Driving with Side-mirror Folded

[Marinna]

I just find out that I can drive the car while manually fold the side mirror. Have anybody tried to drive in this way? I wonder if the ADAS feature can still function correctly or how much gas efficiency can I boost while while on highway. (I remember Tesla mentioned that on their Cybertruck removing mirror can extend about 5% of the total miles)

 

[Nuke]

My safety is more important than a bit of fuel efficiency. However, am so old I can recall when there were NO side mirrors on cars. And that is exactly why at my age they are so essential.

 

[b407driver]

I just find out that I can drive the car while manually fold the side mirror. Have anybody tried to drive in this way? ...

Um, a rear view mirror is an integral aspect of a vehicle's safety, assuming of course a driver is competent enough to know to use them. You're asserting that people should drive without them? To save a dime or two?

 

[LC_DFW]

Sounds like an dumb idea to save few pennies

 

[Marinna]

You would thought 5% is small, until you see how many people waiting in the long line at Costco just to save that much, often it is even less. People is willing to run LC with regular gas to save less than 5%
My goal is not to save gas but try to understand why Toyota allows this, what is the use case they had in mind, and if I can be more efficient why not? To be honest that camera under the mirror looks like a 360 to me. They can easily accommodate the mirror angle and retain all ADAS feature. So it is really about “why” Toyota would allow mirror to be folded at high speed

 

[Ed1]

Apart from any fuel savings, driving without mirrors extended is most likely not legal and could result in being pulled over for a moving violation. I would imagine that folding the mirror wouldn’t automatically disengage the engine to allow for tight parking or loading situations.

By the way, I find that Costco gas can be as much as 10% less than normal gas stations’ prices, and sometimes even less than that - truly a bargain for Top Tier gas. Hence, the long lines…..

 

[EOD Guy]

You would thought 5% is small, until you see how many people waiting in the long line at Costco just to save that much, often it is even less. People is willing to run LC with regular gas to save less than 5%
My goal is not to save gas but try to understand why Toyota allows this, what is the use case they had in mind, and if I can be more efficient why not? To be honest that camera under the mirror looks like a 360 to me. They can easily accommodate the mirror angle and retain all ADAS feature. So it is really about “why” Toyota would allow mirror to be folded at high speed

Toyota probably wasn't intending for anyone to fold the mirrors while driving, but rather fold the mirrors while moving through a car wash to keep them from getting damaged.

 

[bgeorger]

Apart from any fuel savings, driving without mirrors extended is most likely not legal and could result in being pulled over for a moving violation. I would imagine that folding the mirror wouldn’t automatically disengage the engine to allow for tight parking or loading situations.

By the way, I find that Costco gas can be as much as 10% less than normal gas stations’ prices, and sometimes even less than that - truly a bargain for Top Tier gas. Hence, the long lines…..

Not a lawyer, but I am pretty sure that they are federally mandated to be on cars when sold. After that it is not illegal to remove them. Look at all the jeeps cruising around with them.

 

[NoMe cruiser]

I have tried it and saw zero results in better mpg. Now I fold them in if someone behind me has their brights on but realistically it was designed to fold in when going through tight trails imho.
I would be curious to know if I would smack a tree if they would fold in on their own?

 

[gvan1998]

Apart from any fuel savings, driving without mirrors extended is most likely not legal and could result in being pulled over for a moving violation. I would imagine that folding the mirror wouldn’t automatically disengage the engine to allow for tight parking or loading situations.

By the way, I find that Costco gas can be as much as 10% less than normal gas stations’ prices, and sometimes even less than that - truly a bargain for Top Tier gas. Hence, the long lines…..

People will drive out of their way to costco to save 5 to 10 cents a gallon.

Wasting gas to drive to costco and waste gas idling neglects all the savings, plus you are wasting time waiting in line.

I just understand the logic

 

[thognar]

This feature could be very useful in tight off-road situations. Or a tight parking garage.

 

[Marinna]

Toyota probably wasn't intending for anyone to fold the mirrors while driving, but rather fold the mirrors while moving through a car wash to keep them from getting damaged.

I doubt that. They did a thorough work to make sure the car can’t be used in a way they don’t want to be used. Parking camera get disabled the moment you drive beyond certain MPH, many menu item selection disabled while driving, sensor to warn you when leaving cars with items on seats… etc. This is potentially a big safety hazard and they miss it? You can even enable adaptive cruising while mirrors are folded.

I think it makes sense to allow that while parking in tight corners. But nothing happens after I speed up is weird. What is the possible scenario doing that?

 

[bgeorger]

I doubt that. They did a thorough work to make sure the car can’t be used in a way they don’t want to be used. Parking camera get disabled the moment you drive beyond certain MPH, many menu item selection disabled while driving, sensor to warn you when leaving cars with items on seats… etc. This is potentially a big safety hazard and they miss it? You can even enable adaptive cruising while mirrors are folded.

I think it makes sense to allow that while parking in tight corners. But nothing happens after I speed up is weird. What is the possible scenario doing that?

I had an BMW X7 that mirrors would fold out automatically when I reached a certain speed. I think the difference here is that is intended to be used on trails at least to some degree. So, having your mirror unfold while you're in a tight spot is not ideal.

The BMW had a switch that locked it in auto and a button to manually fold. The LC has a button for each and when you manually fold the auto turns off. If it is an oversight it can easily be fixed in a software update.

 

[EOD Guy]

I doubt that. They did a thorough work to make sure the car can’t be used in a way they don’t want to be used. Parking camera get disabled the moment you drive beyond certain MPH, many menu item selection disabled while driving, sensor to warn you when leaving cars with items on seats… etc. This is potentially a big safety hazard and they miss it? You can even enable adaptive cruising while mirrors are folded.

I think it makes sense to allow that while parking in tight corners. But nothing happens after I speed up is weird. What is the possible scenario doing that?

If you want to drive with the mirrors folded, by all means do so.

But I have to disagree that Toyota "missed it", as there is a hi-lighted warning not to drive with the mirrors folded in the owner's manual. But there's no way to prevent people from using features in a way for which the feature wasn't initially intended. ........ and there would be certain people that'll swear "they didn't know and Toyota should have not let me operate it that way". That's one of the reasons the owner's manual is so big, Toyota has to limit their liability by putting 2 zillion warnings in it to at least try and inform people not to do something.

 

[Marinna]

If you want to drive with the mirrors folded, by all means do so.

But I have to disagree that Toyota "missed it", as there is a hi-lighted warning not to drive with the mirrors folded in the owner's manual. But there's no way to prevent people from using features in a way for which the feature wasn't initially intended. ........ and there would be certain people that'll swear "they didn't know and Toyota should have not let me operate it that way". That's one of the reasons the owner's manual is so big, Toyota has to limit their liability by putting 2 zillion warnings in it to at least try and inform people not to do something.

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That is my point. I never think this is a miss but they intentionally allowed this to happen in their design. I think like others said maybe this is a feature designed to be used during bush whacking.

 

[Marinna]

This is what happened when I park with and without mirror folding. Definitely intentional since they even bother to change the display and use the sensor to detect the angel change.

I find it somewhat useful. But this is for low speed though. Doesn’t explain high speed use still

 

[TheBat]

Maybe it is so that you can go 60 mph down a tight tail within 6 inches of the trees!

That would be stupid. But no more stupid than driving down the highway with your mirrors folded in.

 

[trevlyn]

I just find out that I can drive the car while manually fold the side mirror. Have anybody tried to drive in this way? I wonder if the ADAS feature can still function correctly or how much gas efficiency can I boost while while on highway. (I remember Tesla mentioned that on their Cybertruck removing mirror can extend about 5% of the total miles)

Its for off roading. Less chance of causing damage to your side mirrors be torn off or dinged by branches and rocks.

 

[EOD Guy]

Sorry I don't see your point at all. You can manually put the vehicle in 1st gear and drive down the highway and break all kinds of things, you can drive down the road with the rear hatch open and things in the back would fall out, you can use a brick to keep the accelerator at a certain speed instead of using cruise control, you can drive down the road with the hood partially shut with the safety catch instead of shutting it all the way, which would surely end up in a wreck, you can put mismatched tires on and probably damage a lot of components, you can drive down the road with the mirrors folded................... The point being Toyota didn't specifically design it to allow you to do any of them........ but why in the world would you do any of those things.

 

[TrailWhale]

Sorry I don't see your point at all. You can manually put the vehicle in 1st gear and drive down the highway and break all kinds of things, you can drive down the road with the rear hatch open and things in the back would fall out, you can use a brick to keep the accelerator at a certain speed instead of using cruise control, you can drive down the road with the hood partially shut with the safety catch instead of shutting it all the way, which would surely end up in a wreck, you can put mismatched tires on and probably damage a lot of components, you can drive down the road with the mirrors folded................... The point being Toyota didn't specifically design it to allow you to do any of them........ but why in the world would you do any of those things.

Anything Toyota doesn't explicitly prevent me from doing means they have implicitly encouraged me to do the thing.

USA!