New Technologies on the Back Visibility in Automotive Mirrors

The back vision in automotive is still and nearly completed left to one of the oldest component in use on the vehicle, the back mirrors: one internal and two external. Anyhow, the author has treated it as an integrated part of the all around visibility vehicles system.

It is time to force its evolution through innovative concepts, consequent technologies and even new materials for the mirrors taking into account the possible interference with the glazing performances through the lateral front windows and backlite, especially in certain weather conditions: rain, foggy, frost, icing. Even the quite complex shape and rake angle of backlite can affect the image visibility of the internal mirror.

The paper will touch only some of the fundamental relationship between the possible better back visibility of the external mirrors as a system and pay strong attention to the present unsafety situation of all kind of mirrors included those aspherical, their limits, image distortion and heatable performances. New solutions with the aspherical plastic mirror with no image distortion and heatable reflecting surface are presented nearly for the first time in an international meeting and their advantages will be precisely pointed out.

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