Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Kumar Mahadevan

Djamal Eddine Midoun

Jamil M Alwan

Zhenyan Gao

Jason Scott Balzer

Abdelmonaam Sassi

Peyman Aghssa

Ryan John Craig

Jiamaw Doong

Michael Kryzaniwskyj

Wei Richard Wang

Robert Pellillo

Yuan Zhou

A vehicle upper body structural brace apparatus includes a first member having a first end in a rear region of a vehicle and second and third members each coupled to a second end of the first member. The second and third members are configured to couple lower and upper unibody vehicle structural components, respectively. The first, second and third members transfer impact forces at the first end of the first member from the first end, around first and second vehicle interior regions, and to the lower and upper unibody vehicle structural components.

Vehicle upper body structural brace

A vehicle frame includes an outside rail section having an upper flange, a lower flange, and an inward facing cavity between the upper and lower flanges. An inside rail section is coupled along the upper and lower flanges of the outside rail section and has an outward facing cavity that aligns with the inward facing cavity to enclose an interior volume. A pair of hydroform tubes extending vertically through apertures at spaced longitudinal locations in the upper flange and engage a bottom surface of the inward cavity to define a pillar for supporting a vehicle roof.

Vehicle frame rail and pillar connection

A shield () for an automotive vehicle () is provided to lessen the impact force to a foreign body by absorbing energy or converting energy from the foreign body with the shield (). The shield () has a ramped surface (), an inner surface (), and a periphery () delineating the inner surface () from the ramped surface (). The inner surface () is further refined into an upper area () and a lower area (), where a ridge () extends from the inner surface () portioning the upper area () from the lower area (). At least one rib () is connected to the ridge () and extends from the inner surface (), whereby the ridge () or the rib () may absorb energy or divert direct contact into sliding contact when the ramped surface () is impacted by a foreign body reducing the impact force upon the foreign body. Also, a method of using a shield () in an automotive vehicleis provided.

Fuel tank protector shield

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Sterling Heights, MI, United States of America

Kumar Mahadevan