Patent ID: 7581859

Claim:
A mirror reflective element sub-assembly for an exterior rearview mirror assembly of a vehicle, said mirror reflective element sub-assembly comprising: a mirror reflective element; a mirror back plate attached at a rear surface of said mirror reflective element, said mirror back plate comprising a generally planar portion having a front back plate surface facing said rear surface of said mirror reflective element and a rear back plate surface rearward of and spaced from said front back plate surface by a thickness dimension of said generally planar portion of said mirror back plate, said mirror back plate formed by injection molding and having a display receiving portion established thereat during injection molding of said mirror back plate; wherein said display receiving portion comprises a hollow structure that extends from said generally planar portion of said mirror back plate, said display receiving portion having an open first end region at said generally planar portion and an open second end region opposite said open first end region; said mirror back plate having structure established at said rear back plate surface during injection molding of said mirror back plate, said structure for attaching said mirror back plate to a mirror actuator; a display element having a light source that is activatable to emit light, wherein said display receiving portion of said mirror back plate is configured to receive said display element and wherein said display element is at least partially received at said open second end region of said display receiving portion so as to be received at said display receiving portion from a position rearward of said rear back plate surface of said mirror back plate; said display element attaching to said display receiving portion of said mirror back plate and said light source being activatable to emit light through said display receiving portion; and wherein said mirror back plate and said display receiving portion are configured so that light exiting said mirror back plate is at a predetermined angle so that light emitted by said display element when said light source is activated is directed one of (a) generally away from the vehicle when the mirror assembly is mounted to the vehicle so as to be principally viewed by drivers of other vehicles and so as to be substantially not viewed by the driver of the host vehicle, and (b) generally toward the driver of the vehicle when the mirror assembly is mounted to the vehicle so as to be principally viewed by the driver of the host vehicle and so as to be substantially not viewed by drivers of other vehicles.