Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Vari-form, Inc.

Louis Ratsos

Mohammad Omar Faruque

Xiaoming Chen

Dean A Gericke

Thierry Guimberteau

Daniel Szalay

Parameswararao Pothuraju

Raj Mehta

Everett Kuo

Omar Faruque

Dean Gericke

A pillar to rocker joint assembly comprising a tubular pillar having a pinched flange near a lower end of the pillar is joined to a rocker assembly including a side sill and rocker reinforcement. A method of making a pillar to rocker joint assembly that comprises a vehicle structural support is formed by welding a structural support pillar to an outer body panel through an access opening in the pillar and welding a rocker reinforcement to a side sill. The rocker reinforcement is welded to the pillar through an access opening in the side sill, an access hole in the body outer panel, and an access opening in the pillar that is vertically spaced relative to the first access opening. A bottom flange of the B-pillar is welded to a lower edge flange of the rocker reinforcement and a lower edge flange of the side sill.

Tubular B-pillar to stamped rocker joint and method of assembling the same

A support rail for a vehicle has an A-pillar portion and a roof rail portion. The roof rail and A-pillar are formed with a tubular body portion and longitudinally extending support flanges. The support flanges are formed by pinching the blank during the hydroforming process to provide a double thickness flange. A windshield support flange, roof support flange and door opening flange are formed to extend outwardly from the tubular body portion. Front and rear tube connectors include blind openings or notches to facilitate welding.

Roof rail with integrally formed pinched flanges

Growing community of inventors

Commerce Township, MI, United States of America

Louis Ratsos