Programmable rear view mirrors

I get tired of always adjusting the interior rear view mirror manually- come to think of it , I've never seen a model car with any level of automation on the mirror - are there any cars that have this feature? Seems like it would work well to match the seat adjustment programmed settings - is there a reason why no one has done it?

 

My guess would be cost/benefit. Adjusting the rear view mirror is really easy. By adding motors the system would be more complex and slower.

 

Seriously? - How lazy must you be to want an automated rear view mirror?

Do you also need an automated glovebox? - After all, that's a bit of a chore having to open the glovebox yourself!

How about an automated centre arm rest? - Again, it can be a real pain having to raise and lower an arm rest!

And people complain about how cars are getting bigger and heavier all the time!

 

No Words...

 

For something on the order of $10,000 you can get a get of glasses that can determine where your eye is looking. Then you can add another $5K to this for a computer that takes the eye pointing data and automatically adjusts the rearview mirrors to obscure exactly what you are looking at. {If you want.}

 

I'd use a gimbal micro controller board to "set" the mirror with a limit on the overall motion. Only concern that I see is DOT regulation. For that matter why not a tracking mirror?

 

Gosh - tough crowd here - I've not been accused of being lazy lately - just don't like to do mundane things in a world where automation takes them away - at least in daily drivers - where weight isn't as big of a deal - Cars have multi-driver settings for all kinds of stuff, external mirrors, seats, steering wheel tilt and telescope - why not finish it off with the only remaining manual adjustable part?

 

Geez. I try not to post negative vibes, but I'm failing in this case. Your point is legitimate that numerous mundane things happen automatically, but at what point do we (have we) lost any physical connections to and with the car at all?

 

I generally find the more "automatic" stuff a car has the less I like it. I have a car with an auto dimming mirror and if I could change it to an old style with a lever to switch between day and night I'd do it in an instant but there is so much other electrical stuff in it it can be changed for an old school mirror.

 

Even in a daily driver, how much effort does it really take to adjust a rear view mirror? - It's a 3~5 second operation at most that can be done in most cars one handed!

Next thing you know someone will be wanting electric ashtray covers, electric air vents, electric sun visors, electric coat hooks!

Sorry to sound so flippant but the idea of wanting an electric rear view mirror is just laziness turned up to 11 as far as I'm concerned!

 

First you say programmable then say automatic. What would you want it to do automatically?

 

I'm not a big fan of more automation in cars, but I get the logic behind the request. I think it would really only relevant for the "seat memory" function. If you have a car that is frequently used by two or more people, then the seat memory function is very convenient and there are safety benefits to always having the mirrors adjusted correctly at the start of every drive. The only part of driver setup that doesn't change with seat memory is the rear-view mirror -- so it is a functional gap of sorts, but adjusting the rear-view mirror is so easy that, for me, it's not really worth the complexity or weight of adding it.

If the car isn't frequently shared, then I really can't see a need for it at all.

 

I guess what puzzled me is how often do you have to do this?

Except for the very rare instance when someone else drives one of my cars, I never touch the mirror.

 

The solution is quite simple, just make sure only you drive the car.

If the mirror is loose in the 'joint" and is too loose, painting the joint with a little dab of wife's nail polish helps.

 

Buy your wife a dilldo.

 

My S-Class has it.


MB

 

An how often do you use it?

 

My SL has it as well. I am pretty sure it goes back to the W140 era.

 

Mercedes is the only car I have driven where I have ever seen this feature.

Early too, I test drove a late 80's or early 90's 450SL that had it.
Alden

 

Is this thread for real? Too lazy to adjust a mirror? Or too good to adjust a mirror. WTF is this world coming too?

I think people should watch the movie Wallie too see where we are headed.

 

My wife would like this feature so she doesn't have to readjust the mirror after I drive her car. I will tell her about Mercedes. But she hates em and she won't have a car that is not a manual transmission. Go figure.

 

GM had this in the Oldsmobile 98's. They got rid of it for a reason.

 

You guys are missing the obvious benefits of leaving it manual adjust only. When you grab it you get to over correct to check yourself/hair before you set it where it needs to be.

Something like this. Oh snap, its off. grab it and over adjust to your special self....there I am! Ah...looking good today! I am glad I took an extra couple of minutes in front of the mirror this AM! Ok let's put it where I need it. Move on!

 

Only when the last person driving the car did not set the seats back to the #1 position. Coincidentally, our 2013 SL550 and 2015 SL550 don't have it...I actually have to use my hand, oh! the horrors of doing something manual

MB