BRZ Blindspot Concerns

[ashtray]

Btw - what is a Zx6?? I thought the code for this car was AS-1?

[kash]

I was wondering why no one mentioned those little blind spot mirrors that you can stick on the side mirrors.

[dsgerbc]

Originally Posted by switchlanez

mirror-in-mirror pic

Not harmless either. Adjusting eyesight to a different mirror takes precious time away from the driver.

[Booey1979]

Originally Posted by ashtray

Adjusting mirrors for blind spots can be dangerous on a highway in CA. Once you adjust the mirrors so you can't see the edge of your car, you create a thin blind lane right around where the lane markings are. Too narrow to really be dangerous, except for the motorcycles that fly down that narrow gap between cars when you're in traffic. Inside rearview is useless - all you see is the big SUV behind you. If your side mirrors are angled out at all, potential for a lane change fatality.

(I adjust my mirrors so the side of my car takes up 5% of the mirror. Some idiots adjust it so half their car is visible.)

Ok Im gonna sound like a total **** but if a bike wants to pass and "share a lane" than its their fault! Fuck it. Sorry for the bikers out here but they're been waaaay to many times a biker buzzes past me hella close and scared the crap out of me. It's amazing the risk they take.

Oh and as far as the blind spot, I don't think its that bad. I mean in my 350 its BAD and you learn to change lanes using the mirrors adjusted correctly. Knock on wood but 6 years driving it in long commute.

[2fast4you]

Originally Posted by ashtray

Adjusting mirrors for blind spots can be dangerous on a highway in CA. Once you adjust the mirrors so you can't see the edge of your car, you create a thin blind lane right around where the lane markings are. Too narrow to really be dangerous, except for the motorcycles that fly down that narrow gap between cars when you're in traffic. Inside rearview is useless - all you see is the big SUV behind you. If your side mirrors are angled out at all, potential for a lane change fatality.

That hasn't been my experience, and I have been safely navigating SoCal/LV highways for over 14 years without any issues. If your mirrors are properly adjusted according to the SAE, you can still easily determine your lane position and see motorcycles cutting lanes without the need for fisheyes.

[nibor33]

Adjusting the side mirrors as C&D described (which I've been doing for 2 decades) doesn't mean you just glance in a side mirror, assume it's safe, then swerve to the next lane. All the driver has to do with the side mirrors aimed further out is lean their head towards the side they want to check while still looking at said side mirror. That creates a sweep of the area adjacent to your car as well as further out, without the need to turn completely around.

If you decide to aim the mirrors towards the side of your car for the motorcycle lane-splitting example, now to check the adjacent lane for cars you have to turn your head around. The C&D described method is clearly quicker and safer - your head remains pointed towards the road so your peripheral vision will still catch action in front of you. The turn to check a blind spot is a very unsafe moment while driving at highway (or higher) speeds.

It's also essentially the way you need to adjust mirrors for racing. Can't physically look for a blind spot with a helmet on. You have to use the side mirrors as I described. HANS type devices have limited head movement even further.

[switchlanez]

Originally Posted by dsgerbc

Not harmless either. Adjusting eyesight to a different mirror takes precious time away from the driver.

Harmless enough to make it past Ford's safety bean counters as a standard feature on Mustangs.



The time it takes to focus when turning your head alone without aid of a convex mirror is significantly more. After owning a few sport coupes with horrible blind spots, I've adapted ways to heighten awareness of my periphery. The convex mirror is but one tool and, yes, it takes some getting used to, but once you get it you'll never go back (only for cars with bad blind spots; I don't use convex mirrors on my SX4). You'd still want to turn your head with it (gotta watch for those riders), but the time and refocusing effort you need to take for that head turn becomes drastically reduced.

Without convex mirror: Turn your head and lose sight of road in front (completely out of periphery) for the entire time it takes you to survey your blind spot, then turn back to re-focus on road in front. Worst of all, your check was still blocked the by C-pillar so you never know what's behind it.

With convex mirror: Check side view and convex mirror so road in front remains in periphery, do a quick glance to your side for any glaring objects (no need to take time to survey) as a fail safe. Since it was just a spot check to the side, the road in front remains fresher in your memory. It completely reveals what's hidden behind your C-pillar. Best part: Whenever there is something in your blind spot, 99% of the time you will catch it in your convex mirror first and you never had to turn your head and lose time surveying the blind spot then re-focusing on the front --> Analogy: Convex mirror is to GPS navigation as head turn is to directions printed out on paper from Mapquest. You absolutely won't be turning your head losing and struggling to regain focus as much!

Using convex mirrors in conjunction with a quick side glance is worlds safer than using either exclusively; saved my ass several times.

[CSSM]

Originally Posted by switchlanez

Harmless enough to make it past Ford's safety bean counters as a standard feature on Mustangs.

Same with the Fiat 500:

[(K)]

Originally Posted by nibor33

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/how-to-adjust-your-mirrors-to-avoid-blind-spots

/thread <--- just kidding, I've wanted to do that since I first saw it on this forum.

Anyway, C&D ran this story a couple of years ago. I had learned to adjust my side mirrors that way about 15-20 years ago at a Skip Barber driving school. Once you get used to it you'll never want mirrors back the old way. Only drawback is when you borrow other people's cars, you will need to mess with their mirrors... they get really mad at you.

Side note - if this is your first car or your first sports car, or if you're nervous at the prospect of driving a fairly neutral RWD car, consider something along the lines of a Skip Barber driving school (way before you do a HPDE). I would say it probably saved my life at some point, and it was a ton of fun. They teach you a lot of basic car balance and handling but not in a boring way at all.

This. I'm not sure how people adjust their mirrors to begin with, but that method of adjustment works VERY well. You shouldn't be seeing your own quarter panels in your sideviews (why would you need to?). The only real blindspot should be the angle behind where your reaview and sideviews begin to overlap (which I dare say, is about the size of a person or maybe even a moped). At that point you simply turn your head a little (you shouldn't be depending solely on the mirrors anyway) and you're good to go.

I've had much success with this adjustment method with most of the cars I drove, I can't say how bad it might be with the BRZ but as long as the rear windshield is wide and high enough, I think we'll be OK.

[ZetaVI]

That's a good question we should keep in my mind once some of us test drive.

[Ryephile]

Originally Posted by nibor33

http://www.caranddriver.com/features...id-blind-spots

/thread <--- just kidding, I've wanted to do that since I first saw it on this forum.

FWIW, this car being a 2-door means the B-pillar is further rearward than a sedan. This automatically moves the B-pillar out of the way for your actual peripheral vision, and puts it in the typical blind-spot vision space you should be reserving for your side view mirrors. After sitting in the car and fiddling with the mirrors, I don't foresee any noteworthy blind-spot problems. Of course it doesn't have the amazing visibility of a MINI, but few cars do.

As a reference point, the B-pillar on my Golf is so obnoxiously thick that I pretty much can't see directly next to me without moving my head, so I'm looking forward to having the B-pillar moved aft and out of the way.

[Draco-REX]

99% of the danger of blind spots is not being familiar of where they are. Once you know where you're blind, you can compensate.

I'm not too worried.

Worst blind spot I've ever had to deal with was on a Chevy Colorado pickup. (WORST engineered POS I have ever driven) The B pillars don't look that big or intrusive from the outside, but from the inside I've lost many a car behind them.

[maxeveland]

right, blind spot might be bad, but definitely not as bad as the muscle cars. It shouldnt be much of a worry.

[Gaiakai]

Originally Posted by ashtray

Btw - what is a Zx6?? I thought the code for this car was AS-1?

Zx6 is the chassis code in general - ZN6 is for the Scion, ZC6 is for Subaru. As seen here:

Scion (well, Toyota since it's JDM):

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...t=chassis+code

Subaru:

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...hlight=chassis