It is known to provide a wide angle rearward field of view to a driver of a vehicle via a wide angle reflective element at one or both of the exterior rearview mirror assemblies. Such a wide angle rearward field of view may be provided via a curved mirror reflector, or an auxiliary wide angle reflective element may be provided at a portion of a generally planar mirror reflector, such as via a stick on curved auxiliary reflector element attached to the generally planar mirror reflector. Such add-on curved auxiliary reflectors may be provided at the front surface or first surface (the surface of the mirror reflector that is generally facing rearward and at least partially toward the driver of the vehicle) and provide a reduced image size (as compared to the size of the generally planar reflector) wide angle rearward field of view that is readily viewable by the driver of the vehicle. However, such curved, auxiliary wide angle reflectors are additional components and add to the cost and manufacturing complexity of the mirror assembly. Other auxiliary wide angle reflectors have been proposed, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,315,419; 7,097,312; and/or 6,522,451, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds