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2010 Silverado 1500 extended cab.

I'm big & tall. This is what I see out of the windshield of my truck:

enter image description here

The rearview mirror blocks the center-right portion of the window. I've had a couple close calls where I didn't see something that was obstructed by the mirror.

Additionally, I can't see upwards well enough. If I'm sitting at traffic lights, I can't see the lights without slouching.

I'm new to driving a truck. What am I missing? Is this a common problem?

The seat is slid back all the way (I don't want to be right up against the steering wheel/airbag) and the back of the seat is tilted forward all the way (because I like to sit upright for back health). It doesn't seem to be possible to lower the seat. All manual controls.

User1974
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3 Answers3

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I'm 6'2" tall, so not short. I don't have that problem in my 2018 Silverado. My suggestion is you might want to get the driver's seat pedestal shortened. It would take someone with some skill with a welder, but I don't think it would be too hard. I would bet you could drop the seat ~4" that way.

Another suggestion is to find an electric seat out of a more upscale Silverado with the same interior color. An electric seat should have the ability to lower you down, though I don't know if it'd be enough. You might want to find another Silverado which has an electric seat in it (whether through a friend or on a used car lot) and see if it would alleviate the issue. The wiring for both the Supplemental Restraint System (side airbag) and electric seat should already be in place in your truck, even though your truck doesn't have an electric seat. The seat itself is only four bolts, so not hard to remove.

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2
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I did a few small things that made visibility good enough.

  1. As @TigerGuy mentioned, I fully adjusted the rearview mirror upwards. I didn't realize it, but the second ball joint was seized, so I didn't realize it could be moved further upwards.

    Reddit - Rearview Mirror Limits Sight

  2. The mirror still blocked my view more than I liked. So I removed its bulky plastic trim, including the OnStar buttons (not functional), from the mirror. Now, the footprint of the mirror is smaller.

    enter image description here

    I can reinstall the adjustor tab if I need to. The bracket is still there on the rear of the mirror. But now that the trim is removed, the adjuster tab isn't really needed since the mirror can just be tilted up by hand, which tilts the same mechanism that the tab would have tilted (not the ball joints, a different pivot mechanism).

  3. I also removed the driver's side sun visor since it blocked my view of traffic lights, even when in the up position; the visor sat proud of the roof, effectively making the roof 1 inch lower.

    I don't use the sun visor since I sit so high. And I'm the only driver. So removing it isn't really a problem. Even still, I kept the visor in the truck, along with all the parts and required tools, in case a different driver needs to reinstall it.

User1974
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Me Too, I just took out my mirror. you get use to it, using ouly side mirrors. like driving a box truck or van. And no more sore neck.

Gregory
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