This is bad advice. The side mirrors on cars are not blind spot mirrors, and they are not intended to be used as blind spot mirrors. They are put there so you can see the distance between your car and another object or person, so you won't hit it,or put a nice scratch on your car. To deal with blind spots they have convex mirrors that are effective in doing this. They have an adhesive on them that can be put on your side view mirror. The convex mirror should not cover the portion of the side mirror that allows you to see how close anything is to the car. These work quite well. Let me stress though, that you should never completely rely on them, always look over your shoulder. That is the safest way to prevent an accident, but the convex mirrors which are blind spot mirrors can be very helpful. What amazes me, is car manufacturers do no include a blind spot mirror with a car. It seems like it would be relatively inexpensive and easy to do, but then again people would probably just use them, thinking they are completly safe. I have seen some newer vehicles such as pickups with blind spot mirrors, but not too many.

I'm sure that adjusting mirrors to the proper way will prevent a lot of accidents. I bet that accident reconstruction companies would be happy if drivers took the time to adjust their mirrors properly as well. I'm not sure how my mirrors are adjusted currently, but I now I'm curious. I'm going to have to take a look. I don't want to get in an accident.

Great information. Can you make another article about proper adjustment for the seat height. A screenshot would be helpful to see what I should be seeing from the windshield other than the road. I'm driving an SUV and I'm not that tall so I can barely see the hood my car. And my car doesn't have any seat height adjustment feature. What should I be seeing from the windshield other than the road? Should I be able to see the end of the hood? I've been driving for only a month. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you

You know, I've been driving for many years and I never noticed anything wrong with my mirrors. I think I was in between right and wrong with my mirrored auto wraps setup. Tomorrow I am going to readjust my mirrors and try your way! Thanks!

My side(outside) mirrors are set so that NONE of my car's rear quarters appear in them. Instead, I can watch a car overtake me, on either side, from my rear, transitioning from the RV mirror to the side mirror, and finally, while the rear quarter of that vehicle is still visible in the side mirror, the nose appears in my periphery vision. I know this may not be practical in a SUV or tractor-trailer, owing mainly to their length. The last car this setup worked well in was with the mirrors of my 1996 Ford Contour, which did not fold. With it's European ancestry(the Mondeo), I never lost sight of a vehicle that either overtook mine or that I passed. The only time I had to turn my head in that car was when backing up! And here's the secret to why I think I'm "losing vehicles" in both my 2005 Malibu and this Kia: In the Contour, the distance of the inner edge of the side mirrors to the a-pillar/side glass was less than ONE INCH. On the Malibu and Optima, that distance is at least two inches!! Now, folding mirrors are not new in cars: VW and Audi's have folded since the late '70s. Mercedes fold back to the '80s, if I recall. And the distance from inner reflective edge to the side window glass was probably maximum just under 1-inch. The problem is this trend to situate the mirrors(folding or not) out increasingly further from the a-pillar/side glass. I snuck out early one morning and measured the distance from the inner edge of the mirror reflective surface to the side glass on some of the newer cars in our tenant parking lot. That distance measured as much as THREE INCHES in some cases. This is precisely opposite the direction engineers want to be going with regards to "improving" sideward visibility - at least in passenger sedans/coupes/small x-overs. That two-three inches could easily mask a SCHOOL BUS - let alone another car or heaven forbid - a motorcycle! I propose that the best positioning of side mirrors is as far forward of the driver as a car's a-pillar and other circumstances allow, and - as close to the aforementioned side of the vehicle as is possible without hindering the option to fold mirrors for tight quarters, or limiting mechanical room for manual/electrical pivoting adjustment thereof. Driving position is only secondary to this design goal; this visibility should and can be achieved for drivers 5 feet to 6-foot 6inches tall. Of all the cars I've driven the Ford Contour came as close to this ideal as could be expected with regards to the side mirrors.

Haha. I woke up down today. You’ve ceheerd me up!

It was big surprise for me, when I was in USA, that US cars don't have side mirrors with aspheric part like European cars.

Maruti Kizashi is the most expected car from maruti in 2011

IMPROPER USE OF THE REAR VIEW MIRRORS IS THE #1 KILLER ON OUR NATION'S HIGHWAYS! I have been a defensive driving instructor for a major transportation company training professional drivers in both large vehicles and passenger sedans. In the sedans, I have taught to turn your mirrors out towards the blind spot and away from viewing the sedan. This is a hard amateur habit to break as here in Texas, the Texas Education Agency, the licensing bureau for all driving instructors, beginning and advanced, have taught drivers to view a portion of their vehicle. Today, according to TXDOT (the texas department of transportation) the statistics for fatality motor vehicle collisions makes driving in wrong lane/unsafe lane change the number 1 killer on Texas roadways. It is also number 1 nationwide. This is evidence of NOT using the mirrors properly. I teach that if you are uncomfortable with this adjustment then drive where you are comfortable BUT always, without fail, look over your shoulder into your blind spot to be 100% sure that it is safe to move into the adjacent lane. Do not use and depend on the small convex (the small round mirrors) paste on blind spot mirrors as they are full of unsafe disadvantages and you can easily fall into a bad habit of not visually checking (head check) the blind spot that could lead to a serious collision.

IMPROPER USE OF THE REAR VIEW MIRRORS IS THE #1 KILLER ON OUR NATION'S HIGHWAYS! I have been a defensive driving instructor for a major transportation company training professional drivers in both large vehicles and passenger sedans. In the sedans, I have taught to turn your mirrors out towards the blind spot and away from viewing the sedan. This is a hard amateur habit to break as here in Texas, the Texas Education Agency, the licensing bureau for all driving instructors, beginning and advanced, have taught drivers to view a portion of their vehicle. Today, according to TXDOT (the texas department of transportation) the statistics for fatality motor vehicle collisions makes driving in wrong lane/unsafe lane change the number 1 killer on Texas roadways. It is also number 1 nationwide. This is evidence of NOT using the mirrors properly. I teach that if you are uncomfortable with this adjustment then drive where you are comfortable BUT always, without fail, look over your shoulder into your blind spot to be 100% sure that it is safe to move into the adjacent lane. Do not use and depend on the small convex (the small round mirrors) paste on blind spot mirrors as they are full of unsafe disadvantages and you can easily fall into a bad habit of not visually checking (head check) the blind spot that could lead to a serious collision.

Their are many kinds of mirror and you should know what should you keep in your vehicle. It all depends upon your needs and requirement. I know to adjust the side mirrors but i have difficulties in adjusting the back mirror. I mean when we want our vehicle to be reversed, i have only one mirror in front of me but their won't be another one at back side of vehicle. So, what type of mirror should i replace in back side so that i can reverse my vehicle easily? You can provide with your phone number here so that i cancontact you easily for the tips.

For almost 20 years of driving i used the conventional way.A few months ago I stumbled upon this technique on a Car and Driver article,I gave it a try and it took me quite some time to get used to it but now I'm comfortably and really think it's better than the conventional way..as a cautious driver I still look over my shoulder when changing lines..let's all try to improve our driving habits. Thanx :D

The OP did a great job in describing the blind spot mirrors and how to set them up!

However, as a few posters made mention, it doesnt elimiate them all together or you notice the vehicle in your peripheral when he is ready to side swipe you. This is especially true when driving at night. You may not see the car at all unless you're watching and paying attention at ALL times when cars are passing you.

What I find works well (for me) is one of those small convex mirrors. I have the square ones that are tapered at the edges. They work very well and still allow me to park or turn corners without cutting the corner or side-swiping the curb. Nonetheless, I still do shoulder check a bit, just in case.

Wide-set mirrors work fine, but only in one context, and they DO NOT, despite oversimplified claims, eliminate the blind spot. Users need to be wary of the following.

* You're driving in lane one.  Another car is over in lane 3, about 45 degrees over your shoulder, and at the same moment, you both change lanes to lane 2.   Even with the mirror tilted way out, you'll see the other car late, when he's not far from sideswiping you.  (This is more true for a left lane change than a right, because a stock right side mirror is convex.)  So you do need the quick shoulder check when there are multiple lanes or even just when the lanes are wider than usual.   The blind spot can never be eliminated.  Claims that it can be are oversimplified.   If advocates of wide-set mirrors were to specify that it's only applicable to the next lane, then that would be more honest and realistic.

* If a truck or other large vehicle is driving close behind your car, it fills your rearview (center) mirror.  With the side mirror tilted really far out, you can't see straight back past the truck, so you won't see another vehicle in the next lane that's far back but closing at high speed.  (Advocates of wide-set mirrors may try to argue that they could still see past the truck by quickly leaning their head to the side.  On the left this means quickly leaning against the side window glass, but in fast-moving traffic this is more disorienting than a shoulder check, especially if you bang your head against the glass.)

* A similar problem occurs if the rear head restraints are large and bulky (or if your rear passengers' heads are large and bulky).  Your view behind of the next lane can be blocked and a wide-set side mirror can't help.

* Much the same problem occurs when you try to pull out of a parallel parking spot with a big vehicle parked behind.  Even scarier is when you're parked on the left side on a one-way street.

* Regardless of how the side mirrors are adjusted, when pulling out of a parallel parking spot, only a shoulder check will pick up a car exiting a driveway across the street behind you.  Again, claims that you can eliminate the blind spot are oversimplified.

this is all comon cense. what were mirrors invented for? to allow you to see a different perspective with less time, less turning of the neck, and to help keep you properly orinentated while driving. what kind of idiots would be arguing about how mirrors are set up. i dont care how they are sad to be set up or how you are so post to set them up because ILL TELL YOU HOW THEY SHOULD BE SET UP WHITH COMON CENSE, RESONING , AND KNOWLEGE. 1. you have 3 mirriors you dumn fucks, that means they were designed so you could see THREE different perspectives other then looking out the glass. 2. i dont know about you but i see it as more of an inconvinenss to turn my head all the way to see in my BLINE spot then to look out the corner of my eye and say o gosh theirs a car there. 3. side mirror doesnt mean SIDE of car mirror. 4. eather way you sett up your miror you can not see a car dirrectly side by side of you. 5. omg figgure it out your self you dumn idiots. for you morons that dont get this i hope you pull a musle in your neck or die in a car accident.

When you are driving directily behind someone and you see the driver's face in their side view mirror, you are looking at an idiot. That idiot is using the first setup - the WRONG setup where you can see behind you. I've been using the CORRECT setup long before Al Gore invented the internet without any incidents. They are called SIDEview mirrors for a reason.

Correct mirror adjustment is not made like this: You place a person several feet behind your car's corner. You make sure you see him in the very corner of the rear-view mirror, and the inside corner of the respective side mirror. In most American cars, this will result in an adjustment like described above: The sides of the car are not seen until the head is leaned towards the mirrors against the glass/center of the car and sometimes even a tiny bit wider. In many European cars, you see the edge of the car in the driver's side mirror without leaning all the way against the glass (but the far-end mirror remains the same) and in older cars, the edge of the car is still seen in the mirror. With most modern cars this mirror adjustment eliminates blind spots, period! This is because this adjustment allows you to open the mirrors as wide as possible without losing the overlap between them completely, this results in slight overlap between all three fields of vision we have: The rear-view mirror, the side view mirrors and the peripheral vision when glancing at the side-view mirrors. This makes the blind spots too little for even a small scooter to sit completely inside them, although the edges of the car are not seen! Some people prefer to set their mirrors tighter because it gives them a point of reference (the side of the car), but this is usually not required except for parking. In that case, we can lean our head, readjust the mirrors or mount convex mirrors to show the edges of the car. Anyhow, clearly we are not going to adjust our mirrors for parking and than drive this way for miles. Driving forward includes greater speeds, hazards, traffic and situations that require a broad visual field, not to mention we drive forward for significantly greater periods of time and distance, rather than backwards. Another claim is that the side mirrors need to overlap the rear-view mirror, out of an assumption that the rear-view window can be partially blocked by the heads of the passengers or that drivers do not watch their rear-view mirror as often. This is true, but only to a certain extent. As I have said, a good mirror setup does have some overlap, enough to make sure a car behind is in a safe following distance, even if our rear-view mirror is somewhat obstructed. One third claim, is that the tail displayed in the mirror is a point of reference for the adjustment, should the mirror be knocked out of adjustment. However, this is also true with this alignment. After adjusting your mirrors, you check to see when the car's edge becomes visible, like when you lean your head against the glass and/or center of the car. If from these positions you do not see the edge of your car and/or see too much of it, your mirror is out of adjustment. Another manner of testing is to see how a car or preferably a bike runs past you in traffic: You will first see it coming up in the rear-view mirror, as it almost disappears at the corner of that mirror, he will also appear in the inside corner of the side view mirror, and before he disappears in the corner of that mirror, he is seen in the corner of the eye when you look towards the mirror. With mirrors set this way at a modern car, you should only, at most, perform a shoulder check by peeking slightly to the side, for which the glance to the side view mirror is usually adequate. Looking behind you is useless and takes your concentration off of the traffic in front.

I don't understand what the posters mean when they say they have to point all their mirrors behind them so they can see how fast cars are approaching, but I think this works great. You can watch the car approaching using your rear view mirror, by the time the car starts to disappear from that mirror you can pick them up in your side mirror, by the time the car starts to disappear from that mirror you can see the car using peripheral vison. The "Car Talk" guys from NPR also endorse this method.

Dont do it got into a Car accident with this setup HORRIBLE ADVICE

Set your mirrors how he shows in the first section (what he says is the wrong way). When you use your side mirrors, lean forward an inch or two and you get the full blind spot (I was taught this in driving school). With the mirrors set the way he describes, you can't extend the range because you can't push your head further back (through the head rest). Plus, he's ignoring the obvious situation where you have passengers in the back blocking the area he paints in pink - meaning that if you adjust the mirrors like he says, you will have a blind spot when passengers are in the car.