Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.

Samuel L Sowles

Jonathan Joseph Quijano

James R Sand

A light pipe assembly including an interior panel of a vehicle and a light pipe. The interior panel includes a channel integrally formed within the interior panel, where the channel has an engagement face, and a plurality of integrated retaining hooks are arranged along the channel. The plurality of integrated retaining hooks are spaced apart from one another and extend over the channel such that an engagement face of the plurality of integrated retaining hooks is arranged opposite the engagement face of the channel. The light pipe is arranged within the channel, where the light pipe is in direct contact with the engagement face of the plurality of integrated retaining hooks and the engagement face of the channel.

Light pipe assemblies for interior panels of a vehicle

A meter cluster assembly including a bezel and a meter cluster body for an instrument panel. The bezel includes a finished surface on an aspect, with at least one tab and a plurality of interspaced fins on an opposite aspect. The fins are of sufficient dimensions to, in part, provide the structural integrity necessary to reduce the profile of the finished surface. The fins and tabs allow for seating of the bezel within a trench of the meter cluster body, thus framing the instrument panel. The meter cluster body is generally a wall bounding a space configured to accommodate meters. The meter cluster body includes a lip at the front edge of the wall. The lip may provide a tactile feature and may provide indicia on a visible surface, aiding installation of a clip disposed on a hidden surface of the meter cluster body.

Meter cluster assembly

A panel-ECU bracket attachment system that prevents the placement of an ECU at an incorrect location within a motor vehicle. The panel-ECU bracket attachment system includes a panel, e.g. an instrument panel, with a first ECU bracket attachment site and a second ECU bracket attachment site. The first ECU bracket attachment site has a first pair of alignment pins spaced apart by a first distance therebetween and the second ECU bracket attachment site has a second pair of alignment pins spaced apart by a second distance therebetween. The second distance is not equal to the first distance. The instrument panel-ECU bracket attachment system also includes a first ECU bracket with a first pair of pin apertures that are spaced apart from each other by the first distance and a second ECU bracket with a second pair of pin apertures that are spaced apart from each other by the second distance.

Growing community of inventors

Tecumseh, MI, United States of America

Samuel L Sowles