A smart functional vehicle component includes a vehicle component, a leather sheet fixed over a surface of the vehicle component, a flexible electronic circuit contacting an A-surface of the leather sheet and including a printed and cured conductive ink, a light source that emits light when electrical power is supplied to the light source, the light source being electrically connected to the circuit, and a pigmented coating arranged over the electronic circuit and over the light source. The pigmented coating inhibits or prevents the circuit and the light source form being visible through the pigmented coating. Light emitted by the light source is visible through the pigmented coating. Light emitted by the light source provides visual indicators that convey information to a vehicle occupant.

Systems and methods for monitoring operation of an instrument cluster configured to display vehicle operating information to a driver. The system includes a camera pointed at the instrument cluster to capture images of operation of the instrument cluster. A control module is in receipt of the images of the instrument cluster. The control module is configured to compare operation of the instrument cluster as captured in the images with predetermined, expected operation of the instrument cluster. A fault condition notification module is configured to generate a fault notice when there is a discrepancy between operation of the instrument cluster as captured in the images and the predetermined, expected operation of the instrument cluster.

A backlight module and a head-up display (HUD) are provided. The backlight module includes a bottom plate and light-emitting sources arranged in an array on a surface of the bottom plate facing a transparent device to provide a light beam. A distance between the bottom plate and the transparent device in a direction of an optical axis is determined according to a total illuminance distribution of the light beam projected on the transparent device and locations where the light-emitting sources are arranged on the surface. The HUD includes a projection unit having a display panel and the above-mentioned backlight module and an optical sheet for reflecting the image beam to a user's eyes. The light beam penetrates the display panel to form the image beam. The transparent device of the backlight module is a display panel or a diffusion sheet located between the display panel and the light-emitting sources.

A pushbutton shifter interface is provided on a vehicle and includes a plurality of pushbutton keys arranged horizontally on a dashboard. The pushbutton shifter interface may be fixedly coupled with the dashboard generally forward of a driver seat. The pushbutton shifter interface is accessible by a driver to select a vehicle operating mode.

An interchangeable face gauge structure for automobile gauges comprises a gauge body, a face gauge, a retainer ring and an outer cover. The gauge body and outer cover are combined by means of assembling, which causes the outer cover to be dismountable from and re-mountable on the gauge body. The face gauge is additionally mounted on the surface of the light directing panel on the gauge body, which allows the face gauge to be replaceable with one of the type to the liking of the user after the outer cover is dismounted from the gauge body, improving the variability and visual effect of the gauge body. Further, with the convenience of the outer cover being easily mountable on the gauge body, the user is allowed to replace and mount parts by themselves, adding to the practicality of the structure.

A meter ECU changes a display color of a meter display item without changing a luminance of a first backlight of a first display and a display color of a first lamp display item, between when an illuminance detected by an optical sensor is higher than a certain threshold value (step S2, step S3) and when the illuminance is lower than the certain threshold value (step S7, step S8).

The present disclosure relates to touch control devices and surface wrapped control interfaces for vehicles. In one embodiment, a touch control device includes a housing assembly including an outer surface, and a touch sensor mounted to an inner surface of the housing assembly. The touch sensor includes at least one touch zone and is configured to detect contact to the outer surface of the housing assembly associated with the at least one touch zone. The touch control device may also include at least one illumination element to illuminate a portion of the outer surface of the housing assembly associated the at least one touch zone and a controller configured to illuminate at least one illumination element in response to contact with the a touch zone. The touch control device can output a control signal in response to contact with the at least one touch zone.

A display cluster having an active state and an inactive state includes a front cover with an outer surface facing outwardly toward a viewer and an inner surface opposite the outer surface. An active display region with a display screen to generate an image and a first backlight may be surrounded by a peripheral region including a second backlight. One or more of the backlights may illuminate with the display cluster in the active state. A partial mirror may be disposed on the inner surface of the front cover to allow the display light from the active display region to pass outwardly therethrough and to block incident light from passing therethrough. The partial mirror may prevent reflections from one or more structures located therebeyond, away from the viewer, and may thereby present a uniform appearance between the active display region and the peripheral region with the display cluster in the inactive state.

A cooling system and a control method of the cooling system are provided. The cooling system includes a display device, a temperature sensor, a cooling fan and a temperature controller. The display device includes a backlight module. The temperature sensor is configured in the backlight module. The temperature sensor senses a first temperature of the backlight module and a second temperature of the backlight module. The first temperature is higher than the second temperature. The cooling fan is configured in the backlight module. The cooling fan provides a cooling path. The temperature controller receives the first temperature and the second temperature from the temperature sensor, and controls the cooling fan to enable or disable.

Innovative peripheral bar assembly for a transportation vehicle is provided. One method includes retrieving, by a processor of a seat device of an aircraft coupled to a removable, peripheral bar assembly having a plurality of programmable, light emitting diodes (LEDs), configuration information to operate the LEDs; transmitting, by the processor, one or more commands to the peripheral bar assembly to operate one or more of the LEDs; and operating, by the peripheral bar assembly, the one or more LEDs, in response to the one or more commands to indicate non-verbal communication based on one or more pre-defined communication protocols indicating a seat-by-seat status.