I remember driving large SUVs and cars that, gasp, didn’t have a backup camera. We used our mirrors and view out of the back with personal depth perception to gauge what was behind us. Amazing, but true. Well, now backup cameras are standard on every new car sold in America, and people are quite dependent on them it seems, even though you should absolutely still be turning around to see what’s actually behind you.
Much like that backup camera, the next popular feature that consumers seem to place high priority on these days is the Blind Spot Detection system (some brands call it Blind Spot Monitor, Side Assist, Blind Blind Spot Information System, Blind Spot Warning, etc etc etc). This uses sensors, typically inside the back bumper area (sometimes in the taillight assembly of some pickup trucks due to the metal chrome in the bumper), to detect vehicles in the lane next to you. They may be in your *checks notes* blind spot. Of course, I should take a minute here to note that with properly adjusted mirrors, you can also largely mitigate the blind spot of nearly any vehicle. Also, same as with backing up, you should always perform a physical head turn/visual check of your own before maneuvering your multi-thousand pound vehicle that’s barreling down the road.
These systems can generally only detect vehicles in the lane directly adjacent to yours, which makes sense since that’s the lane you’re moving into. But an ultra fast moving vehicle, or a motorcycle, or a car moving into the same target lane from the opposite side, may not always get captured right away. Also, most systems may only provide an audible warning if you actually activate your turn signal (those lights that seemingly blink when you move the control on the left side of the steering wheel up or down for you BMW owners). In other cases, the systems are generally quite passive in nature, with typically only a light that illuminates if a vehicle is in your blind spot.
The indicator light itself can vary from brand to brand, and even within brands as they make design or technology changes.
Newer Enhancements
As technology progresses, we have also seen more active systems, which can help steer or use brakes to help bring your vehicle back into its original lane if it detects that there’s a vehicle in your blind spot and you’ve still started to move in that direction.
An additional feature typically (but not always) found with blind spot detection is the cross traffic warning system. This can be helpful when you’re in a parking lot and looking to back out, you may not always have great visibility to cars coming down the aisle. The cross traffic warning can alert you to cars headed your way. Mostly found on the rear of vehicles, we also have found a number of new vehicles that offer it on the front end of the vehicle, potentially to help when you nose out of a parking spot.
As with the indicator light position itself, these can work differently brand to brand. While many vehicles provide the cross traffic alert when you are stationary in your parking spot, some brands don’t provide the alert unless you’re actually in motion. I strongly prefer that the warnings come in as you’re at a stop, because why start moving when there is someone coming? Also, I could see how an alert as you’re already moving might cause a driver to panic and potentially try to press the accelerator rather than the brake.
Potential bonus points go to brands that incorporate the blind spot detection icons in their head up display and center cluster displays. Yes, you should still turn your head before moving, but this does help keep your vision forward as you’re driving, prior to your safety check.
Variations on a Theme
Honda started the camera approach with its novel LaneWatch, which provided drivers with a camera feed of the passenger side of the vehicle. This was only on the passenger side though, as it provided the video feed in the radio/infotainment display. It definitely didn’t want drivers to look to the right when they were trying to move to the left. It was an interesting concept and was easy to show customers in the showroom with a stationary vehicle with a quick button that could summon the camera view. However, it didn’t actually alert you if there was a vehicle there or not, it depended on the driver making that visual judgement for themselves. Honda has since phased LaneWatch out for a more traditional system.
On the camera front, Hyundai/Kia/Genesis have taken the torch with their Blind Spot View Monitor, which also provides video feed of the vehicle blind spot, but does so for both driver and passenger sides and displays the feed in the instrument cluster. Their vehicles also include the sensor based system alerts.
Do you have blind spot detection in your car? If so, how important is it for your next car to have it? Be sure to know how the system in your car works and when it alerts vs doesn’t.