Patent 7586406 was granted and assigned to Honda on September, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A winker assembly for a vehicle has a hazard maintaining function that can maintain a hazard state even if a key is removed when moving away from the vehicle, with a comparatively simple and inexpensive structure. If a hazard switch is turned on with the ignition switch in an on state, the LOAD terminal of the winker relay is connected to the winkers, and all the winkers are flashed to give a hazard state. The winker relay is provided with a current detection circuit for detecting current flowing in the winkers, and a maintaining circuit for maintaining a winker flashing signal based on detected current, and when it has been determined that detected current is equivalent to four winker lamps being lit current for flashing the winkers is maintained even after the ignition switch is turned off.