better put together. If you touch them they squeak and the casing flexes closed.

 

[CarlW]

Slightly different question: I must replace my 2014 Model S left side mirror assembly. Tesla Collision's estimate says part number is 104131700G for $525 (plus labor of course). I found a used one on Ebay with exactly the same part number except it has an "E" at the end rather than "G." I assume that the "G" is a later model, but that my original one was an "E" like the one on Ebay so the "E" part number will fit my car.

Can anyone verify whether the "G" vs "E" at the end of the part number makes any difference?