Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Bradly Gilmour

David Brian Glickman

Scott Stinson

Andre Jurkiewicz

Matt W Roosen

Sandip Patel

Justin Carroll

David Paul Villescas

Matthew William Maier

A headlight assembly for assembly adjacent at least one skin component of a vehicle includes a housing supporting at least one light and a lens attached to the housing. The lens includes at least one attribute for engaging the at least one skin component. The attribute may be a pin or an aperture formed in the lens which may extend a distance from a surface of the lens for guiding the skin component. The skin component may be a grille and the attribute may restrict movement of the headlight assembly relative the grille in a Y-axis direction forming a margin therebetween. The attribute may be a channel including a bracket for guiding the skin component, for instance, a facia into the channel. The attribute may be a cavity formed in the lens for receiving an overlapping portion of the skin component, for example, a grille.

Loose layered build components and vehicle front end assembly strategy

A subassembly for a vehicle front end includes a grille, a housing supporting at least one light, and a lens attached to said housing. The lens has at least one attribute for engaging said grille. The grille may include at least one extension and the at least one attribute has a shape corresponding with the extension. The at least one attribute may further restrict movement of said lens relative said grille in a Y-axis direction. This ensures consistent margins or gap widths therebetween. The at least one attribute may include an aperture, or a cavity formed in said lens for receiving the extension. The at least one extension may include an overlapping portion of said grille, and the at least one extension may be a loop overlapping at least a portion of said lens.

A method of assembling vehicle front end components to a vehicle front end includes the steps of attaching at least one non-skin component to the body, supporting a first skin component using at least one of the at least one non-skin component such that the first skin component is moveable relative the at least one non-skin component, joining a second skin component to the first skin component such that the first skin component and the second skin component are fixed relative one another and moveable relative the at least one non-skin component, and restricting movement of the second skin component relative the at least one non-skin component.

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Bloomfield Hills, MI, United States of America

Bradly Gilmour