Patent ID: 7350949

Claim:
A vehicular keypad comprising at least one key, and further comprising: a substrate having an external surface, an internal surface, and a finish on at least one of the external and internal surfaces; an illumination source actuatable between an illuminated state and a non-illuminated state and positioned behind the substrate to direct light through the finish with the illumination source in the illuminated state; and a mask associated with the substrate, wherein the mask defines at least a masked portion and an unmasked portion, wherein the unmasked portion transmits more light than the masked portion; wherein the finish extends across both the masked portion and the unmasked portion to conceal visible differences between the masked portion and the unmasked portion when the illumination source is in the non-illuminated state, and wherein light passes through the unmasked portion and the finish when the illumination source is in the illuminated state to provide a visible distinction between the masked portion and the unmasked portion so that the vehicular keypad comprising at least one key is not visually discernable when the illumination source is in the non-illuminated state.