Retractabel rear under view mirror system for an automotive vehicle

A retractable rear under view mirror system mounted on a rearward portion of an automotive vehicle in which a rear under field of view from a driver's seat is obscured and which has a hingedly mounted rear door mounted on a body of the vehicle, comprising:

• a deflector mounted on an upper portion of said rear door and in spaced relationship with the rear door for deflecting air flow to said rear door, said deflector having a recess formed therein;
• a mirror assembly movably supported by said deflector and selectively positionable between a retracted position in which said mirror assembly is disposed in said recess to an extended position in which said mirror assembly is disposed out of said recess;
• actuating means for actuating said mirror assembly to be positioned in said retracted position or said extended position;
• detection means for detecting said rear door being in an open state and a closed state;
• output determination means for determining an output state of said detection means;
• and
• relative position determination means for determining a position of said mirror assembly relative to said deflector;
• and
• manually operable switch means positionable in an ON state or OFF state for operating the mirror assembly;
• said control means controlling said actuating means in response to the determinations by said output determination means and said relative position determination means, the state detected by said detection means, and the state of said manual switch means.

A retractable rear under view mirror system mounted on a rearward portion of an automotive vehicle in which a rear under field of view from a driver's seat is obscured and which has a rear door hingedly mounted on a body of the vehicle for being opened, comprising:

• a base member positioned on a rearward portion of said automotive vehicle;
• a mirror assembly movably supported by said base member and selectively positionable from a stored position inside said base member to a use position in which said mirror assembly reflects the rear under field of view of the automotive vehicle;
• actuating means for actuating said mirror assembly to be positioned in said stored position or said use position;
• detection means for detecting a state of said rear door which is positionable in an open state and a closed state;
• and
• control means for controlling said actuating means in response to an output of said detection means and the position of the mirror assembly so that when said rear door is in an open state said mirror assembly is maintained in a stored position and when said rear door is moved from a closed state to the open state the mirror assembly in said use position is moved to said stored position.