Yeah, this is something the Japanese copied from the Brits and it is a
much better way to locate mirrors. It looks a bit odd if you're not used
to it, but it functions much better (provided the mirrors you use are
meant for wing mounting (Brits call em wings not fenders:-). A door type
mirror may not work well as it is designed to give a good field of view
when viewed within a foot or less (for driver's doors, a passenger's
door mirror is designed to work when viewed from about 3 feet). If you
use a door mirror on a wing, the mirror will be too far away from you
and you may not get a proper field of view from it. The big advantage of
wing mirrors is that you can look at them without having to turn your
head. They are located within your field of view in a normal driving
position, so all you need to do is move your eyes. With door mirrors the
mirror is outside your normal field of view in the driving position and
you must turn your whole head to see the mirror. This is much harder to
do than just turning your eyes. It also means you can not have both
mirrors in your field of view at the same time. with wing mirrors you
can see both mirrors at the same time (you'll be looking at them "out of
the corner of your eye" and you won't see well unless you turn your eyes
to look at the mirrors, but you can still get quite a bit of info from
what you see "out of the corner of your eye"). Wink mirrors were
developed to help resolve this poor rear vision American door mirrors
provided.
svgkm@halley.ca.essd.northgrum.com wrote:
>
> I was wondering - what are the relative advantages/disadvantages of the
>fender-mounted
> mirror configuration found on Japanese cars vis á vis door-mounted? I
>remember reading in
> a list posting (I think...) that Japan requires the mirrors to be placed so
>that they are
> visible thru the windshield and that's why they are out there on the fenders.
>Anyone with
> experience of both configurations who can offer an opinion?
>
> Just curious...
>
> Gary McCormick
> San José, CA
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