Blind spots are more than just the rear of the car. Think about those big pillars on either side of the windscreen in front of you. Huge blind spots there. There’s also, for me, a huge blind spot behind the rear view mirror.
I notice that the Chevrolet HHR is mentioned several times in this thread. I can add to that - if I’d realized how many blind spots the HHR had I wouldn’t have bought mine.
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Huge side posts between the windshield and the side windows. When turning at an intersection any pedestrians in the crosswalk are totally blanked out. This is exacerbated by the really huge side mirrors.
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Huge side posts between the front and rear side windows. You get a great view of these when you swivel your head around to see what’s in the adjacent lanes.
I will say, though, the inside of the car is probably safe against anything except a meteor strike. Talk about a roll cage!
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No part of the road within 40 or so feet of the car is visible to the driver. Parking is sort of a general “take a stab at aiming the car and hope for the best”.
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No points of reference on the front of the car to make it easier to see where you are in a lane.
I did install a rear view camera to help (a lot) in seeing for backing up. This was great for about three months until the camera died. Haven’t replaced it yet.
I’m not sure why, these days, you can’t have a CGI display that gives you an simulated eye in the sky that eliminates blind spots entirely. I suppose people would look at that instead of out the front. Anyway, if I can get an MRI cross section of my brain, why not a RADAR based surround image?
Anyway if you want to see blind spots, sit in a nearly empty parking lot at a big box store. People just cruise across the open areas at just about any angle and every once in a while you two cars converging on a location while in each other’s blind spot. It’s fun if you like that sort of thing.
MRI also costs hundreds or thousands of dollars per hour. But if you’re willing to pay, the Mercedes S class has a 360 degree camera view. Its reconstructed from wide angle cameras.
We CAN make cars with no blind spots. The problem is not with the cars but with the designer of our heads. Talk to him/her.
I love my second-generation XB like a first-born child and I will weep rivers when I eventually have to discard it, but it does have the problem of blocking out pedestrians starting to cross the street in front of me.
I almost always do, but judging from my experience there are many people who never do.
A lot of cars have the 360 degree view now, but most of them are while the vehicle is in reverse.
This. The most problematic blind spots on my Subaru Outback are the A-pillars. They easily hide another car approaching an intersection from a perpendicular road and there is no way to see around them other than moving your head. They are far worse than any rear quarter blind spots because those can mostly be covered by good mirror placement. On small cars the rear view mirror can obscure a large section of road.
Also, I just remembered I was taught in driver’s ed (a million years ago) that you were NOT supposed to turn your head to check for cars, because there’s a tendency for you to pull the wheel in the opposite direction.
However, I know that some of the “wisdom” of my youth has changed. Eg, hands are now supposed to be at 4 and 8 not 10 and 2, because of the airbag.
Do you know what other safety features all those cars had?
Buzz! What is “none,” Alex?
I think a big problem with a lot of the A pillars in cars is that they stuff so many things in there nowadays under the plastic cover, especially air bags and wiring. Heck, in full sized SUV’s these days there’s air bags in the A, B, C and D pillars to cover all three rows of seating.
Oh my god yes! I didn’t buy a Prius because of the blind spots. I like to see whether there’s something to my right as I merge into traffic.
My C-Max, which has excellent visibility, also has a little convex mirror mounted in the corner of the side view mirror. It’s great.
This is my fave on my current car. :mad:
I can pull up to a 4-way stop sign intersection, stop, see nobody anywhere, then crunch the car coming from my right. You know, the car with the legal right-of-way. The car that was completely behind my center mirror the whole time as we both approached the intersection, stopped, then went. :mad::mad:
I haven’t actually hit anyone yet, but I’ve been called a few choice names.
We had to borrow my MIL’s PT Cruiser for awhile, not sure what model year but I’m guessing maybe 2007 or so? That thing was TERRIFYING. You could look over your shoulder, you could check the mirror, but you’d just have to trust in the deity of your choice. I refused to drive it unless absolutely necessary.
And when I took the driving test back in, what, 1995? it was an automatic failure if you didn’t turn your head to check your blind spot when changing lanes.
Aye, my 2012 Mustang has this issue, too, particularly if I’m on a bit of an incline. I haven’t hit anyone yet, either, but I’ve had a handful of close calls.
… where is your rear view mirror located? It’s supposed to be above you - the only vehicles it should block are aircraft.
Aspherical wing mirrors don’t eliminate the most significant blind spot - the vehicle in the nearside lane which is just a dozen feet or so behind you. I suppose jtur’s fisheye mirror might work but the ones I’ve seen in aftermarket settings were so blurry as to be useless.
“wide dute?”
All I can think of is an internal play on “white dude,” which is impressive, if true, but still leaves me at a semantic loss for the sense as a whole as to sentence/OP.
I think you're memory is flawed. You're supposed to turn you head to shoulder check your blindspot but NOT your shoulders.
Actually, 9 and 3 is the recommended steering wheel grip these days for steering control and safety.
8 and 4 is suggested for highway driving where steering is not required often.
10 and 2, one hand on 12, or the underhand hook and all dangerous in cars equipped with steering wheel airbags.