Rear View Mirrors

These guys have thought about it.

One thing I did not know... cameras will be mandatory on all vehicles in USA effective model year 2014... we cannot be trusted to look in a mirror, it must be legislated.

Is that a back up camera? There is a dead space behind the vehicle that can't be seen from the mirrors. Would help in preventing backing it low obstruction behind the bumper.

Like say a toddler!

Toyota, Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagen and probably more have these options. Some already for years. I noticed it only gets activated in reverse gear or by hand in some cases.

My friend has an aftremarket camera that has the display attached to the stock rear view mirror.

Not only has someone thought about it, it's been done. However side view cameras are mounted forward to reduce blind spots.

Contrary to your statement, drivers should be accustomed to glancing at the instrument panel, clock, heat/AC, radio, etc. anyway what's your point? Are you suggesting that heads up video displays would be beneficial? But what if people are not accustomed to it?

The biggest problems with mirrors are aerodynamic drag, and the fact that many drivers just don't use them frequently.

Yeah, that and the fact they blind you at night when you need them.

We had a camera on the back of our motorhome due to the lack of a back window. It's very common now, seems mandatory. Anyway, when you used it to back into a parking space at night you couldn't see when you looked back outside. They're handy, but can also be a nuisance.

One more complex device to maintain and worry about failure at a time of need.

It adds weight and uses power.

The problem, as I see it, is that SUVs are forcing us to have blind spots.

First, the SUVs need them because they sit tall and block the driver's view to the rear.

Second, because of so many SUVs on the road new cars are being made with taller trunk lines. Compare cars of the last 5 to 10 years with cars from the 1980s and 1990s.

The rising trunk lines are there not because it is stylish, but as a mechanism to protect the passenger cars from... you guessed it... SUVs and trucks, which have a much higher bumper height compared to passenger cars.

Last, putting screens in the car will ultimately be used to display other information and most likely distracting information that will detract from safety. We already have problems with car DVD players installed (illegally) so that both passengers and driver can watch movies while driving. I guess simply reading a map, book, or newspapers over the steering wheel is no longer in fashion.

Several things...

1. Our -40°C to -50°C winters would freeze those puppies solid.

2. Road salt.

3. Punks around here take great joy in driving by and smashing side view mirrors with a baseball bat.

4. We're used to getting all the information we need with just a quick glance.

IMHO, just another useless gadget. Use common sense: walk around the car before backing out, shoulder check and use your turn signals and mirrors that have been around, and worked well, for decades.

Do semis need backup or sideview cameras? Nope. The driver knows where his corners are and what's around him.

Steve, Here in the states more Semis are adding cameras on the passenger side. Mainly to eliminate the blind spot. The camera is mounted on the far front fender typically.

There are some simple systems on the market that can handle two cameras. Some are wireless. The rear camera power is wired into the backup light circuit for power.

typical location is license plate frame mount or magnet mount on the tailgate for temporary use like hooking up a trailer by yourself. Or on the back of a obstructed view trailer for someone not use to trailing.

My thought was a notebook size outside mirror that could retract into the door when parked with the camera located at the rear. It would be dedicated to looking rearward only; no extra add-on info displayed. Any additional info would be displayed at dash level. I think it's only a matter of time before it gets incorporated into new cars. Detroit is running out of new ideas and any new gadget they can think of will be used. This idea is tame compared to those already used, like auto-pilots and parallel parking devices.

There was a guy here at my work that was working on a system for his Corvette, which has a notoriously large blind spot while backing. Not sure whether he actually finished his project but he had been buying hardware to play around with.

People like me who are obsessed with aerodynamics have though about it and implemented video systems, especially on record-setting vehicles.

A real mirror is hard to beat, even though it sticks out into the air stream. It's simple. You can move your head around to change the field of view. There are no issues with the screen not being bright enough or being too bright.

And then there's the benefit of shiny chrome teardrop mirrors making you feel like Sterling Moss.

As a motorbike rider, I couldn't agree with you more. I am the "Invisible Man."

I've been riding for 32 years and I can't tell you the number of times someone looks right at me and pulls out anyways.

GA

Up here, especially in the spring or at night, some people don't recognize what you are. One headlight confuses a lot of people.

I, too, have had my share of near-death experiences on my KZ. I don't trust anyone to have sight or brains and assume they are all oblivious to their surroundings. Having a good "Spidey Sense" helps too.

It always surprises me how many people have lost the instructions for the "Mk 1" eyeball...

We've had them in our response vehicles on and off for the past 10 years or so. Most of us find them a to be a bit of a distraction. They are just a novelty until they break down, then you have no rear view

if OTHER road users used the road and the space around larger vehicles, then there would be no need for "blind spot cameras" as there would be no-one to see in those blind spots.

It's not the operators of those large vehicles.. it is the numbnuts that try and cut up the semis and the like, to get where they are going 10 seconds quicker...

Ahh.. feel better now I got that offa my chest... have a great weekend y'all

A couple of decades ago I figured that fibre optics was the way to go with lenses to provide a bright source from the outside and to bring the output to the drivers head up position.

The price of image transmission fibre optic bundles was, however, the killer.

Another, less flexible method would have been the use of prisms or mirrors, again with the use of lenses on the outside to reduce the drag area.

Low cost cameras and monitors have since completely altered the economics.

In large emergency vehicles, they have become very common. Safety Vision is one of the bigger players that I see. I have one on the last truck received. It activates automatically when in reverse, or when manually switched on. The display is where the rear-view mirror would be. The manufacturer also offered side view cameras mounted to the existing side mirrors that look to the rear. These have displays above each side door. Just above the mirror on that side. The most unique use of cameras was on an aerial platform fire truck. It had cameras mounted on the very forward sides of the front mounted platform. It used wireless transmit-receive technology to send the picture back to the cab, so the driver could see what was coming from the sided of an intersection before he got that far out into it. About 5 feet. The wireless was required because of the limited number of wires in the boom harness.

I have an elevated boom on the new truck, and we can not see when the boom is actually bedded. I have the camera, and the display space to make it work, I just need to be able to power up the boom camera automatically only when the lower command is given. A project for the future right now.