Rear view mirror - visibility?

[drdrugs]

I’m hearing a few people mention that the rear view mirror is useless because you can’t see nothing through the rear window.

I’m gonna be a first time truck owner with this thing so I’m concerned about this.

People who already got the CT and are first time truck owners: how’s it feel to drive to drive a vehicle this size without the visibility through the back?

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[Woodrick]

Take a look at the rear-view mirror on a Semi or a panel van. Try hauling a trailer.

Many trucks don't have rear-view mirrors.

You can show the rear-camera display on the screen.

You just trust your side mirrors more. And start to understand why many trucks have those "If you are here, I can see you" stickers.

 

[Crissa]

Yeah, unless you're driving a small truck without much of a load... You can't see anything in that mirror anyhow.

It's just a little worse in the Cybertruck, because of how sleek it is.

Luckily, it has forward, side rear, and rear cameras on the screen that you can leave on there if you need to check.

-Crissa

 

[Celiboy]

I’m hearing a few people mention that the rear view mirror is useless because you can’t see nothing through the rear window.

I’m gonna be a first time truck owner with this thing so I’m concerned about this.

People who already got the CT and are first time truck owners: how’s it feel to drive to drive a vehicle this size without the visibility through the back?

There may be a learning curve but you’ll adjust. It was difficult to get used to looking at the center screen on our M3 for all the information that was right in front of us before but you eventually get used to it. Like @Woodrick said you have to trust your mirrors and like @Crissa said you’ll lean on your cameras. To prepare, I don’t use the rear view mirror on my M3, just the rear view camera so I get used to looking there for that view.

 

[CactusPilot]

From the videos I’ve seen so far, I’m more concerned from the fact that the rear camera is virtually useless in the rain/snow when the camera lens becomes dirty. The rear camera does not have a way to be cleaned. My second observation has been the fact that the front headlights become useless in slushy weather. Slush and snow become compacted in the narrow slit where the headlights are located. The LED lights don’t produce enough heat to melt the snow. I hope there is some sort of fix before my Beast is built.

 

[BeleeEV]

What cactus pilot just said!

 

[K1:)]

I’ve been driving my model S and X using cameras only for the last few years. Picked up my CT two weeks ago and I’m doing the Dave thing with ease. I’m actually looking for instructions hose to remove the mirror from the cabin as I don’t like the look of it being there.

 

[agordon117]

From the videos I’ve seen so far, I’m more concerned from the fact that the rear camera is virtually useless in the rain/snow when the camera lens becomes dirty. The rear camera does not have a way to be cleaned. My second observation has been the fact that the front headlights become useless in slushy weather. Slush and snow become compacted in the narrow slit where the headlights are located. The LED lights don’t produce enough heat to melt the snow. I hope there is some sort of fix before my Beast is built.

Camera:
Yeah, they really should have included a rear washer, it's wild to me that not only is the rear view mirror not a switchable lcd display, but there's no washer on the rear camera itself to clean off road spray.

Headlights:
I'm hoping it's not that bad, my wrangler was useless in the snow until I installed heated led lights. And the apologists will come in here and say oh just get out and clean them, but on an unlit highway in total darkness, that's not smart. I'm hoping I can come up with a way to splice extra nozzles onto the front camera washer, and direct them at the headlights. On my jeep it wasn't feasible to do so, but it might be easier to do here.

Unfortunately, tesla generally does not address problems when the solution requires adding parts to the bill of materials. Anyone hoping that they will add a rear sprayer, a headlight washer (or heater), or extend the range before they get theirs, really needs to consider if they want the vehicle only as it is now. If the answer is no, I'd do whatever you can to get your deposit back or transferred to something you do want. I would love to be wrong about this, but this isn't stuff they just "overlooked". They know they have these problems, they actively chose this final design anyway. Expecting these things to be fixed before a beast delivery or non-FS or whatever, is setting yourself up for disappointment.

Cactus, this isn't directed at you specifically, but I've seen this sentiment around the forums quite a lot. People seem to have this idea that 6 months or a year from now, the cybertruck will be a completely different vehicle in terms of hardware. Little tweaks that replace one part with another are common from year to year with tesla. Big tweaks that require adding a bunch of parts are not. Usually bigger changes come from being able to remove a bunch of parts. For example, adding battery cells and making a bigger structural pack that costs them more money and parts to make? Unlikely. On the other side of that coin, if these rumored 4680 improvements do occur... Reducing the number of cells and making a smaller structural pack so they can make more trucks from the same number of cells? Very likely.

 

[CyberGus]

how’s it feel to drive to drive a vehicle this size without the visibility through the back?

Nothing back there but F-150's anyway

 

[Pops]

Its not useless... its for looking at the children in the backseat.

 

[Celiboy]

I’ve driven box trucks and vans with no rear view options and did not have any problems relating to not being able to see behind me from that view. That’s where side mirrors come into play. Truck drivers are putting millions of miles hauling 80,000 pound loads back and forth across the country without a rear view mirror without any issues, including those delivering CT’s to service centers.

No vehicle manufacturer that I’m aware of has a rear view camera with a sprayer and until Tesla added one to the front, I’m not sure most people considered it a need. I understand that during the rainy season my rear view camera will get dirty and adjust accordingly until I can wipe it off.

Going from ICE vehicles to a Tesla takes a lot of adjusting generally and if you’ve owned one, you’ve made the adjustment. The CT will be no different.

 

[agordon117]

No vehicle manufacturer that I’m aware of has a rear view camera with a sprayer

Land rover defender, audi e-tron, VW tiguan, ford bronco sport had it a couple of years, toyota highlander... there are a lot, and none of them are an unfair comparison to cybertruck given the pricepoint tesla is asking (FS or otherwise)

 

[Celiboy]

Land rover defender, audi e-tron, VW tiguan, ford bronco sport had it a couple of years, toyota highlander... there are a lot, and none of them are an unfair comparison to cybertruck given the pricepoint tesla is asking (FS or otherwise)

Thanks for the info. I agree with the given price point comparison but the same can be said for more expensive vehicles that don’t have rear view camera sprayers. My point is although it would have been nice to have, it’s in no way a requirement for safe driving. The rear view camera itself is in no way necessary for safe driving, just an added convenience feature. The rear view mirror is a requirement, but definitely doesn’t prevent safe driving if the view is blocked.

 

[agordon117]

Thanks for the info. I agree with the given price point comparison but the same can be said for more expensive vehicles that don’t have rear view camera sprayers. My point is although it would have been nice to have, it’s in no way a requirement for safe driving. The rear view camera itself is in no way necessary for safe driving, just an added convenience feature. The rear view mirror is a requirement, but definitely doesn’t prevent safe driving if the view is blocked.

I understand your point, but, "all drivers should be capable of driving safely with no rear view mirror" and "some drivers will have an obstructed rear view some of the time"... does not excuse the fact that this should have existed.

If there was ever a chance of tesla fixing some of these shortcomings, it's not going to happen if half of us go around saying why things aren't an issue, when they are. This isn't directed at you in particular, Celiboy. Just something I've been thinking about since this happens pretty widely anywhere the truck is talked about. If we all would say, "you know what, yeah, this should have been different. I'll be okay without this feature, but it really would have been nice if they would have done this." Well, then tesla would probably pay attention. Instead, half of us say something is a shortcoming, and the other half argue that it's not (rather than saying oh it just doesn't bother me). Tesla will see that and think that they don't really have an issue.

 

[Longranger]

Any visibility issues the CT has could almost certainly be vanquished with cameras and a viewing screen be it the center screen or a separate screen/rear view. Any excuse making for this issue in a 100K vehicle is sphincter smooching period!

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