Car mirrors from the past to the present

Car mirrors

Car mirrors are a special type of mirror located on the windscreen or attached to the inside of the roof and to the outside of the front left and right doors, and serve the driver to view the traffic situation behind the car without having to turn their head

There is an interior mirror and two exterior ones. The interior is usually attached to the windshield, with only the mirror being able to move to adjust to the driver's height. The exteriors are attached to the outside of the driver's and front passenger's doors, and the mirror itself can also be moved so that the driver can adjust the height and angle that suits him best.

The history of car mirrors carries one particularly interesting, we could say romantic note. Namely, the writer Dorothy Levitt in 1906 in her book ‘Woman and the Car’ wrote ‘that a woman should wear a small mirror while driving and put it in a suitable place and look at it from time to time to see what is happening in the traffic behind car '. This gave the idea to many drivers who really started using hand mirrors to see what was going on behind the road, and the first real car mirrors began to be produced in 1914, although several attempts had been made several years before to integrate mirrors into vehicles.

Each car rearview mirror consists of several parts. The interior is not complicated and actually consists of a fixed holder that is attached to the glass, and comes with a plastic housing in which the mirror and the housing together with the mirror can be moved. When it comes to exterior mirrors, this is all the more complicated, because there are various types of car parts, that is, there are mirrors that need to be fitted manually and have ordinary mirrors and those that automatically adjust and have heated mirrors, which is especially practical during freezing in the winter months. Some have blinkers mounted. Also, it is now possible to buy the housing separately for this part and the mirror today, but newer cars should also look out for a series of wires and fuses that are interconnected and only if everything is properly made up a harmonious unit that works well.

The role of this part of the vehicle in driving should not be neglected as they are very important for road safety and parking assistance. As this part can be easily purchased separately, not necessarily in the kit, but also separately as a housing and as a mirror, the quality should come first.

Anti-glare mirrors are especially popular, often referred to as day / night mirrors. It is a special type of mirror that reduces the glare of the lights so they are much better suited to the driver's eyes and make driving more comfortable. This mirror is usually manually switched from daytime to nighttime and vice versa. This type of mirror began to appear in the 20s, and since the XNUMXs have become standard equipment on vehicles. Nowadays, new vehicles already have an automatic mode of change, which the driver does not have to worry about separately. Namely, automatic mirrors have photo sensors that recognize themselves when it is day and when they are set at night.

However, it should be known that cars of the future could be produced without this part on their own, and some do not already have them, that is, they have cameras and sensors which helps to check the traffic situation behind the vehicle. Car camera systems are much more accurate and offer a much better overview. Specifically, the cameras are mounted to lower positions on the vehicle and for this reason offer a better view without dead corners, which is not the case with ordinary car mirrors.

Mladen

Hi there, I am Mladen and I am an auto enthusiast. I started this blog years ago to help like minded people share information about latest cars, car servicing ideas, used car info, exotic cars, and auto technology. You will find helpful articles and videos on a wide variety of cars - Audi, Mercedes, Toyota, Porsche, Volvo, BMW and much more. Ping us if you have anything cool to share on latest cars or on how to make older cars more efficient, or just want to say hi!