[RahulNagaraj]

Thanks to the Team-BHP fan (he prefers to remain anonymous) who sent this in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts via this Team-BHP share page!

Hi Team!

My dad recently purchased the Hyundai new i20. We noticed that the driver side ORVM holder is smaller by 1cm than the passenger side ORVM holder. Due to this the angle of ORVMs when folded is different too.

We brought it up with the sales advisor, they were clueless. We have seen a couple of other i20's at the showroom which had the same issue.

I raised a query with Hyundai India by email. They just asked for contact details & dealer location with no response to my subsequent email for a week now.

The sales advisor calls me after a week and tries to convince me that it was there on other i20's as well, so it is not a defect. I asked what's the reason for the different sizes, he goes on to say it's the same for all the cars.

It would be really helpful if I am advised if I am right about not leaving this issue. Are the ORVMs really of different sizes, if so do let me know what is the reason for that practice.

I am attaching photos of said parts.

Thank You

[Researcher]

My guess is that this is by design and not defect. I have also observed the right ORVM to electrically fold in slightly later than the left in our Baleno. The left and right ORVMs have to be angled differently as they have to show the same field of view to the driver who is on the right side of the car. Had the driver been at the centre, it would have made sense for a symmetric design (McLaren F1, Speedtail). I had read the same observation in our Evo X review too.

Originally Posted by Rehaan

GTR-esque? (Also the LHS mirror is a tad smaller and angled differently, not sure why)

Off topic, but I must commend the observation and skills of the buyer who noticed such a minute detail.

[sagarpadaki]

I observed the same in our 2010 i20 as well. I noticed that the time taken by the Auto folding ORVM was more on the driver side compared to passenger side. Then on further observation, I noticed that the passenger ORVM is angled a bit inwards towards the glass compared to the Driver side ORVM . I guess this is due to the field of view needed from the Driver seat. Since the passenger side ORVM is farther from the Driver eyes, it needs to be angled more inwards to offer a useful field when compared to the Driver side ORVM which is nearer to the driver and needs to be angled outwards to offer the required field of view

[speedmiester]

Looks like this is by design. There are many cars which have different ORVM for driver and passenger side. Usually the difference is not noticeable visually.

On this topic, the most famous example is of W124, which has different ORVMs and is a distinguished visual feature as well.

[gkveda]

Yes, it is by design. The driver sits at right side of the car if he had sat exactly at center, he would have had the exact symmetrical view both sides of the mirrors. Since he sits at right side of the car, right side mirror is nearer to him and left side mirror is far away.

So, if he observes the reflection in the right mirror, he will be able to see clearly since it is near to his eyes. Whereas, since LHS mirror is far away, the right side of the LHS mirror cannot be seen and windows frame acts as obstruction to the view. To avoid this obstruction, the LHS mirror is placed slightly far away from the side frame.

If we observe a Left Hand drive car(steering would be on LHS), right side mirror would be far away as compared to LHS mirror.

[wildsdi5530]

Actually this is not a good explanation. The mirror is independent of the housing. The housing could have been symmetrical and the mirrors within adjusted at different angles to compensate for the driver sitting in the right side.

In the old Benzs, the left mirror was not convex, only the right was. So the mirrors were of different shapes.

I hope you make an issue of it so that the R&D team realizes the reasons for this design element and it's futility in current cars. Hopefully in the next Gen the errors would have been corrected.

[Indian2003]

My mirrors are different on both sides. The drivers side mirror is horizontal and the passenger side, vertical.

[VKumar]

Why can't this be related to our crowded streets where the mirrors of the cars moving in opposite direction frequently hit each other?

We always tend to go nearer to other vehicles, walls etc on the RHS side compared to the LHS side. Why so? Because we have exact idea of what's in RHS; and when it comes to LHS, we always maintain a small zone of tolerance.

So, maybe the angle is also a reason, but I would like to add this also to the list of probabilities.

[88_TANK_88]

The left side holder is longer to allow full view from the drivers seat. If the holder was smaller(equal length to the driver side) inner edge of the mirror would be hidden by the A-pillar, specially if the seat is moved forward.

[neil.jericho]

Whatever be the actual cause of this difference, if a customer has asked Hyundai India, a genuine question, the least that they could have done is replied to him / her with the technical explanation. Even if it just a matter of 2 sentences in an email.

All I can say is, if the same behaviour was exhibited by a new player in the market, we would be all over them for not even having the ability to answer basic customer queries.

[libranof1987]

Interesting observation, and to have bothered to try to figure it out (by measuring the length of the clamps). I've always noticed that mirrors on my '13 i20 don't auto-fold perfectly in tandem, didn't give it more thought though. You can actually hear one motor firing up a fraction of a second later than the other.

[1.2TSI7DSG]

It's fairly standard. Simple reflection physics is the reason for this.

The lh/rh side mirror has to pe positioned differently to enable the driver get similar images in both the mirrors. Unlike rickshaws , driver does not sit symmetric to the car axis.

However with a combination of different convexity and the different static positions, you can achieve the same results with the same outer casing.

[Surya-TJet]

Hi,

With regards to your query on why the mirror stalks are of different sizes; it has to do with the CMVR (Central Motor Vehicle Regulations) standards that each OEM has to meet. As per AIS-002 (the standard for mirror visibility); each motor vehicle has to have full visibility within the defined dimension (refer to images) for both IRVM and ORVM.

Since Indian cars are RHD; the driver should get the same field of view on both sides as CMVR mandate. Hence, the co-driver (left side) mirror stalk needs to be longer ensure that same field of view is given to the driver on both sides of the mirror.

Back in the day; India didn't have such stringent standards. Which is why you will see cars like MB W124 series had a larger driver side mirror (which was intended for LHD markets, where the RH mirror would be the co-driver's mirror). The same was sold in India (which gave a reduced field of view to driver on the co-driver's side, making city driving very difficult, especially while parking close to the curb). This was because India's regulatory compliance standards for motor vehicles wasn't as stringent or detailed back in the day.

Just goes to show the depth and detail of engineering required even at such micro level by OEMs to meet government regulated certification standards.

Also, you can search for AIS-002 pdf in google which will show the entire standard in detail. These pics were taken from there for reference.

Hope this clarifies your query in detail.

[CEF_Beasts]

I have observed the same in my Creta as well when the mirrors are folded, they both are folded at slightly different angles.



And the left mirror folds in before the right one completes the action.

[sgm]

I have noticed that the mirrors, when folded, the alignment is different. My right side mirror doesn't fold completely as there is no more space to turn more. I guess, it is by design. I haven't noticed any issues when they are open.