Sun visors are easily one of the most convenient features in any car. Whether you forget your sunglasses or just need a little more help shielding your eyes from the light, a visor can come in handy. However, having a visor that won’t stay up can be almost more annoying than not having one, so you might wonder what causes a sun visor to fall.
A sun visor that won’t stay up is usually caused by a problem with the mounting bar clip screws. If these screws come loose, the clips that hold your visor in place and allow it to swivel will lose some of their grip, which will cause the visor to fall. Too much weight can also cause this problem.
The rest of this article will go over the most common reasons why your car’s sun visor won’t stay up, so you can get to the root of the problem. I’ll also discuss solutions to this issue. Read on to gain a better understanding of car sun visor malfunction.
Here are four potential reasons why this car accessory isn’t functioning properly:
- Loose mounting bar clips
- Broken mounting bar clips
- Too much weight on the visor
- Visor isn’t properly mounted
1. The Mounting Bar Clips Are Loose
The most common reason a sun visor won’t stay up is loose visor clips.
If you look at your car’s sun visor, you might notice that it attaches to the roof or your car by a thin metal bar inserted into two little grip slots. Those are the mounting bar/visor clips.
These clips can keep a good grip on your visor because each grip has two-four little screws that keep the hold tight enough to keep your visor up, while still loose enough to let it swivel if you manually move it.
Essentially, this is the same concept that applies to the arms of your glasses. These arms also have little screws to keep the arm in place, but they’re still loose enough to be adjustable.
However, it can be an issue of these screws begin to loosen more than they should. This can lower the grip strength your car’s sun visor mounting clips should have.
This doesn’t typically happen overnight, and you can usually notice the grip gradually becoming looser until it gets to the point where your visor no longer stays up. For example, you might notice that it’s even easier to swivel your visor than usual before it stops functioning properly.
However, while this issue usually won’t pop up suddenly, it’s common and almost guaranteed with frequent use. Every time you pull your visor down, you’re loosening screws ever so slightly. Eventually, these movements will add up.
How to Fix It
Fortunately, while loose visor clip screws are annoying, they’re easy to fix. The most straightforward way you can fix loose visor clips is simply by tightening the screws.
It might take a little searching to find where the screws of your particular visor are located and find a screwdriver that is small enough to fit the screws.
Once you have your tools ready, you can get this problem solved in a matter of minutes by simply inserting the screwdriver into the head of the screw and tightening until the issue is fixed. However, make sure not to tighten the screws too much as this might make it harder to move your visor.
2. Broken Mounting Bar Clips
Broken visor clips are a less common but easy-to-determine cause of a falling sun visor.
Car visor clips are usually made of plastic, which means they’re prone to breaking if they’re strained too much. For example, if you routinely push your visor into place in a rough manner, this can cause repeated wear on the clips and cause them to eventually snap.
If one or more of the visor clips on your car is broken, then there’s nothing to keep your visor up, which means it will constantly be down and in your way.
How to Fix It
If broken visor clips are the cause of your problem, there’s good and bad news. The good news is that this is an easy problem to figure out. You can usually see where your clips are broken without having to do too much investigating.
The bad news is that this is a slightly more complicated problem to fix. Replacing these clips can be a little more involved, a process that might need the help of a mechanic or handyman. However, there are other ways you can fix this problem that are simpler and often cheaper to do.
The most common alternate fix for broken visor clips is velcro. By attaching a strip of velcro to the roof of your car and another to the back of your visor, you can keep your visor held in place when you’re not actively using it.
Since velcro usually has an adhesive side, you just need to make sure you measure the right place on your car roof to place the velcro, and you’re done.
Eventually, you’ll likely need to replace the strips. However, this solution can last months or even years, making it a cost-effective option.
If you’re interested in using velcro to fix your car’s sun visor, I recommend this Velcro Tape Roll on Amazon. I love this particular product because it’s sturdy, reliable, and affordable.
3. Too Much Weight on the Visor
If you’re like many other drivers in the world, you might take advantage of the sun visor and use it for storage. It can be a convenient way to store papers and other small items that will stay in place when the visor is shut. You might also have a CD case strapped to your visor, photos, or any other number of things you want within reach while driving.
While this is a convenient place to store things, too much weight can contribute to the loosening of your sun visor, and eventually lead to the problem of the visor not staying up when you need it to.
Visor grips are usually only designed to be able to support the weight of the visor itself. While adding a few extra ounces of weight doesn’t always cause a problem, any amount of extra weight is more than the visor was designed to hold. This excess strain on the grips of your visor can cause it to loosen and eventually fall.
How to Fix It
While a quick fix is to tighten the screws on the visor clips, this isn’t the best solution to the problem. Tightening these screws any more than you need to can risk breaking the screws or the grips themselves.
While you should still check if the screws are loose, that’s not likely the root cause of this issue. The problem is likely a result of using your visor for storage when it goes against its intended functionality. The simplest and best solution to this issue is to remove whatever objects are weighing your visor down.
While this might be inconvenient if you’ve gotten used to using car sun visors for storage, there are other places to store objects in your car. Try keeping items in the storage compartments located on the inside of your car doors. Some car seats often have nets on the back, so you can try those as well. The glove box is also an excellent place to store smaller items.
4. Visor Isn’t Properly Mounted
Mounting problems are another common cause to the issue of car visors that just won’t stay up.
Most sun visors can be partially unmounted, so you can use them to block sunlight that is shining in from the side window of a car. While this is convenient, sometimes, when you remount your visor, it can be easy to miss putting it back in its place.
You might not line your visor’s mounting bar up with the clips properly, or you might not push the bar in properly so that the clips can grip the bar. Both of these can cause your visor to fall when you try to push it up.
How to Fix It
This problem is the easiest one to fix and the easiest one to diagnose. If your visor isn’t mounted properly, not only will it fall, but it will also be unlevel and hanging at an angle. When that’s the case, you just have to push it into place right.
Make sure the mounting bar and the clips are aligned, and give a firm push until you hear a click that signals the visor’s mounting bar is in place.
Final Thoughts
While a sun visor that won’t stay up can be an annoying problem, it’s one of the least difficult car troubles you can have.
With a little bit of investigation and critical thinking, you can not only determine the root cause but also address the issue yourself without the need for a mechanic. Hopefully, this article has given you a better understanding of car sun visors and how to take care of them properly.
