Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Dura Global Technologies, Inc.

Paul Martin Dedrich

Casimir R Kiczek

William T Dufour

Matthew C Patterson

Michael G Linihan

John Leonard Sloan

Derrick V Grahn

Douglas Alan Ford

Paul A Habel

A closure assembly for a motor vehicle includes a closure member, a guide track and a carrier operably secured to the guide track for movement along the guide track and carrying the closure member therewith. A rack has a plurality of teeth and extends along the guide track. A pinion gear is carried by the carrier and has teeth engaging the rack. A motor is operably connected to the pinion gear to selectively move the closure member from one position to another. The carrier includes at least one engagement member biased into engagement with the guide track to prevent binding of the carrier with the guide track and to maintain contact between the pinion gear and the rack.

Window regulator

A window alignment device for use in a door having a recess and a peripheral edge and a window regulator is provided. A window panel is adjacent to the window regulator. The panel has a peripheral edge and a portion adapted to conform to the shape of the door and disposed in the recess of the door. Additionally, a locator member is adjacent to the peripheral edge; the locator member is disposed between the door and the window panel. When the panel is fixedly fastened to the regulator, the locator member is removed to form a predetermined gap between the edge of the window panel and the corresponding seal in the door or the body.

Apparatus and method for locating a vehicle window panel

An exterior handle assembly for a motor vehicle door including an escutcheon, a handle including a horizontal hand grip and a pair of vertical arms supported on the escutcheon for pivotal movement about a horizontal first axis, and a multiplier lever supported on the escutcheon for pivotal movement about a horizontal second axis. The multiplier lever surrounds one of the vertical arms of the handle for concurrent pivotal movement therewith and is linked by a push rod to a release lever of a door lock such that pivotal movement of the handle to an extended position of the hand grip releases a fork bolt to release the door. The separation between the horizontal first and second axes amplifies the pivotal movement of the multiplier lever. The exterior handle assembly further includes a blocking lever supported on the escutcheon for pivotal movement from an inactive position remote from the multiplier lever to an active position facing a shoulder on the multiplier lever and a spring biasing the blocking lever to its inactive position. The blocking lever has less inertia than the handle and pivots from its inactive position to its active position at the onset of a side impact on the vehicle body to immobilize the multiplier lever and the handle before the hand grip attains its extended position.

Exterior handle assembly for motor vehicle door

A vehicle door has a door trim panel to conceal a door inner panel. A rod is mounted on the inner panel and associated with the door latch to unlatch the door latch when the rod is pulled. A handle is pivotally mounted on the trim panel and has an arm projecting toward the inner panel. A plurality of door mounting hooks are provided on the lower edge portion of the trim panel for insertion into mating holes provided on the inner panel so that the trim panel is supported on the door in readiness and alignment for tilting of the trim panel into overlying relationship with the inner panel. A molded plastic guide track is mounted on the door inner panel, and a slider connected with the rod is slidably mounted on the guide track. The slider has an open-faced receptacle which opens toward the trim panel so that tilting of the trim panel into overlying relationship with the inner panel causes the arm of the handle to automatically seat within the receptacle and thereby achieve interconnection between the handle and slider. The open-faced receptacle is defined by angled walls which converge toward the bottom of the receptacle so that any misalignment between the arm of the handle and the slider will cause the arm to engage with the angled wall during the tilting movement of the door trim panel into overlying relationship with the door panel to thereby induce sliding movement and self-alignment of the slider with the handle. The guide track has integral snap tab features to attach the guide track to the door inner panel.

Door handle to latch rod connection

A vehicle door has a glass run channel extending vertically to guide vertical movement of a window glass. A bracket is mounted on the door adjacent the bottom of the glass run channel and has an upwardly opening slot therein. A threaded stud is carried by the bottom of the glass run channel. An annular roller of molded plastic construction is threaded onto the stud and has a circumferential groove by which the annual roller may be installed into the upwardly opening slot of the bracket to thereby mount the bottom of the glass run channel on the door. The stud is preferably threadably attached to the bottom of the glass run channel so that rotation of the threaded stud relative the glass run channel will adjust the position of the annular roller to adjust the bottom of the glass run channel relative to the door.

Boltless glass channel attachment

A shoe for slidably and rotatably mounting a door latch control rod on a vehicle door includes a molded plastic body rotatably mounted on the door and having a slot formed therein for receiving the rod. The slot is defined by first and second conical converging walls projecting into the plastic body and intersecting one another to define a C-shaped edge circumjacently engaging the rod in slip fitting rattle free relationship therewith so that the rod may slide through the shoe upon operation of the door control rod by the occupant.

Growing community of inventors

Grand Blanc, MI, United States of America

Paul Martin Dedrich