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Design Wish: A Convenient Way to Block Sunlight Coming Over the Rearview Mirror

I mean Lexus solved this in the '80s

By Rain Noe - May 16, 2023

in Cars | UX

When the Lexus LS400 first arrived to the U.S. market, it had a unique interior design feature: A slim, central flip-down visor that covered the small gap above the rearview mirror, that little sliver where sunlight can sneak through and annoy. I'd read about it in Car & Driver (I think; cut me some slack, this was 1989), and this surprising mirror-visor was noted as the designers going above-and-beyond in consideration of driver comfort. (I believe Audi later added this feature on some models.)

Here's the flap in an old Lexus. Image: BearzerkerX

I dearly wish my VW had one, as geographical latitude and my schedule regularly send blinding sunlight through that above-the-mirror-gap. Alas, the nearest thing I've seen online is this disappointing afterthought of a design, a piece of HDPE with a slit in it:

With no easy way to install a hinge, they've opted for a Velcro attachment, which would make deploying the thing annoying. It also suffers from one-size-fits-all-itis and would be way too big for my car.

This competing version is just a big piece of foam, that stays in place by friction:

While it does look easy to deploy...

...it's still too big for my situation--I don't need it blocking below the mirror--and there's the problem of where to store it when not in use.

Alternatives are elusive. Do you readers also experience this over-the-mirror inconvenience, or is it just me? I'd have thought someone would've tackled this in a more elegant way, but perhaps the market's just not there.

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Porter Gieske

a year ago

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I think that the Audi version was a hinged flap that pivoted down and behind the mirror, bridging the gap between the visors. It was out of the way when not in use. It didn't totally block out everything, but it was good enough.

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Joseph Stirt

a year ago

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2 more photos of my 2010 M-B C300 upper windshield glass with embedded black sun-blocking pattern

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Jon Plummer

a year ago

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Our Toyotas have frit behind the mirror. It doesn’t quite help. I wonder about a tinted area on the glass, which would thus not require deployment.

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Charles Moore

a year ago

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Can you 3D print something?

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