Patent ID: 7824045

Claim:
An electrochromic mirror reflective element for an exterior rearview mirror assembly of a vehicle, said electrochromic mirror reflective element comprising: a front glass substrate and a rear glass substrate having an electrochromic medium sandwiched therebetween, wherein said electrochromic medium is bounded by a seal; wherein said front glass substrate has a first surface and a second surface opposite said first surface, and wherein, when said electrochromic mirror reflective element is incorporated in an exterior rearview mirror assembly and said exterior rearview mirror assembly is normally mounted at the vehicle, said first surface generally faces a driver of a vehicle when the driver is normally operating the vehicle, and wherein said second surface faces said electrochromic medium; wherein said rear glass substrate has a third surface facing said electrochromic medium and a fourth surface opposite said third surface; a curved recess established at one of (a) said second surface of said front glass substrate and (b) said fourth surface of said rear glass substrate, wherein said curved recess is established by physical removal of a portion of a respective one of said front glass substrate and said rear glass substrate; a first metallic reflector coated at said curved recess to establish an auxiliary wide angle reflector, said reflector-coated curved recess establishing an auxiliary wide angle reflector region of said electrochromic mirror reflective element; a second metallic reflector coated at one of (a) said third surface of said rear glass substrate and (b) said fourth surface of said rear glass substrate, wherein said second metallic reflector establishes a principal reflector, said reflector-coated surface of said rear glass substrate establishing a principal reflector region of said electrochromic mirror reflective element; and a hiding layer that hides at least a portion of a component of said electrochromic mirror reflective element that is behind said hiding layer from view by the driver of the vehicle when said exterior rearview mirror assembly is normally mounted at the vehicle and the driver is normally operating the vehicle.