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Should a rearview mirror shatter under impact in an accident, it is important that occupants are not injured by glass fragments that scatter about the vehicle, and that occupants are not injured should they contact shattered glass retained in the mirror assembly. For decades, the safety of prismatic interior mirrors, and of flat and convex exterior mirrors, has been assured by use of antiscattering backings such as tapes or elastomeric layers which are firmly bonded to the rearmost surface of a single mirror glass element. Such backing materials are designed to prevent fragments detaching from the mirror should the glass shatter, and to securely retain shattered glass such that shards do not slide or otherwise displace so as to create a sharp edge or protrusion likely to lead to a lacerative injury. Recently, electro-optic mirrors have been introduced for use both on the interior and exterior of automobiles.

Automotive rearview mirrors have numerous attributes that render them desirable hosts for a variety of added features beyond their principal function of providing a rearview field of vision. One attribute is location. The driver frequently looks at rearview mirrors as part of the normal driving task, and thus they are ideal locations for information display such as of directional information from a compass sensor and/or of temperature information from an exterior temperature sensor. Icons and indicia displaying status of, for example, passenger airbag enable/disable, are readily viewable by the driver when displayed at an interior rearview mirror or exterior sideview mirror. Rearview mirrors are desirable locations for automatic wiper activation rain sensors, automatic headlamp activation controllers, remote keyless entry receivers, garage door opener/home access transmitters, and antennae such as for global positioning satellite (GPS) systems.

OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL YEARS, electrochromic mirrors will be introduced for use on automobiles, initially as interior mirrors and later for the exterior. Electrochromic mirrors have variable reflectivity and this offers an opportunity to select a reflectance level that avoids glare, but that maintains rear vision. Human factors studies can relate driver discomfort to incident glare and the results can be incorporated into a fully automatic mirror whose reflectivity varies dynamically to suit changing driving conditions. In automatic mode, the electrochromic mirror responds appropriately to all driving situations, and mirror operation is transparent to the driver with smooth response and no unexpected change. This paper explains the scientific basis of electrochromism and traces development of the technology to its present applications. Electrochromic mirrors presently available worldwide are reviewed.