# Why do cars still have blind spots?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cars-still-have-blind-spots/783527>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 1, 2017, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cars-still-have-blind-spots/783527 "2017-04-01T19:05:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 41

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**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cars-still-have-blind-spots/783527/41 "2017-04-03T17:28:35Z")

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> [@boffking](#):
>
> I keep seeing ads for cars with “Blind Spot warnings” as a feature. Could cars be engineered to not have a blind spot at all?

They can be, and the vast majority of cars ever made have been, and still are, designed **not** to have blind spots. The cause of “blind spots” in 95% (WAG) of ordinary passenger vehicles is not the design of the car, but\*\* the way the driver has adjusted the side mirrors\*\*.

**Sigene** got it right in post 3:

> [@Sigene](#):
>
> Swing your side mirrors way out…so that they are reflecting way out in the lane beside you…not down the side of your car. If you can see your car in the side mirror, you are not utilizing all of the mirror.
> 
> This way, you can see the car behind you in the rear view mirror; when it moves to your side it becomes visible in your side mirror, then as it leaves your side mirror you can see it out your side window.

If you don’t trust **Sigene** , here are some more authoritative and detailed explanations:

[Car and Driver](http://www.caranddriver.com/features/how-to-adjust-your-mirrors-to-avoid-blind-spots)

[AAA](http://seniordriving.aaa.com/improve-your-driving-skills/prepare-drive/how-use-adjust-your-mirrors/)

If you can see the sides of your own car in your side view mirrors, **you** (not the car’s designers) have created entirely unnecessary blind spots. When the side mirrors are properly adjusted, vehicles passing you on either side will move seamlessly from the rear view mirror to the side view, then as they leave the side view they’ll appear in your peripheral vision out the window. You should be able to see almost everything 180 degrees behind you. Side and rear pillars may temporarily block part of a vehicle, but not all of it, not even small things like motorcycles.

Unfortunately, \>95% of people believe for some reason that they have to see the sides of their car. Then they complain about blind spots.

I know this post will be followed by a chorus of people insisting that this doesn’t work in _their_ car. And, of course, I haven’t driven every car ever made, so I’m not claiming that there are no cars with unavoidable blind spots. But I do drive rental cars pretty regularly, and since learning the proper way to adjust mirrors (also from Car Talk) many years ago, I can make the following statements quite confidently about dozens of makes and models, domestic and imported:

[ul]  
[li]No ordinary sedan I have driven had a blind spot that couldn’t be eliminated by proper mirror adjustment. [/li]  
[li]The only vehicles I have driven with unfixable blind spots were SUVs or minivans. (Sorry, I can’t remember models.) But even those were rare. And IIRC, they usually had little wide-angle convex mirrors outside the main side mirror, factory installed. [/li][/ul]

Learning how to adjust and use the mirrors correctly takes a little getting used to, but once you do, driving is so much better. You can really see everything and don’t have to worry as much. I don’t understand why it’s not taught in driver’s ed.

However, the resistance to it is unbelievable. I don’t recall ever getting into a rental car and finding the mirrors properly adjusted. I’ve explained the technique to several people, but only a handful have adopted it. My wife and stepson did, but not my father or most of the friends whom I’ve told about it. I’m not surprised (just a little disappointed) that so many Dopers have bought in to the myth of the blind spot.

So I’m urging my fellow Dopers, who I believe are smarter than the average bear, to give it a shot with an open mind. Read the instructions on the AAA page, and try it for at least a week. It may be a little disorienting at first, but I believe you’ll find when you get used to it that you’ll have much more confidence and comfort on the road.

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