Woman shares a hidden rearview mirror feature that helps people drive better at night

Driving at night is a beautiful and unique experience that many people enjoy. However, it can also prove to be unsafe in many situations but this simple hack can provide an added security feature in your car for all those late-night drives. Asia—who goes by @asiamaee on TikTok–shared a shocking fact about a hidden feature in our cars that we didn't know about.

In her viral video, Asia shares her jaw-dropping knowledge about the rearview mirror tab in our cars. She thought it was common knowledge among people. However, it turns out not many people were aware of this surprising feature. Asia, who is a journalist by profession, captioned her viral clip, "One of the first things I learned when driving."

"I thought everybody knew this about their car, but apparently it's not common knowledge," she starts, then points her camera at the rearview mirror of her ride. "So, in your rearview mirror, you have this little tab underneath, right? It is supposed to be pointed back. Now, in the mirror, you can view the fence behind me." When the tab underneath the mirror is pointed back it normally allows you to see through your back window.

"When you flip this tab up," she demonstrates by changing the angle of the mirror, "it only shows you the reflections of what's behind you. Did you guys know that?" She says that it is supposed to be used when driving at night time, so that other cars' headlights do not blind you. According to Science World, most mirrors have a thin shiny layer of metal that does the reflecting, with a sheet of glass in front for structure and protection.

Although glass allows light to pass through, some of it is always reflected, but you only see this when it's darker in the surroundings. The front glass surface of the rearview mirror reflects only about four percent of incoming light. In the daytime, the silvered back of the rearview mirror reflects the scene behind you and some reflects off the glass front and away. By flipping the tab, you change the angle of the mirror so that the headlights bounce off the silvered surface and away from your eyes, while a small amount bounces off the front surface of the glass so you can see a dim image of the headlights, per the outlet. The comment section of her brief video was flooded with people who gained knowledge about the second feature of the rearview mirror for the first time.

@klassychick2 wrote, "Girl I learned something new today because at night I will be fighting for my life when cars are behind me!" @aesthetixknj remarked, "When you live in the South where there are raised trucks with blinding, retina-burning lights, you learn this very early on." @cadedragilmore joked, "Thank you, now I ain't got to slow down and let the other car go around me and put my bright lights on cause they blind me so I blind them."

@ravenousrogue commented, "Thank you! I knew it was the reflection but didn't know what it was for. I will be using that next time I am driving in the dark." @lunax999 added, "I just turn my side mirrors outward when someone is blinding me so it can hit them in the eyes and they back off every time."