Mirror retrofits on commercial vehicles
A clearer overview from 2009 onwards
Lorries, semitrailers and semitrailer tractors with an overall permissible weight of more than 3.5 t first used in traffic since January 1, 2000 must be equipped with wide-angle mirrors on the passenger since and close-range and proximity mirrors from March 31, 2009.
Retrofitting is not required if the area that should be visible using the rear-view mirrors - the so-called the mirror view field - is already almost completely covered by the installed mirrors. This is outlined in the EC 2007/38/EC Directive for rear-view mirrors.
Vehicles with with an overall permissible weight of up to 7.5 t do not require rear-view mirrors to be retrofitted if all sections of the mirrors are at least 2.1 m above the ground when the mirrors are correctly adjusted.
In certain cases, mirror view fields cannot be covered with an additional mirror – for technical reasons or because the purchase is too expensive in proportion to the result. Here, other mirrors can be fitted for indirect view - or other installations, such as camera systems, for example.
Since October 1, 2008, a main inspection sticker can only be issued if the required mirrors are present and the required mirror view fields are covered.
