Patent ID: 7119289

Claim:
Keypad ( 10 ) for a control panel in a motor vehicle instrument system, comprising a front ( 30 ) provided with openings ( 32 ) through which a number of push-buttons ( 20 ) are placed, each push button positioned facing a contactor ( 14 ) fixed to a card ( 12 ), in which the buttons ( 20 ) are secured to a common base ( 25 ; 26 ) arranged under the front ( 30 ) so that pushing a given button ( 20 ) to actuate its associated contactor ( 14 ) causes the base ( 25 ; 26 ) to tilt, without jamming, about an axis XX′ that is essentially perpendicular to the pushing direction of said button and passes through at least one other button ( 20 ) of the set of buttons ( 22 ) and wherein the buttons ( 20 ) are linked together at least in groups of two to form a unitary set ( 22 ) and are placed with respect to one another on the keypad ( 10 ) such that each button ( 20 ) is individually movable and pushing thereof causes solely actuation of the contactor ( 14 ) assigned to said button, without any effect on the contactors of the other buttons in which the displacement travel (d) of each button ( 20 ) is between about 0.25 and 1.5 mm and the base ( 26 ) is made of flexible material.