"Slenderize" the front roof pillars

[braineo]

Blind spot is easy to solve with these:

http://www.amazon.com/Amico-Round-Conve ... ave+mirror" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[KeiJidosha]

I've gotten used to doing a head bobbing motion as I look to my left to make sure nothing is hiding behind that A pillar. It's big enough to hide entire cars at stop signs, not to mention pedestrians, bicycles, dogs, etc.

+1

After being "reminded" in no uncertain terms on at least two separate occasions by my mate that there was a pedestrian about to enter the crosswalk that I was aiming to turn left across, I now routinely move my head and shoulders right and left several times in such situations so that I am sure I can check out the entire blind spot area.

Since this bobbing motion closely resembles the male courting behavior of several bird species, I now have the problem of having to repel the affections of female egrets and Canada geese in certain seasons.

Seriously, though, this is a major safety awareness issue and it should be covered in Nissan's customer introductions to the cars. In fact, we might want to mention it in the Wiki.

+2

Replaced 1999 Prizm with a 2012 Toyota Yaris for my daughter in San Francisco last week. On her first drive of ~15 miles, we had two pedestrian near misses from A pillar blind spot. It is not just a problem in the LEAF.

[Nubo]

I've gotten used to doing a head bobbing motion as I look to my left to make sure nothing is hiding behind that A pillar. It's big enough to hide entire cars at stop signs, not to mention pedestrians, bicycles, dogs, etc.

My first encounter was on the Nissan LEAF Tour. As we were waiting to leave the parking corral on the short test-drive, my chaperone had to let me know that we were being waved out. I had to move my head to see the fellow (waving madly by that point); hidden entirely by the pillar.

It's surprising how precious the visibility is from that tiny window at the bottom.

[RonDawg]

Since this bobbing motion closely resembles the male courting behavior of several bird species, I now have the problem of having to repel the affections of female egrets and Canada geese in certain seasons.

LOL!

The Leaf though is not the only car with a horrible front blind spot. I thought the Chevy HHR (which I rented for a cross-country trip) was even worse.

[GRA]

Since this bobbing motion closely resembles the male courting behavior of several bird species, I now have the problem of having to repel the affections of female egrets and Canada geese in certain seasons.

LOL!

The Leaf though is not the only car with a horrible front blind spot. I thought the Chevy HHR (which I rented for a cross-country trip) was even worse.

There are two potential avenues to solve this problem. Here's the first:

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/pe ... -tech-dept" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The second is to get smarter, if not fully autonomous cars. This will reduce the likelihood and severity of accidents, which would allow less restrictive crash standards. Since it will take many decades to fully replace all cars with this new tech (once it has all the bugs worked out), some version of option one is most likely to be the solution for a long time. All I can say is that I'm very happy that I have a 2003 Forester rather than some car built to meet the newer roll-over standards, as it has excellent 360 deg. vision (after I had the auto-dimming mirror replaced by a manual one, as the former hung just enough lower to block my line of sight to the right front while exiting driveways in a nose-low attitude, forcing me to engage in said bobbing behavior).

[RonDawg]

I recall Volvo, perhaps as far back as the 1980's, had a design concept in which the A-pillars were made out of glass-covered steel latticework rather than with solid sheet metal. The latticework was to make it easier to see around the A-pillar by making it somewhat see-though. I thought it was a silly idea then, but now that car pillars are quickly approaching redwood-esque girth, it makes a lot more sense now.

I don't know why Volvo never went with this; perhaps the latticework was not strong enough for today's crash standards. IIRC one technology that this concept had, and which recently made its way to the consumer, was blind-spot monitoring.

[Nubo]

Transparent Aluminum.

[pugzilla]

The poor visibility around the A-pillars is a definite safety hazard. I would love to see this issue addressed in future Leafs.

[TomT]

They might be able to reduce the size by using higher strength steel but modern roll-over and roof crush standards mandate more substantial pillars than in the past...

The poor visibility around the A-pillars is a definite safety hazard. I would love to see this issue addressed in future Leafs.