I was refering to S/1's point about the car not being able to tell the difference if the object is still in the way or not. People still need to actively participate in driving, including mirrors - open, closed or otherwise.
SW's comment: For one thing automatically unfolding the mirrors when you have affirmatively folded them would make the folding fucntion useless. The purpose is so that you don't bump the mirrors on close objects while parking. What would be the point of having them unfold and bang into whatever you had folded them to avoid? Makes no sense.
S/1's comment: but how would the car know when it's ok to open the mirrors back out? Let's say you push a button and the mirrors fold in so you can get in that tight spot. You leave, now you come back and get in the car, start it and???? the mirrors automatically open now? bumping into what you closed the mirrors for in the first place? And what if it's to get by somebody elses mirror or a protruding object, or just a tight door way? When would the mirror be okay to open automatically? And by the way, from the scenario you put up on the first post, you should be glad that the car didn't open the mirrors automatically, because the wife never even checked and would have ripped them off backing out!