Patent ID: 7390102

Claim:
A pivot and detent mechanism comprising: a base for mounting on a vehicle; an arm for supporting a mirror head, the arm having a proximal end pivotally connected along a pivot axis to the base to allow angular movement of the mirror head with respect to the base, the proximal end having spaced apart first and second axially spaced flexible branches; and a deploy detent recess and a cooperating detent member set, one of the deploy detent recess and the detent member within or on the base and the other on or within one of the branches of the arm, the deploy detent member engageable with the detent recess to hold the mirror head with respect to the base in a deployed position, wherein the flexible branches are resiliently movable in an axial direction with respect to each other to allow disengagement and engagement of the deploy detent member from the detent recess upon the application of sufficient force to the mirror head allowing the mirror head to move from the deployed position to a non-deployed position.