Method of making a housing with integral gasket components for a rearview mirror actuator assembly

Abstract

A housing member for an actuator assembly for adjusting the orientation of a mirror element in a mirror assembly provides integral weather seals and noise dampeners. The weather seals and noise dampeners are injection molded with or onto a base wall of the housing member to thereby form seals and dampeners that have superior adhesion or mechanical retention to the housing member and, therefore, are not subject to degradation from noise. In addition, the integral seals and dampeners reduce the time and cost of assembling and servicing the actuator assembly. The housing member includes a base wall, and a sidewall which connects to the base wall and extends around the perimeter of the base wall. The side wall includes connectors for securing the first housing to the second housing. A gasket material is injection molded around the passage to thereby seal the passage, which forms an annular lip on the inner surface of the base wall and extends through the base wall to form a flexible diaphragm on the outer surface of the base wall. The flexible diaphragm includes a first opening molded around the passage and a second opening for receiving and sealingly engaging a positioning member, wherein the second opening moves in and out of the passage with the positioning member when the positioning member extends out or withdraws into the actuator.