Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.

Peter D Susi

Skylar C Watson

Herb Meingast

Robert K Kupina

Andrew W Heutchy

Kyle A Banner

David C Smith

Daniel Mount

Single piece upper control arm

A towing hitch receiver structure for a vehicle is disclosed. The towing hitch receiver structure includes a torsion tube; and a receiver structure mounted to the torsion tube at a center position between both ends. The receiver structure supports a receiver tube positioned below the torsion tube. The receiver structure includes a pair of side receiver plates, each plate having an opening that encircles the outer cross-section of the torsion tube and is secured to the torsion tube by a weld. The side plates are parallel to each other and to the receiver tube in the lengthwise direction. Because the receiver plates make up each side of the receiver structure, the torsion tube is allowed to bend freely. Provided the arrangement of side receiver plates, the hitch structure can be made using thinner, lighter weight parts.

Lightweight hitch structure

Growing community of inventors

Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America

Peter D Susi