Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Ford Motor Company Limited

Ford Global Technology, LLC

James Chih Cheng

Mohammad Omar Faruque

Dean M Jaradi

Robert William McCoy

S M Iskander Farooq

Saeed David Barbat

Jamel E Belwafa

Srinivasan Sundararajan

Mohamed Ridha Baccouche

Raed Essa El-Jawahri

Jialiang Le

Mangala Ambalangodage Jayasuriya

Jaeho Cho

Yijung Chen

Rahul Arora

Saied Nusier

Fubang Wu

Krishnakanth E Aekbote

Manoharprasad K Rao

Brian Robert Spahn

Parakrama Valentine Weerappuli

Yali Li

Michael Musa Azzouz

Leonard Anthony Shaner

Matthew John Zaluzec

David Anthony Wagner

Derek Board

Sudip Sankar Bhattacharjee

Nirmal Muralidharan

Agnes S Kim

Chi-Chin Wu

Mangala M Jayasuriya

Weigang Chen

Huipeng Chen

Raj Jayachandran

Michael James Stiyer

Baohua Xiao

Ping Chen

Johnathan Andrew Line

Mahmoud Yousef Ghannam

Marcos Silva Kondrad

Allan Roy Gale

Mark Anthony Cuddihy

Kevin Wayne Preuss

Marwan Ahmad Elbkaily

Tau Tyan

Todd Nelson Clark

Yu-Kan Hu

Richard Edward Ruthinowski

Zhenyan Gao

Kevin Michael Pline

Edward Joseph Abramoski

Eid Farha

Pardeep Kumar Jindal

Stephen Thomas Kozak

Ridha Baccouche

Ching-Hung Chuang

Cortney Stancato

Arnold Kadiu

Xiaowei Li

Ming Shen

Dan Tang

David Zhao

Ninad Trifale

Kristin Marie Schondorf

Matthew Miinshiou Huang

Senthilkumar Mahadevan

Chunyu Wang

Diamal Eddine Midoun

Yiping Xie

Yuan Wang

James Robert Pederson

A vehicle door interior trim assembly includes a trim panel and an armrest supported by the trim panel. The armrest includes an energy absorbing device. The energy absorbing device includes an inboard panel and an outboard panel. The outboard panel is between the inboard panel and the trim panel. The energy absorbing device has a variable crush resistance based on a temperature of the energy absorbing device. A heater is operatively coupled to the energy absorbing device.

Vehicle energy absorbing device

An assembly for a vehicle includes a dash. The assembly includes a seat having a seatback and a head restraint extending upwardly from the seatback. The assembly includes an airbag supported by the seatback. The airbag is inflatable from the seatback toward the dash in a seat-rearward direction to an inflated position. The airbag includes an upper portion adjacent the head restraint and a pair of lobes extending from the upper portion along the head restraint in a seat-forward direction in the inflated position. The head restraint is between the lobes in the inflated position.

Seatback-mounted airbag

A lidar is actuated to collect data in a cargo zone in a vehicle. Upon identifying an object in the cargo zone, based on the collected lidar data, output to a user device is actuated.

Object detection

An expanded laminate and method of forming an expanded laminate are disclosed. In at least one embodiment, the method includes selectively applying a relatively high temperature-resistant material to a surface of a first metal sheet to form a covered portion and an uncovered portion and diffusion bonding the first metal sheet to a second metal sheet at the uncovered portion to form a bonded region and an unbonded region. Pressurized gas may be introduced between the first and second metal sheets to expand the first and second metal sheets in the unbonded region. The metal sheets may be aluminum sheets. The sheets may be positioned in a die having a plurality of cavities such that when the pressurized gas is introduced the sheets expand into the cavities. The diffusion bonding may be performed by applying pressure, for example, using rollers.

Method of fabricating roll-bonded expanded load-bearing aluminum laminate structural elements for vehicle

A vehicle includes a bumper. The vehicle includes a pair of swing arms. The vehicle includes a beam pivotally supported by the swing arms. The vehicle includes a crossmember fixed to the beam and movable from a retracted position toward the bumper to an extended position. The vehicle includes a lock operatively engaging one of the swing arms when the crossmember is in the extended position.

Retractable vehicle leg stiffener

An apparatus includes a bumper beam including an outer face, a plate elongated along the outer face, a plurality of ribs elongated from the plate transverse to a direction of elongation of the plate, and a plurality of cylinders each fixed to one of the ribs and spaced from the plate.

Bumper assembly

An instrument panel assembly includes a support beam and an exterior panel. The instrument panel assembly includes an energy absorbing device between the support beam and the exterior panel and having a variable crush resistance based on a temperature of the energy absorbing device. The instrument panel assembly includes a heater operatively coupled to the energy absorbing device.

An assembly includes a base and a seatbelt anchor. The seatbelt anchor has a first end defining a circular hole pivotally supported by the base and a second end fixed in position relative to the first end. The assembly includes a buckle fixed in position relative to the second end. The assembly includes a pyrotechnic actuator secured to the base. The assembly includes a connector extending from the pyrotechnic actuator to the seatbelt anchor.

Seatbelt assembly

Method and apparatus are disclosed for vehicle airbags for occupants in rear-facing seats. An example vehicle includes an instrument panel, a rear-facing seat adjacent the instrument panel and including a seatback and a headrest, and an airbag including a lower portion and an upper portion. When undeployed, the airbag is stored in the instrument panel. When the airbag deploys, the lower portion presses onto a back of the seatback and the upper portion presses onto a back of the headrest.

Vehicle airbags for occupants in rear facing seats

A restraint system includes a seatback and an airbag. The airbag includes two lateral portions and a central chamber connecting the lateral portions. When the airbag is inflated, each lateral portion includes a plurality of lateral chambers arranged consecutively from the seatback to the central chamber, and the lateral portions and central chamber define a gap positioned directly above and directly in front of space for a head of a 50th-percentile dummy sitting against the seatback.

Seatback-mounted restraint system

A method of adjusting a stamping die is provided. The method includes providing a two-sided stamping die configured to form parts from sheet metal blanks according to a desired geometry upon closing the die, adjusting the desired geometry of the part, and repeatedly depositing layer upon layer of material onto a first side of the die in a stacked configuration to modify the geometry of the first side of the die such that the die forms parts from sheet metal blanks according to the adjusted desired geometry.

Stamping die adjustment method

A component, e.g., a bumper assembly, of a vehicle includes a fascia spaced from a bumper beam, a structure defining gaps between the structure and the bumper beam and between the structure and the fascia, and a computer programmed to supply electrical current to vary a stiffness of the structure in response to a vehicle speed beyond a threshold.

Bumper assembly with variable stiffness

A vehicle includes first and second roof rails spaced from each other, and a forward member and rearward member connected to each other and each extending from the first roof rail to the second roof rail. The forward member includes a beam and a finger. The finger is on the first roof rail and extends from the beam away from the rearward member.

Vehicle roof bow

A seatbelt retractor includes a base, a spool, a cylinder and a cylinder lock. The spool is rotatably coupled to the base and has a piston portion. The cylinder is engaged with the piston portion and therewith defines a first chamber. The piston portion is movable from a first position yielding a first chamber volume to a second position yielding a second chamber volume. The cylinder lock in a first condition rotatably fixes the cylinder to the base. Damping fluid is disposed in the chamber.

Load limiting seatbelt retractor

A seat including a seat bottom, a seatback, and a device. The device supports the seatback on the seat bottom. The device includes a housing supported on the seat bottom and a rotor supported on the housing. The device includes a helical interface between the housing and the rotor. The rotor is moveable relative to the housing along the helical interface. The housing and the rotor define a cavity therebetween, and a resilient material is disposed in the cavity. During a vehicle impact, the rotor may move relative to the housing and compress the resilient material in the cavity. In this situation, the resilient material may absorb energy from the vehicle impact.

Vehicle seat including energy absorbing device

Growing community of inventors

Troy, MI, United States of America

James Chih Cheng