Side mirror upgrade option

[Doctors Do Little]

The Escape, the Sequoia, my old Ranger, her old Grand Cherokee, my old Saab, the doorframe of the garage (once with the bumper and once on top with the rooftop carrier), my snowblower, and her friend's Caravan have all been gently and slowly... crunched. Kid's toys left in the driveway are not safe, kids and pets must be inside the house or the vehicle before the car is out of park. She parked far from stores and looked for pull through spots, we swapped drivers before parallel parking downtown, backing up a trailer wasn't even in the realm of possibility... it was bad, until we got the Highlander with its fancy overhead view 360 degree camera system:

Fortunately, I don't love her for her parking skills! And I don't know that she'll want to drive the Slate much. If she does, I'll back into the garage so she can pull straight out (puts the plug in the right spot for charging anyways).

I am adamantly NOT proposing that Slate offer a Platinum trim festooned with cameras and adopt that obscenely large infotainment touchscreen. This shouldn't be necessary, the vast majority of people drive safely with plain glass mirrors and their eyeballs...but not everyone.

Dude! Your wife and mine are likely graduates of the same “school of braille method of backing”!

 

[Driven5]

The problem with manual mirrors isn't adjusting them. It's that going through a car wash totally screws them up.

I solved that problem by just washing all of my vehicles biyearly.

 

[Sturm]

I solved that problem by just washing all of my vehicles biyearly.

Dude...if you life in eastern WA I get that you might want to do the "biyearly" thing.

If I was living in western WA...my vehicle would NEVER have to see a car wash. ;-)

 

[StromSpeed]

Do these mirrors manually fold in? Maybe an option to do before the wash, but +1 on the manual adjusts after wash.
(1990 Nissan Hardbody pickup flashbacks )

 

[Driven5]

Dude...if you life in eastern WA I get that you might want to do the "biyearly" thing.

If I was living in western WA...my vehicle would NEVER have to see a car wash. ;-)

In Eastern WA, biyearly means every 6 months.

In Western WA, biyearly means every 2 years.

And yes, folding the mirrors in works too protect the adjustment from car washes in a way you couldn't do when the mirror didn't live in a non adjustable (but foldable) housing. They make me do it with the tow mirrors on my truck too.

 

[Daemoch]

Im considering installing screens, cameras, and deleting the mirrors entirely. The aero impact is surprisingly noticeable from side mirrors. There used to be the "but what if the (camera's) electrical system goes out?" fears, but.....this is an EV. If the elec goes out, we got bigger issues. :/

 

[FlyHappy]

Im considering installing screens, cameras, and deleting the mirrors entirely. The aero impact is surprisingly noticeable from side mirrors. There used to be the "but what if the (camera's) electrical system goes out?" fears, but.....this is an EV. If the elec goes out, we got bigger issues. :/

well, I am definitely gonna want to see your setup, if it comes to fruition... and if you are able to escape any LE hassles. I assume most cops wouldn't care, but.... ?

 

[Rocks]

Some 3d printed caps to go over the existing side mirror mounting holes would be reasonably easy to design. Modifying that to have rear facing camera ports would just need the dimensions of the camera module.

As long as you have the glass in-cab rear view, you'll be legal in most places.

Also since the "dash" screen has a feed for the backup camera, adding in side mirror feeds means there is some chance of integration there.

 

[FlyHappy]

As long as you have the glass in-cab rear view, you'll be legal in most places.

huh, I'll be damned. for some reason, I thought drivers side mirror was a federal requirement, but apparantly not.

I will be most curious to hear what kind of highway range improvement can be achieved sans the wing mirrors.

 

[Rocks]

huh, I'll be damned. for some reason, I thought drivers side mirror was a federal requirement, but apparantly not.

I will be most curious to hear what kind of highway range improvement can be achieved sans the wing mirrors.

Yeah, the fed regs control what car makers can ship. State law determines what drivers can do once they take possession (commercial vehicles excluded).

 

[d.h.]

You all are making to big a deal of this. Once my mirrors are adjusted I never touch them again. I see the cars , pickups, parked with the mirrors folded in ,and wonder what the point is. Back up cameras are nice, but mirrors are reliable. I'm a simpleton, that's why I like the Slate , it's simple.

 

[Doctors Do Little]

You all are making to big a deal of this. Once my mirrors are adjusted I never touch them again. I see the cars , pickups, parked with the mirrors folded in ,and wonder what the point is. Back up cameras are nice, but mirrors are reliable. I'm a simpleton, that's why I like the Slate , it's simple.

No arguments, rather just something we get accustomed to doing when driving through car wash, tight parking decks, parking spots, etc.

 

[d.h.]

I'm getting old, I remember back when you had to pick up a hitch hiker to adjust your passenger mirror, then hope you got them out of your truck before they murdered you with an axe. The good old days.

 

[FlyHappy]

You all are making to big a deal of this. Once my mirrors are adjusted I never touch them again. I see the cars , pickups, parked with the mirrors folded in ,and wonder what the point is. Back up cameras are nice, but mirrors are reliable. I'm a simpleton, that's why I like the Slate , it's simple.

I agree that the folding thing for parking and such seems pretty crazy, but tbf, you may have forgetten the old days of sharing a vehicle, and the need for each person to adjust both outside mirrors; maybe you never had that. It only annoyed me in the depth of winter... and when I had to chip ice away to do it (which sometimes, I still do).

 

[d.h.]

That's true, I haven't shared vehicles in a while. As far as scraping ice , I've done what I can to put that behind me , I hate cold weather. Being able to adjust the mirrors from the driver seat is absolutely great . I guess I've pretty much left the rails on this one. Not sure how I got here, the original poster just wanted a taller mirror option.