Interior Rearview Mirror problems of the 2005 Toyota Prius

Accident in raleigh n. C. On us-1. Heading north on us-1 and making left across 3-lanes of south bound traffic broadsided another vehicle , causing it to turn over. I was driving a 2005 Prius. After much intense thought as to why I did not see the other vehicle after I observed all lanes to be clear I realized that the vehicle that was traveling in the 3rd lane further set from me must have been hidden behind the rear view mirror of the Prius. The windshield was very sloped ,and the rear view mirror set low, especially for a tall person such as myself. Looking toward the right put the mirror at an even lower level that tended s to hide a portion of the lane. This could be a real tragic problem if not known to the driver that this was a possibility in a similar situation.

Auto-dimming rear view mirror does not dim enough. This left a lot of headlight glare being reflected back to the driver. It resulted in inability of the driver to safely see roadway. The driver slowed and stopped the car, and allowed all traffic to pass. Eventually, through experimentation it was found that the light sensor on the front of the rear viewing autodim mirror appears to be defective. If one covers this light sensor with translucent material and/or all together covers the light sensor, then proper autodimming occurs.