Toray Industries, Inc.

Rivian IP Holdings, LLC

Mclaren Automotive Limited

Gordon Murray Design Limited

Barry Lett

Yukitane Kimoto

Toru Yamanaka

Nobuhiko Shimizu

Yoshito Kuroda

Kosaku Hashimoto

Yuki Sakamoto

Gordon Murray

Kevin Richards

Frank Coppuck

Zachary Seward

Mark Lewis

Andy Jones

Akshat Chauhan

Randall Frank

Mark Taylor

Philipp Josef Wolf

Mohammed Nomaan Khan

Mark Andrew Jones

Christopher Lee Bates

Nick Malachowski

James Dowle

Disclosed embodiments include apparatuses, vehicles, and methods for providing a frame insert insertable between sections of a structural frame to provide lateral stiffness to resist deformation of the structural frame. In an illustrative embodiment, an apparatus includes a frame insert configured to be received between sections of a structural frame. The frame insert includes a body of extruded material having opposing ends. Each of the opposing ends is configured to engage an inner face of one of the sections of the structural frame. A plurality of transverse ribs extends between the opposing ends. The plurality of transverse ribs is configured to provide support to the structural frame.

Aluminum-reinforced vehicle frame

A storage tunnel assembly for the bed of a pickup truck or other vehicle. The storage tunnel assembly generally includes a deployable vertical wall separated from a bulkhead of the bed and disposed across a width of the bed and a deployable cover separated from a floor of the bed between the vertical wall and the bulkhead and disposed across the width of the bed. The vertical wall, the cover, the bulkhead, and the floor define a storage space within a space defined by the bed. The vertical wall and the cover may be fixed components, separate components, and/or hinged components in various assemblies. One or both side walls of the bed define a storage tunnel access opening coincident with the storage space defined by the vertical wall, the cover, the bulkhead, and the floor and may include a door adapted to selectively open and close the associated storage tunnel access opening.

Storage tunnel assembly for the bed of a pickup truck or other vehicle

A vehicle seat having a base () and a squab () and an adjustment mechanism () whereby the position of an occupant sitting in the seat can be adjusted, the mechanism being configured so as to permit the seat to follow a motion path that provides coordinated adjustment of both height and back inclination of the occupant, the motion path being such that as the height of the occupant is raised the back inclination of the occupant becomes less supine.

Seat adjustment mechanism

A laser-cut and spot-welded tubular frame chassis typically has an accuracy of &#xb1;1.5 mm. To allow positioning of exterior body panels to an accuracy of &#xb1;0.2 mm we propose that the vehicle comprise one or more integration panels, lying between the tubular framework and the exterior body panels. These can be made of a lightweight material, and can be made to be structural or non-structural depending on the intended use and location of the panel. It can also be attached adhesively to the framework at an early stage of manufacture. A jig with a suitable datum point can hold the integration panels while the adhesive sets, or a robotic arm or the like can hold the panel in the correct position. An adhesive thickness of about 3 mm will allow chassis tolerances of &#xb1;1.5 mm in any direction to be accommodated. The exterior body panels can then be attached to the integration panels in any preferred manner, such as adhesives, bolts, clips or the like. This attachment is preferably non-adhesive, and can therefore be done at a late stage in manufacture after much of the interior work has been done. The integration panel will also provide a convenient point for providing fittings and fixings for ancillaries within the vehicle such as brake lines, wiring, NVH panels and the like. A molded integration panel can be formed with appropriate fitting and fixings as necessary. This will also reduce the number of brackets and the like which need to be welded to the framework, reducing the energy cost of the vehicle manufacturing process.

Vehicle bodywork

Automobile control panel

Passenger car

Automotive seat

Growing community of inventors

Chobham, United Kingdom

Barry Lett