NHTSA, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (not to be confused with NHTSA, the National Ham-based Team Sports Association) has issued a notice about a Toyota recall that affects 1,024,407 vehicles, badged as Toyotas, Lexuses, and the Subaru Solterra. The issue affects the rear view camera display, and while this recall is, I suppose, news, what really interests me is the question of whether we, collectively, have come to rely on rear view cameras over more traditional rear view mirrors.
Here’s what the NHTSA has to say about the recall itself:
Rearview Camera Image May Not Display/FMVSS 111A rearview camera that fails to display an image can reduce the driver’s view behind the vehicle, increasing the risk of a crash.
NHTSA ID Number: 25V744000
Manufacturer Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing
Components BACK OVER PREVENTION
Potential Number of Units Affected: 1024407
Summary
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2022-2026 Toyota, Lexus, and Subaru Solterra vehicles equipped with a Panoramic View Monitor (PVM) system. Please see the recall report for a complete list of models. A software error may cause the rearview camera to freeze or display a blank screen when the vehicle is in reverse. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 111, “Rear Visibility.”
Remedy
Dealers will update the parking assist software, free of charge. Interim letters notifying owners of the safety risk are expected to be mailed December 16, 2025. Additional letters will be sent once the final remedy is available. Owners may contact Toyota’s customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota’s numbers for this recall are 25TB13 and 25LB06. Subaru’s number for this recall is WRE25.
This seems to be a software error of some sort that causes the image freeze or blank screen on the rear-view camera image. Current federal motor vehicle safety standards do require a rear-view camera, so the cars affected by this recall legally need to be fixed to be in compliance with FMVSS standards.
But what all of this is really making me wonder about is if we are now at the point where most drivers expect rear view cameras when they reverse, and if so, is that the first place their eyes instinctively dart when reversing – down to the rear-view camera screen in the dash, or up to the old-school rear-view mirror?
As someone who daily drives an old car with no cameras whatsoever, but also often drives modern press vehicles absolutely covered in cameras, I still find myself using the mirror by default, and having to remind myself about the camera.
The exception, I suppose, would be in vehicles like the Tesla Cybertruck that only have the barest, most minimal, nearly useless inside rear-view mirror just to meet the legal requirements:
Rear-view camera systems have been required since 2018; this means we’re at close to eight years of all new cars having them. Is that enough time to make a subtle yet real driving behavior shift? If you took an average driver and put them in a car that lacked a rear-view camera, I wonder how many would feel uncomfortable reversing without one?
Then there’s the people who shun both screen and mirror and instead just turn around in their seat, arm slung behind the back of the seat, looking all cavalier and cool as you whip backwards through a crowded parking lot, sending shopping carts spiraling away like pinballs.
This is a subtle shift, certainly less dramatic than the widespread loss of the skills of driving a manual transmission, but it’s still something real, and I don’t feel like I have a good sense of how widespread this change is.
Let’s do a little poll here; I realize this more car-focused audience likely doesn’t represent mainstream drivers, but it’s a start, at least. Here we go:
Oh, and if you have a 2022 to 2026 Rav4 or Camry or Prius or Highlander or Land Cruiser or Lexus LC, LS, GX, NX, or, jeez, so many more, maybe check your mail to get this all sorted out.
I look at the camera first since it has a wider range of view and can detect things that I may not be able to in the mirror, but when I’m backing up I mostly use the mirror.
As I drive a minivan, the procedure usually goes:
Camera: If something is directly behind the van and low to the ground, the only way to see that thing is the camera. This is the entire reason the camera exists.
Mirror: I usually switch to the mirror from here, but only for a moment.
Side Mirrors: I use one of both of these to place the van down the driveway as I reverse (as a typical example).
Windows: Then I use my neck to move my head back and forth to detect objects approaching from the left and right as I approach the intersecting sidewalk and roadway.
So yes, I use the camera first.
Adding the requirement of rearview cameras was a lazy fix for very bad design and engineering choices. The addition of more cameras points to more of the same.
The requirement of rearview cameras was to prevent people running over toddlers. Yes rear visibility has gone to crap, but there was always a height at which it was potentially impossible to see a small child. The camera req was about that.
Mirrors line it up, camera backs it up.
I never understood the backup camera thing. Why didn’t they just mandate park distance sensors? If there was something you were going to hit, they would pick that up. My Jag has these and when I first got it I thought they were annoying and now I think they’re very helpful.
Like almost everyone my age, I was taught in driver’s ed to turn around and look where I’m headed. Which is exactly opposite of where the screen is, so at that point it’s useless.
The only car I drive on a regular basis that has a screen is my wife’s K5, and I use the backup screen rarely, and in the situations I do quite frankly I’d rather have the sensors beeping, so that I can see with my own eyes how close I am with the additional guidance of the sensors.
Kids and tall cars. Might not set off the sensors.
It’s about toddlers who wouldn’t be visible without the camera. Relying on your own eyes in that circumstance is very bad.
I have everything from a ’78 car with not even hydraulic steering to a modern BMW that parks itself, 360 cameras and sensors. I still turn around and see out of the back window. I don’t trust cameras and sensors but I’ve also found that I struggle now more than ever to judge how far things are from the car. I blame the over reliance on tech assists.
Technically both for me I guess? My 2020 Toyota 86 has the display for the backup camera in the rearview mirror so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Its a mix. In my Boxster I turn around because convertible, the camera on my GX is great, offers a nice wide view and stays remarkably clean, but my fiances Sonata camera is always dirty because she drives on gravel so I switch between the mirror and over the shoulder.
In my 2000 Impreza notchback, it was great using either the mirror or turning around to look directly out the back because the rear window was big and closeby (great field of view). That changed when I moved to a 2013 Impreza hatchback where the window was similarly sized but back at the rear end of the vehicle (slightly narrower field of view).
Our 2022 Tiguan is still a hatchback, but is a bigger vehicle with the rear window way back there. And I’ve fully moved over to using the rearview camera screen along with the side mirrors.
Probably because of my age, I instinctively go to the rear view mirror first, but also rely on my camera just as much once I’ve started backing up. (Also probably because of my age, I rarely look over my shoulder anymore.)
When I’m driving my car with the top down – which is 90% of the time – I can just look over my shoulder and/or use mirrors when backing up. Same with changing lanes
But this week I have a loaner while my car is in for it’s annual service. This time it’s a a Mercedes-Benz GLC43 AMG “coupe” – with near-zero rear visibility, and very limited side visibility with all the doors and pillars and low roofline.
It’s a damned good thing it has a rear-view camera and side-alerts.
Now I understand how Polestar is getting away with releasing cars with no rear windows – because with the GLC “coupe” the rear window is pretty much meaningless.
I use anything I have. My first look is normally side mirrors from years of driving trailers or trucks where the rearview is almost useless. But use the riewview and cameras when I can. Backup cameras have saved me a lot of headaches now that people can’t drive and want to save that 2 second by crashing in to you. Just the other day I was backing out of a space halfway out when all the sudden I saw something flash in my review camera a brainless moron in a civic darting though from a stop 10 feet away. He saved that 2 seconds and lucky I slammed on the brakes.
I still go for the mirror(s), and I also deploy my neck in order to turn my head. I’m getting a bit better at using the screen, mostly in tight downtown parking situations.
I need an “all the above” option. Normally I glance at the monitor as soon as it pops up, but then I’m also looking in my mirror since that’s been my thing since 1983. And then also at least a check out the back window and sides. Repeat until I’m moving forward.
TIL the cameras were mandatory in 2018.
PS- at 58 I’m enjoying the camera more and more to reduce twisting my neck as much.
That’s what I was thinking too! I think most of us probably make use of every option we have, especially in parking lots and other areas with lots of stuff going on all around us. I’m still a very young 50 but also don’t twist my neck nearly as often as the good old days.
Full view… start with either the rear camera or mirror then look at the other one, followed by both side mirrors, then start moving while alternating between all of them
It depends on the car. One of my cars has no cameras of any kind, and also has giant C pillars and a tiny rear window. I look out the windows and all 3 of my mirrors. Which gets the most attention? Depends on what I’m doing, but usually the side mirrors.
My wife’s car has all of the cameras. All of them. I sometimes use them because that 360deg view is awesome, but I still use the windows and rearview mirror to see where I’m going.
The only car I’ve ever had with a rear cam was when I put an aftermarket dashcam into my ’15 Soul, which is also the newest car I’ve owned. But with a tiny 4″ screen, it really wasn’t much help. When the car was recovered after being stolen, the thief had ripped the cam (and its wiring) out, trying to return the car to stock, and I haven’t gotten around to replacing it (I’ve had the replacement on hand for 6 mo., but wiring the rear cam is a PITA).
Backing INTO a spot, I use the mirrors because the edges of the car on the cameras don’t seem to line up correctly. Any other time, I use the screen because of the wide field of view.
It’s really not an either-or proposition. To be safest, I look at what I can see, what’s in the mirrors and what’s on the camera. With my Maverick, the camera allows me to see what’s behind me better than turning around or using mirrors. However, the camera doesn’t show me what’s coming at me laterally as well as turning my head.
CR-V: Camera first to make sure nothing (and no one) is immediately behind me, then it’s mirror scan/look over shoulder until I’m in drive.
Cayman: Look out rear glass, scan mirrors, and repeat while inching backward and praying.
I’ve got two answers:
In my car, with no camera and a nice wide rear window and rear panels, I look at the mirror.
In my wife’s car, with very limited viewing out the rear window and rear panels, I HAVE to look at the camera screen.
In both cars, I back up extremely slowly to give people ample time to stop or honk at me, as they should understand that if they cannot see me, then I cannot see them..
I didn’t vote because there wasn’t an option that covers my behavior.
I use all 3 mirrors and the back-up camera screen, because they each give me a view that’s not available on anything else. My eyes are moving between the 4 and I’m looking out of my windows for anything else approaching.
I use all 3 options plus the side view mirrors especially when backing out of the garage in the early morning. Gotta check every angle to avoid the rampaging venison sprinting across the driveway.
I do not understand (though I’m not at all surprised by) the attitude of superiority in the comments.
I too learned to back up using mirrors, looking over my shoulder, etc. I use the screen now because it’s a superior way of backing up. It’s not some blow to my ego that a computer and camera can do something better than I can, it just makes a task that was mostly mundane (but sometimes stressful) easier without any downside.
Oooh classic virtue signaling. Dude, this is the internet, that’s what comments are for. /facepalm
It seems to me that it is foolish to insist on doing things the old way when the new way is superior. Even in my Maverick, it’s impossible to see whether there are short people behind you without the camera. I still physically look around and continue to do so as I reverse, but I definitely rely on the camera most.
I still do all the above, but being 58 and not getting younger, I tend to lean on the camera a bit more so I don’t have to twist my neck as much. Plus it’s really helpful in parking.
Agreed. There’s plenty of modern features in cars I have no use for, or aggravate me. But I’m not going to pretend that backup cameras suck, they’re great. There’s a reason they’ve been mandated, they genuinely let you see things behind you that would be impossible to see otherwise. I use my mirrors and neck with the screen in tandem but like, come on guys, let’s not pretend like the camera isn’t simply more, and useful, information.
I think the key is to never let anything make you complacent. Every device that makes reversing easier can and should be thought of as a tool and not a convenience. If you find yourself just _trusting_ the camera or not actually paying attention – the wide fov can make things at the edges hard to notice, for example, so you have to pay extra attention there, and animated overlays can focus attention elsewhere – that’s when trouble occurs. Stay vigilant, and use your tools wisely.
I’m not trying to get in an accident. I check all 3 ways, but once I’ve cleared myself to move, I mostly end up using the camera when I actually let off the brake. The guides are handy and I can check my clearance in front more easily as I turn, too.
I also have gotten in the habit of shifting into reverse for a second when I’m parked head-in to confirm I’m centered in my area’s surprisingly inconsistently sized parking spaces. I’m rarely out of place, but it’s nice to know for sure before I get out.
But is the world using their cameras more? Definitely. Go to a slightly busy suburban parking lot while you’re waiting for the second or third car to take 4 attempts to back into a spot with drivers laser focused on their screens, you’ll have to time to look around and notice there are way more cars backing into spaces than there used to be, and those are newer cars with backup cameras.