We bought our TCH two days ago and absolutely love it! However, I drove it at night for the first time tonight, and realized that I get horrible 'ghost' images in the back window! The lights from cars behind me get reflected (or is it refracted?) by each defroster wire on the rear window and so I get vertical 'stripes' of lights from each car. It wreaks hell on my depth perception and I'm afraid I'm going to end up changing lanes into a motorcycle or something, because I can't use my rear view in conjunction with the side mirrors.

Does anyone else have this problem, or should I be going back to the dealer to get it fixed?

I confirmed that it is the same viewing through the rear view mirror and looking directly through the rear window, so it isn't something odd with the dimming feature.

 

Wow! I noticed the distortion for the first time just yesterday!
It was during day time, however, not due to the heating element, but rather the angle of the glass.
I think the glass is at such a shallow angle (presumably for aerodynamic reasons) that a car's image being viewed below a certain point appears one size and above that point appears slightly larger, so as you angle your head up and down, changing the angle at which you see the car, it goes through a distortion.
I think the best way to describe it is to look through a glass of water at an object on the other side of the glass. As you move the glass up and down, the image changes appearance.
Possible causes?
-I'm tall and it might be the angle that I am seeing the rear window, not sure.
-It might also be due to the fact that the rear view mirrors are self adjusting and the light gets reflected differently due the angle at which it is coming in, not sure. I noticed this during daylight hours, but the car might have been (can't remember for sure) had it's lights on. Is it possible that the daytime use of his lights was partially affecting the automatic rear view mirror?
I didn't read these items, yet, but here are some web referenced to rear window distortion.

 

I've never noticed a symptom like this before. I'll check on my drive home tonight.

 

Our TCH has the back window distorted too. That is one thing that we dislike about the vehicle, along with the crappy navigation, and the lack of lights in the window/door-lock switches, and the non-auto up and down on all window switches. Other than those few items its a really nice car. Can't beat the fuel mileage, quietness and nice ride.

 

Thanks for the link -- it looks like rear window tinting might be the culprit, at least for some owners who reported the problem started after adding after-market tint. In our case, the tinting was in place when we got it from the dealer. Since it doesn't seem to be a universal issue (ie a feature rather than a bug), I'll put in a call to them tomorrow.

 

I have rear window tinting and I sometimes notice an issue but not all the time. Mine is fixed by turning the auto dimming function of the mirror off and back on. I really think it is the mirror because sometimes I also notice it doesn't seem to dim quite right.

 

Ours is not tinted, it appears to be just crappy, cheap rear window. Look thru it and its wavy. When looking thru the rearview mirror, the cars behind change shape. NICE!

 

Mine is not nearly that bad and I feel it is the mirror. If I look through it things look ok....what you describe sounds like a warranty repair.

 

A few variables at work to try and figure out
Driver's height (and angle at which they see the reflection of the rear view mirror)
Day time, dusk or night time (autoadjusting mirrors) and whether the car seen was using headlights during the day (that might confuse the auto mirrors, not sure?)
Tinting or regular

I'm tall and noticed the distortion during the day with a car whose headlights were on.
I'll try and pay attention in the next day or so and report back.