nmtomcat

Every time I read about the blind spot monitors, I can't help but wonder why people don't just stick a little 3" convex mirror on their left outside mirror. Instantly no blind spot! I put mine in the upper left corner where it does not interfere with the vision of the regular mirror, but a quick glance always shows me the blind spot.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

There's plenty of reasons I'm sure, but at night it's harder to see so an icon lit up is nice. Especially if that car in your blindspot has a headlight out and one can confuse it for a motorcycle. And for me personally looking at the side mirror and then a second mirror with a different focus is even more distracting than some nice little light that tells me there is an object in the blind spot. Let's not forget it's integrated and not gaudy and tacked on looking like a 3" mirror.

Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

I love the BSM option!

LeoDLion

I did not know there is such an option.

markrivers

I love the BSM Too!
Should be standard if you ask me, since Toyota and Lexus is all about safety.
As for the convex mirror, i find it more distracting.

I particularly like the blinking part when you move the turn signal and there's someone there.

corradoMR2

$3 a pair at Walmart.

pheonix72

iTrader: (6)

It is a nice feature to have. However, the blind spot could be negated if you know how to adjust the mirrors correctly. Do a search on google and you will see lot of information on this. The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) published a paper in 1995 suggesting how outside mirrors could be adjusted to eliminate blind spots. It takes a bit to get use to but well worth it.

Tom558

I have the extra mirrors on my Kia and we had them on the Highlander. We have been driving with the BSM on the RX350 for just over 6 months and I'll take the BSM anyday.

greeknasty

those mirrors look cheesy to me...but to each their own

RX330inFL

How about instead of all these nanny devices we pay a little more attention out on the roads?

Tom558

The "blind spot" really is a blind spot. Mirrors or BSM is no excuse not to actually look prior to changing lanes. If I see a car in the mirror(s) or a warning from the BSM I know not to change lanes. Nothing in mirrors or no BSM then it is time to look and THEN change lanes.

I'd like to see your list of "nanny" devices. Backup camera, parking sensors, dimming rearview mirror? These things show up as options on luxury cars and are mandatory safety devices a few years later. Anything that makes a car safer to drive is a plus in my book.

RX330inFL

Not to start a flame war Tom558, I consider things like the Blind Spot Monitor to be like the warning messages on dry cleaning bags that they are not a toy. They are there for legal reasons more than they are truly helpful. We are lazy. We don't follow the rules of the road. We don't learn how to properly drive. We rush around. We follow other vehicles too closely. We want to jump in our vehicles and just go. We make mistakes. We don't take responsibility. We sue.

Am in agreement with your statements here.

The three-blink turn signal feature is another one of these I just shake my head at. I was always taught to check my mirrors before a lane change is needed, put my turn signals on, check the mirrors again, then make the lane change. Once you are fully into the new lane you turn off the turn signals. Most of the times I see the three-blink signals in use the individual has already started making the lane change before the signals have even started. Besides, can drivers not be responsible to remember to turn the signals off on their own? I know that sounds a bit silly from someone who lives in FL and sees turn signals left on all the time.

Would rather see us jump right to the fully automated driving vehicles such as what Google is working on if we are going to tack these things on to our vehicles as "standard equipment."

Have driven a number of vehicles in my many years and numerous ones with visibility much worse than the RX. Have driven some of these vehicles at very high rates of speed. As pheonix72 points out above, properly adjusted mirrors eliminates blind spots. I recheck mine every time I pull out of the driveway before hitting the main roads. What I do not see in the rearview mirror is picked up by the side mirrors.

As a concluding statement, I look at all this technology much like I look at the use of technology in the classroom. The way it is being used in many locations is not making for better students. The kids are not learning how to think. Rather, they are just learning how to do a Google search, copy and paste. Technology in our vehicles is not making us better drivers. Too much technology, too many distractions.

Just one man's opinion. YMMV.

4482

I look at the BSM as just an added safety feature. Plus I love the cross traffic alert feature when backing out of a parking space that warns of approaching vehicles. (RCTA) This feature has saved me more than once.

I don't think you can have too many safety devices.

Tom558

No flame war RX330inFL. :=)

If we were talking about all the entertainment options in vehicles and even the navigation system as a distraction to safe driving I would agree with you all the way.

I am one of those folks that thinks technology can be put to good use and that there are a lot of good uses in cars. Folks that are bad drivers aren't going to look too hard prior to changing lanes whether they have BSM or not.

I'm looking forward to the self driving car and am amazed how far the technology has come without wires/sensors embedded in the road. Exciting times ahead.

Don't get me started on education. With a good teacher, technology or not, students are going to learn. With a bad teacher, technology or not, it will take a good teacher a good part of the next school year to get the students up to speed.

I think we agree more than we disagree. I'd rather be driving next to you on the road going 75 miles an hour than someone with lots of technology talking on the phone, texting or reading a map or book.

ob450h

Excellent suggestion... I turn my head left and right every other second to check my blind spots.