What's with the beveled edges on rear view / side mirrors?

[brianstorms]

Anyone besides me noticing the flashes of light from headlights of other vehicles behind your car when you're driving at night, especially on a freeway?

The rear view mirror and also the side mirrors all have the same beveled edge where they've trimmed the edge down but in so doing, there's no tinting on the glass in the beveled area, which means as you drive and go over the slightest bump or rough road surface, and the car rises or drops a tiny bit, the lights of all the vehicles behind you go up or down by a corresponding tiny bit -- the result being that some of those headlights briefly FLASH brightly in the untinted beveled-edge region of the mirror, sometimes many times over the course of a minute. It's a nonstop phenomenon, very distracting and I believe fatiguing.

Sure, the mirrors might look nicer with those trimmed edges, but I have to assume it's purely a fancy look and not a functional design. Because at night it is nothing but a hassle. Just got back from a 1000+ mile drive, much of it at night, and I experienced this constantly.

Anyone else?

 

[NEWDL]

This is typical on even non beveled edge side mirrors that tint. The tinting can not go to the edge of the glass due to the fact that it is actually a liquid that tints the glass. This liquid needs to be contained in some way so it can not go edge to edge.

This is also found to be the case on the rear view mirror in the Model S. The reason other vehicles don't have this issue is that they have a housing that "frames" the glass and covers the edge of the glass that isn't tintable.

My personal opinion is that the rear view mirror is gorgeous. Tesla took an ugly mundane required item and made it a jewel piece of the interior. We do not do a TON of night driving, so maybe we can ignore this "issue".

I love the look of the rear view mirror.

 

[brianstorms]

Well I agree the "look" of the mirror is nice, but try driving from the SF Bay Area to San Diego, going through LA, at night, with the headlights of a hundred cars and trucks dancing around in the mirrors, with constant flashes whenever a light hits those non-tinted areas, and you might think twice....