One innovative Honda feature that we were pleased to see written about on Business Insider this week is the exceptionally helpful side mirrors Honda uses to avoid collisions.
Most cars build side mirrors just like the ones in your bathroom: a regular flat piece of glass. Really big vehicles like semi-tractor trailers will have those circular concave mirrors, but most of us settle for craning our necks like we were taught in driver’s ed. Either that or we rely solely on our mirrors and The Force like Yoda. Luxury brands have blind spot warning systems that beep if another car is in your lane, but you still have to either check your mirror or turn around in your seat to see where the car is.
Honda decided to find a new way to solve the blind spot issue. For the passenger side Honda installed a tiny camera on the side mirror itself so that when you turn on your right turn signal, a video feed automatically pops up on the screen next to your steering wheel. This technology, called LaneWatch, gives you an excellent view of the large spot formerly known as blind, and even overlays three car length markers on the image so you can see exactly how many car lengths of space you have to work with, just like you were taught in driver’s ed.
For the driver’s side, Honda decided to go with a much simpler solution. Rather than increase the complexity and cost of the mirror by adding a camera, Honda made the outer edge of the mirror convex. This simple solution offers a sizable increase in your field of vision in a way that you can still check with a flick of your eyes. Because there isn’t much difference to the mirror itself, Honda is making it—officially called the Expanded View Mirror—a standard upgrade on most new models. Lane Watch for the passenger side comes standard in many configurations.
To check what other safety feature Honda builds into their vehicles, come see us at Leith Honda off Capital Boulevard, or check out our walkaround videos on Youtube. We hope to see you!