2006-2014 Honda Ridgeline Side-view mirror

A side-view mirror (or side mirror), also known as a door mirror and often (in the UK) called a wing mirror, is a

mirror A mirror, also known as a looking glass, is an object that Reflection (physics), reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror forms an image of whatever is in front of it, which is then focused through the lens of the eye or a camera ...

placed on the exterior of

motor vehicle A motor vehicle, also known as a motorized vehicle, automotive vehicle, automobile, or road vehicle, is a self-propelled land vehicle, commonly wheeled, that does not operate on railway track, rails (such as trains or trams), does not fly (such ...

s for the purposes of helping the driver see areas behind and to the sides of the vehicle, outside the driver's peripheral vision (in the " blind spot"). Almost all modern

car A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

s mount their side mirrors on the doors—normally at the A-pillar—rather than the wings (the portion of the body above the wheel well). The side mirror is equipped for manual or remote vertical and horizontal adjustment so as to provide adequate coverage to drivers of differing height and seated position. Remote adjustment may be mechanical by means of

bowden cable A Bowden cable ( ) is a type of flexible Wire rope, cable used to transmit mechanics, mechanical force or energy by the movement of an inner cable relative to a hollow outer cable housing. The housing is generally of composite construction, ...

s, or may be electric by means of geared motors. The mirror glass may also be electrically heated and may include electrochromic dimming to reduce glare to the driver from the

headlamp A headlamp is a lamp attached to the front of a vehicle to illuminate the road ahead. Headlamps are also often called headlights, but in the most precise usage, ''headlamp'' is the term for the device itself and ''headlight'' is the term for t ...

s of following vehicles. Increasingly, the side mirror incorporates the vehicle's turn signal repeaters. There is evidence to suggest that mirror-mounted repeaters may be more effective than repeaters mounted in the previously predominant fender side location.

Optional side mirror

Through the 1940s, most roads had just two lanes, one in each direction. Drivers usually had to be aware only of traffic ahead of and directly behind them. Due to this, early cars had just a single rear-view mirror mounted on the top of the windshield or on top of the dashboard. When side mirrors were introduced to help drivers see overtaking vehicles, most cars only had the driver side mirror as standard equipment. A passenger side mirror was optional on most cars through the 1970s. Today all 3 mirrors are standard on almost all passenger vehicles.

Planar, convex, aspheric

In the U.S. and Canada, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 111 and the Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 111 require the driver-side mirror to provide "unit magnification", i.e., an undistorted 1:1 reflection achieved with a flat mirror. However, unit magnification limits the field of view that can be provided by a mirror of size compatible with the vehicle body. The

ECE regulations The World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations is a working party (WP.29) of the Inland Transport Committee (ITC) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). Its responsibility is to manage the multilateral Agreements ...

in use throughout most of the world except North America permit the driver-side mirror to have a planar, convex, or

aspheric An aspheric lens or asphere (often labeled ''ASPH'' on eye pieces) is a lens whose surface profiles are not portions of a sphere or cylinder. In photography, a lens assembly that includes an aspheric element is often called an aspherical lens. ...

surface; an aspheric section is often combined with a larger convex section, and the two sections are separated by a visible line to alert the driver to the two sections' different perspective shifts. Because of the distance from the driver's eye to the ''passenger'' side mirror, a useful field of view can be achieved only with a

convex Convex or convexity may refer to: Science and technology * Convex lens, in optics Mathematics * Convex set, containing the whole line segment that joins points ** Convex polygon, a polygon which encloses a convex set of points ** Convex polytop ...

or aspheric mirror. However, the convexity also minifies the objects shown. Since such objects seem farther away than they actually are, a driver might make a maneuver such as a lane change assuming an adjacent vehicle is a safe distance behind, when in fact it is quite a bit closer. In the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, non-planar mirrors are etched or printed with the warning legend . In Canada, this warning is often supplemented by a transparent decal on the passenger side window repeating the warning in French: . In Korea, the warning appears in Korean. Warnings of this nature are not required in Europe.

Other requirements

More commonly in cars manufactured since the 2000s, side mirrors may be manually or electrically folded in, to protect them when the car is parked or being washed in an automated car wash. Passing cars can easily clip protruding side mirrors; the folding capability helps protect them from harm. ECE Regulation 46 requires that side mirrors be mounted such that they swing away when struck by a test cylinder meant to represent a pedestrian. Until March 1983, the Japanese

Ministry of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

did not allow cars to be registered without mirrors on front fenders, so the mirrors were mounted far forward atop the front fenders. More recent Japanese-specification vehicles have side mirrors similar to those in other countries. Taxi drivers and other professional drivers retain a preference for the wing-mounted mirrors as they feel that they work better in extremely tight traffic. U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 111 requires that convex side-view mirrors must have a curvature radius of between 889 mm and 1651 mm. Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 111 stipulates a range of between 890 mm and 1800 mm. Neither the U.S. nor the Canadian standard allows for aspheric mirrors. The European ECE Regulation 46 used throughout most of the world permits planar, convex, and/or aspheric mirrors on either side of the vehicle. American research suggests non-planar driver side mirrors may help reduce crashes.

Digital

In 2018, side mirrors in a form of camera and display were introduced for a better peripheral recognition upon driving. It has advantages over conventional ones as it may provide wider angle of sight and less air resistance without obstructing driver's frontal view, though the first of these problems can be alleviated in regular mirrors by adjusting them such that the view presented offers only minimal overlap with that of the interior mirror. Problems with digital mirrors include difficulties relating to the inherent lack of binocular vision (such as impaired depth perception, and the requirement for the viewer to readjust focus to the distance of the mirror surface instead of merely the distance to the object), as well as from problems related to both the reduced dynamic range and the sensitivity of a camera in low light conditions. This type of mirror also needs power to function. These side mirrors are installed on various types of vehicles such as

Hyundai Ioniq 5 The Hyundai Ioniq 5 () is a Battery electric vehicle, battery electric compact crossover SUV produced by Hyundai Motor Company, Hyundai since 2021. It is the first product to be marketed under the Ioniq sub-brand, and the first model developed ...

, Audi e-tron. Mercedes-Benz introduced such a system 2018 in the Actros under the name "MirrorCam". Mercedes-benz actros 5 cabin digital mirror double steering wheel.jpg, Mercedes-Benz Actros 5 cabin with digital mirrors Truck digital mirror left and right.jpg, left and right display Truck digital mirror left camera.jpg, left camera of the digital mirror 2018 Honda Ridgeline RTL-T-LaneWatch Display.jpg, Honda's LaneWatch provides an 80°

field of view The field of view (FOV) is the angle, angular extent of the observable world that is visual perception, seen at any given moment. In the case of optical instruments or sensors, it is a solid angle through which a detector is sensitive to elec ...

with four times more visibility than traditional side-view mirrors.

References

{{CarDesign nav Automotive body parts Mirrors

Optional side mirror

Planar, convex, aspheric

Other requirements

Digital

See also

References