Another Thursday means it’s time to take a look at another feature found in many of the vehicles available here in our showroom. This week we’re looking at another safety feature, often found as a member of the STAR Safety System or sometimes just a separate, available feature. The feature in question is Blind Spot Monitor, which is a system that reduces risk in situations like lane changes on the highway. It will alert you when a vehicle enters your blind spot, so you know not to even attempt changing lanes.
[ LAST WEEK: How does Automatic Emergency Braking work? ]
What is Blind Spot Monitor?
So, what exactly is Blind Spot Monitor, and how does it work? As we stated, it alerts you to objects in your blind spot that you might not be able to see in your rearview or side mirrors. Depending on the vehicle, it might alert you audibly, but almost every Blind Spot Monitor on the market sends a visual alert, visible on the side mirror of the side where the obstruction is located. So if a vehicle has entered your left blind spot, a little icon will light up on your left-side mirror.
How does it do it? Blind Spot Monitor utilizes sensors or radars to constantly watch your blind spots on either side of the vehicle, so it is ready to send an alert whenever anything enters. As we mentioned, some vehicles will also send audible alerts. This feature is added to more advanced vehicles, where the monitor works like normal, but if you throw on your turn signal and something enters that blind spot it will also send an audible alert.
Features like this are only there for back up. Your own awareness, alertness and attentiveness are still your best safety features, so be sure to use them. But if you happen to miss something when looking over your shoulder, Blind Spot Monitor will pick it up for you. If you need a little more information, you can watch the video below from MyCarDoesWhat.org, or give us a call here at Go Toyota on the Trail with any questions. We can also give you a rundown of which Scion or Toyota vehicles come with Blind Spot Monitor!