Fca US LLC

Santosh Pethe

Krishnamurthy Hegde

Kedar V Panday

Scott Mcguire

Eric J Stahmer

Kalid S Jaboo

Aravind Srinivasan

Gursharn Sanghera

A vehicle including a frame that includes first and second longitudinally extending rails that each include an inner panel attached to an outer panel, a plurality of bulkheads positioned within each of the first and second longitudinally extending rails between the inner panel and the outer panel, and a first bead pattern that limits deformation of the rail during a frontal impact to the vehicle. During the frontal impact, the locations of the plurality of bulkheads relative to the first bead pattern cause each of the first and second longitudinally extending rails to deform in a controlled manner that maintains a distance between the first and second longitudinally extending rails and a high-voltage component.

Vehicle frame designed for high voltage component protection in frontal impacts

A vehicle including a frame that includes a first longitudinally extending rail and a second longitudinally extending rail, wherein one of the first longitudinally extending rail and the second longitudinally extending rail includes a component mounted thereto. The first and second longitudinally extending rails each include a bead pattern that limits deformation of the respective rail during a frontal impact to the vehicle, and the bead pattern of the one of the first longitudinally extending rail and the second longitudinally extending that includes the component mounted thereto is different from the bead pattern of the other of the first longitudinally extending rail and the second longitudinally extending rail that does not have the component mounted thereto to limit an amount of deformation thereof during the frontal impact to the vehicle to minimize movement of the component in a direction toward a high-voltage component attached to the one rail.

Vehicle frame having asymmetric bead structure for high voltage component protection

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Auburn Hills, MI, United States of America

Santosh Pethe