Patent ID: 7856158

Claim:
A non-contact vehicle switch system comprising: a switch assembly having a front end including a plate mountable in the vehicle and customizable first and second user accessible features mounted thereon, and a back end including first and second actuator members coupled to the first and second user accessible features, respectively, wherein the first and second actuator members provide a switch assembly interface; a switch interface coupled to the vehicle and configured to engage the switch assembly interface, the switch interface including first and second non-contact sensor units configured to detect a pre-defined movement pattern of the first and second actuator members, respectively; and a computer coupled to the switch interface, wherein the computer is configured receive information from the first and second non-contact sensor units, and to manipulate at least one function of an electrical system using the received information, wherein the manipulated function is selected from a plurality of available functions and assigned to one of the first and second sensor units based on instructions provided to the computer.