DFWdude

I wonder when Mercedes-Benz will offer this new safety feature?

Last month, I flew to Seattle to assist my sister-in-law's retirement move from Seattle to Belleville, IL (suburb of St. Louis Mo). Her 2020 Toyota RAV4 was packed to the interior roof with all manner of boxes, etc. Couldn't see out the back using the inside rearview mirror at all.

The trip took 2-1/2 days, 2200 miles using only the outside rear-view mirrors. Throughout the trip, I reminded her of the value of reading one's owner manual to learn how to use voice command for the NAV system, and other topics.

Literally less than an hour from our destination, she mentioned the "Digital Inside Rear View Mirror" (but didn't know what it was). With a flip of the lever underneath... voila!!!!


This discovery simply blew my mind. The image was perfect, covering a much wider field of view than the standard "optical Mirror" I experimented for the next hour with it, completely smitten with its coverage from well into the blind spot coverage on either outside mirror. It operates from a second camera, center mounted high up under the RAV4's hatchback spoiler.

Naturally, in doing some reading since, I believe Toyota is the only company offering this feature (for 2 years now). I wonder when Mercedes-Benz will adopt it for its SUV models, at minimum. I can see it in all MBs, as it is a perfect complement to Mercedes penchant for safety features. I wonder why no one else has this yet?

bishop64

Digital Rear-view Mirror (option F84 ) is available for the EQV and the gasoline V-class.

superswiss

You might find the following article interesting as to why they are actually not that widespread. They are a good idea in concept, unfortunately the realty is a little different, because many people require vision correction. This may not occur to you if you are young and have good eyesight, but once in your 40s you also will get presbyopia. I'm there already. I do however wear multifocal contact lenses, so I in fact can see displays clearly in my car. I specifically started to wear contacts, because all the nice displays in my current car were fuzzy. Not everybody can deal with multifocal contacts, contacts in general or if one has astigmatism, they can't correct presbyopia at the same time. It's one of these ideas that work well in theory, but are hampered by our human issues.

https://www.theautopian.com/digital-...-with-science/

DFWdude

LOL. I have required visual correction -- to include astigmatism -- my whole life. I've done the contact lens thing, and today I wear seemless bifocals and have developing cataracts. That said, this digital rear view mirror is the best automotive innovation to come along since radial tires. You almost do not need side-view mirrors with this enhancement... I can't wait for US-DOT and NTSB to approve mirrorless cars in the US. You see them in concept cars, so it's not far away.

Shuo Wang

First time I saw this was 2019 when I was traveling in Hong Kong. The taxi I used was a Prius and somehow had this feature, not sure it's OE or aftermarket. And I agree with you, it's really cool tech that every car should have.

Quint22

Or should just be an option. Drive around in western wa during slushy snow winter and back of car will be covered in dirt slush. I end up wiping off my backup camera on my truck daily

pierrejoliat

It's a very cool feature, my son has a Range Rover with this option and uses it a lot, I remember playing with it this last Christmas when he was home from Manhattan. I believe it also had the surround camera system as well, which is apparently convenient in New York street parking,

rapidoxidation

I must be an inadvertent trendsetter. 3 years ago I upgraded the stereo on my '05 Chevy pickup to a touch screen bluetooth - with a camera mounted at the top of the bed cap. That camera can be turned on not only by putting the transmission in reverse, but also via a touch button on the stereo when I'm driving down the highway. Comes in pretty handy to monitor what's in the utility trailer, backing up to the hitch, seeing what's behind me, watching the schmuck that's on my tail... Best addition ever, and it feels like driving a new truck!

BenzV12

It's a nice feature , Land Rover also uses this system in their SUV models . I don't lament not having it in any car I have ever driven but I must admit that I have not driven a car having this feature as of yet . However, I would love to have what KIA/Hyundai uses in their present cars : when you turn on the blinker gauge cluster also shows what's behind you , I think more enhanced safety feature than a raw blind assist .Honda also uses a similar system but works only on right side

ygmn

Can you just turn on rear facing camera for same effect?

I find me rear camera lens gets dirty in the rear more than any other due to aero and I forget to wipe it clen before taking off.
So picture tends to be "DIRTY" and well hard to see when I return home and back into garage.

Telse wanted cameras & video for side mirrors too to reduce drag
But I think it was DOT said nope an old school mirror is required since they fail less often or some reason.

bishop64

The V-Class (EV or gasoline) has the camera inside of the rear window, just above the rear wiper so that if the rear window gets dirty due to aero, the window can be cleaned by the wiper.
And the rear wide angle view image is displayed digitally in the front rear view mirror.

ghlkal

Very interesting discussion. Some love it; others hate it. I'm interested in human factors engineering, so I'd love to hear how others feel about it.

The digital mirror in the C8 Corvette seems fuzzy to me, but I haven't driven one, just sat in it.

Aussie_E350_Wag

Few points.

Toyota just bent over and gave some ***-clown a free kick for a lawsuit when the video says "you can now stack up items in the back as high as you like" as there isn't a safety mesh or net shown ... then some idiot will do just that, have a crash into the back of someone and those stacked up objects now become lethal projectiles!!!....(knowing how litigious Yanks are LOL!!)

Its a cheapo way of cutting costs with a nice dash mounted unit as a lot of cars currently have.

A much cheaper way of doing it I have one of these in my old Ford Falcon LPG powered station wagon, it records HD video front and rear also as well as having two modes, Hi View & Low View, on the rear camera, great for towing and parking

DFWdude

For 2-1/2 days in my life, I plead guilty. Sue me...

I've been driving for 52 years. Just call me a creature of instinctive habit, I guess. But when I want to look out the back, I don't look at the dash.

I look at my dash for nav/music.