You can buy a extended rear view mirror from Broadway or Fizz, both are Japanese car part company. You can find the mirrors at a Japanese grocery store sometimes or Japanese car accessorie store. Also, you need to go to the Priuchat MY CONTROLS section and tell us which city and state you are from, it will help people from your state help you out..since we are such a big and diverse nation.
I don't think I have a blind spot; I can't see it anyway. Ok, seriously this time: can you describe where the blind spot is? Is it looking from the driver's seat forward at roughly 45-degree angles? Is it where the side mirrors and rear-view mirrors overlap? It is where the light hits your optic nerve? Is it where the spoiler crosses the hatch? Is it straight up from the driver's seat? Not really as seroius as I anticipated. Sorry.
I second the broadway mirrors! I have them on all cars. They don't need to be any longer than the factory mirror to work... of course it defeats the auto-dim, but with a convex, you don't NEED the dimming feature. The scariest blind spot for me is not being able to see the hood!
Sigma Automotive has a couple of antenna that gives you a guideline. If you want to be cheap, go to an automotive store like Pep Boys and get a cell phone antenna for about $12. Attach it to your front license plate holder. The tip should be just visible (especially if you put an antenna ball there). The person who did that told me that whenever anyone asks what that antenna is for, he replies that as the car is moving it draws electricity out of the air. :lol:
I dont find the rear window blind spot to be any worse than any other car. I personally have always leaned forward while looking in the side view mirror to see as much as I can. I've read posts here where some have bought small convex mirrors and glued them onto the side views mirrors. You see that alot on trucks.
You know the Car Talk guys on NPR? Here's some of their advice: Avoiding the Blind Spot I've been using this technique for two years now, and it works extremely well. It takes a little bit of getting used to, but hey we're all early adopters of new technology, right? I no longer have to turn my head more than 90 degrees because I do the following five steps when changing lanes: 1. Signal. 2. Look in rearview mirror for cars in neighboring lanes. 3. Look in side mirror for cars in that lane. 4. Glance to the side to check for a car through the side window. 5. Change lanes. Before I adopted this strategy, I underutilized the sides of the rearview mirror because the side mirrors overlapped with them so much. Now I feel I fully utilize the views the mirrors give me. Try it, you'll like it!
Plasm - I've been using that for years, and everybody who gets in my cars thinks I'm nots for having the side mirrors "so far out there." This works GREAT once you get used to it, and is sooooo much safer. I used to get surprised at having cars right next to me that I couldn't see. The side mirrors aren't for looking BEHIND you, they're for looking beside you. The rear view mirror is much better at looking behind you (even better when convex). This process of setting the side mirrors gets the official Darell Seal of Approval.
I set mine like below - no blind spots with my 2004 Prius . . .or with any of my cars . . . When do we rely on our mirrors the most? Probably while changing lanes. Our objective is to change positions without interfering with other drivers or cutting them off. Positioning the inside rearview mirror is fairly obvious: You should be able to see out of the rear window. Be sure the day/night switch found on most rearview mirrors is in the day position during daytime operation As for the side-view mirror or mirrors, most people adjust them so they can see the side of the car on the inside edge of the mirror. Consider the view when the side view mirrors are set up this way. Essentially, you have created "tunnel vision" to the rear. Your side-view mirrors overlap much of what your inside mirror sees, and you have created blind spots. What is the solution? Simply adjust the side-view mirrors just beyond the point where you could see the side of the car on the inside edge of the mirror. With this setup, you almost completely solve the blind spot problem. In case a vehicle isn't visible when checking the mirrors, it's front will probably be adjacent to your door, and you should spot it in your peripheral vision as you check the side-view mirror. Most of us have dealt with blind spots by turning our heads for a quick check. This isn't usually a problem but a dangerous side effect sometimes crops up. Unless you have worked to control the movement, your arms will move in the direction your eyes are looking, causing the steering wheel to turn. With well-positioned mirrors, you won't have to turn your head as far to check for remaining blind spots. This setup is useful in other situations as well. For example, when entering a highway your ability to judge how to best merge with the traffic flow will be greatly enhanced with the view provided by the "wide-view" side mirror. And as you pass interchanges on the highway, your ability to monitor traffic entering the highway is enhanced. And finally, a good guideline for deciding when to move into the passing lane or back into the traveling lane is to make sure that you can see the headlights of the vehicle you want to pull in front of in the rearview mirror. We can all appreciate the value of adequate pull-in space. www.txbollweevil.org/Program_information/ Safety/print/setmirrors_print.htm
I have my side mirrors angled outwards and completely eliminate overlap between the side-view mirrors and the rear-view mirrors. It takes some getting used to, but once you do, you have no blind spots at all. For example, when a car passes you on the left, you will see them in this order: 1) coming up in the middle of the rear-view mirror. 2) they trail off to the left side of the rear-view 3) they are immediately visible in the left side-view 4) they travel across the side-view and off the left side 5) by the time they leave the side mirror, you can see their front bumper The only advantage I can think of to have the side mirrors aimed inward is to be able to see the vehicle behind you two redundant times in addition to the one in the rear-view mirror. Also, you can keep an eye on the side of your car; you know, just in case.
One other trick that helped me a little was to rotate the rear-view mirror upside down. Then the outline of the mirror is a better fit to the rear glass. Note that because of internal cabling and what-not, the rear-view mirror can only be rotated 180 degrees in one direction (I forget which way). Don't try to force it, that means you're going in the wrong direction.
And you're absolutely certain that the cars behind you won't appear upside down? You'd have to warn people about that! :blink:
To eliminate the lateral blind spots you could also paste to a corner of the side mirrors a small round convex mirror. I suspect, however, that the original post refers to the rear spoiler.
My 2 cents; Went to the dollar store and got a fresnel lens, about 8 x 12 and mounted on the inside lower glass on the hatch. Cut down to size and held in place by moulding. Poor mans '05 rear camera. good for kids or bikes close by. Don't like it, no loss. I am hoping that it will diffuse the headlights behind me that are obscured by the spoiler to help the sensor in the mirror dim at night. If only the sensor was mounted in the back glass it would work better.
I've had my mirrors adjusted as described above for about four months now and, although it's true that there is no blind spot, I still can't change lanes without looking over my shoulder. I guess a twenty six year habit is hard to break.
