Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.

Ronald Bowers

Naipaul Deo Ramoutar

Jonathan Richard Young

Mark D Clauser

Manikandan Baby Mony

Adam Karibian

Justin Thomas Lenoir

Nathan Jordan

A vehicle includes a front wheel. A steering column assembly is coupled to the front wheel. The steering column assembly includes a steering wheel and a steering column coupled to the steering wheel. A steering rack assembly includes a rack coupled to the front wheel. The rack extends in a vehicle lateral direction and is translatable with respect to a body of the vehicle in the vehicle lateral direction. A steering knuckle assembly is coupled to the steering rack assembly by a tie rod. A tie rod disconnect feature decouples the steering knuckle assembly and the steering rack assembly upon movement of the tie rod beyond a predetermined distance.

Systems and methods of decoupling vehicle steering systems

Vehicle structures for dissipating and distributing energy associated with a collision are described herein. In one embodiment, a vehicle includes a side support extending in a vehicle longitudinal direction, a rocker support extending in the vehicle longitudinal direction, where the rocker support is positioned outboard of the side support in a vehicle lateral direction, a torque box extending in the vehicle lateral direction, a dash panel coupled to the torque box, where the dash panel comprises an engine room barrier portion extending upward from the torque box and a floor attachment portion extending downward from the torque box, and a reinforcement member positioned between the side support and the rocker support, where the reinforcement member is spaced apart from the side support and the rocker support, and where the reinforcement member is coupled to the engine room barrier portion and the floor attachment portion of the dash panel.

Vehicles having a dash panel reinforcement member

An impact test fixture includes a rolling frame structure, a ballast attachment feature coupled to the rolling frame structure, a position-adjustable attachment assembly coupled to the rolling frame structure, and a specimen attachment member coupled to the position-adjustable attachment assembly. The specimen attachment member is adjustable in a vertical direction and a transverse direction relative to the rolling frame structure.

Impact test fixtures

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New Hudson, MI, United States of America

Ronald Bowers