This woman recently discovered the use of the lever on her rearview mirror.
Brooklyn (@everythingbrooklyn) posted a video of her tinkering with that lever in the bottom-middle of her rearview mirror after her boyfriend pointed out what it’s for.
This discovery was life-changing for her and others, especially those not taught about this specific feature.
That button tilts the rearview mirror if the car’s headlights behind you are too bright.
Pushing the lever down would tilt the mirror’s angle away from the glare making it less distracting for the driver.
Brooklyn also uploaded another video where she did this at night to see the difference.
Those who didn’t know about this found this tip as a lifesaver.
The glaring headlights behind you are a safety issue for most drivers at night.
It can be blinding, thus, not giving a clear vision or more blind spots leading to an accident.
A U.S. Department of Transportation study showed that 31% of drivers find the headlight glare disturbing, and one out of 10 drivers claimed that the glare caused their crashes.
Newer cars have this feature, too. There’s a button instead of a lever.
But instead of tilting the angle of the mirror, it dims the mirrors – rear and sides – to minimize glare.
This is much safer since it darkens all mirrors while staying at the correct angle for the driver’s vision.
However, this headlight glare dilemma has increased exponentially in recent car models.
The newer cars are using either HID (High-Intensity Discharge) or LED (Light-Emitting Diode) lights because they last longer than Halogen lights that the older car models are using, but it is so much brighter, too.
Is there any difference?
If you use a light meter, these lights emit a close amount of what one would expect – that LED lights are much brighter than halogen.
The most significant difference is the temperature of the lights.
Studies showed that the blue-white light spectrum, which most cars have now, hits people’s eyes harder than the orange-yellow spectrum making it more difficult to see.
This headlight glare problem is not only applicable to cars behind you.
It’s more of a problem of incoming cars, which can be blinding.
And while we’re taught to flicker our headlights twice to oncoming vehicles to signal the driver, he’s on high beam, just like this rearview mirror function, not everyone knows about it.
There have been petitions nationwide to change the laws regarding car headlights.
People have been calling for a ban on these blinding headlights, but even passing a law against it might take a while to take effect.
Car manufacturers must do their part, and while some are already rolling out models with beam-shifting headlights, it would span years for all car brands and car owners to transition to this new technology.
All we can do for now is use what we have, like that rearview mirror lever or button.
Watch how Brooklyn made us of it and how it changes her mirror’s angle in the video below.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
@everythingbrooklyn my boyfriend is a genius. who knew! #fyp #todayyearsold #foryou #rearviewmirror ♬ original sound – phonographicmaterial
