Part of the car cockpit drill requires adjusting the mirrors. It’s important that you first adjust the seat to enable you to comfortably reach all the controls before adjusting the mirrors, else you’ll have to adjust the mirrors again.

This guide will explain how to set the rear view mirror in a car. The rear view mirror is the one that’s attached to the top-centre of the windscreen in the interior of your car.

How to Adjust the Rear View Mirror

Use the following technique to adjust the rear view mirror for maximum visibility:

1. The rear view mirror in encased in a plastic frame. Avoid touching the glass and grip the plastic frame to adjust the mirror. This will avoid getting fingerprints on the glass, which will cause reflection distortion and glare when driving at night.
2. When adjusting the mirror, sit in your normal driving position and try to avoid leaning forward. If you do lean forward, the view in the mirror will change when you sit back into your seat. Try to get all, or as much as possible of the rear window into the mirror and as little interior of the car interior as possible.
3. Aim to line up the horizon (where the ground and the sky meet) so that it runs across the centre of the mirror.
4. There should be roughly equal amount of sky and land in each half of the mirror.

The rear view mirror is made from flat glass and is used by the driver to observe an accurate visual representation of what’s going on behind the vehicle.