Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Stewart T Edmison

John E Carsley

Chih-Cheng Hsu

David Cochrane

Bhavin Mandalia

An automotive vehicle includes a body with a cabin. The cabin includes a cabin floor, and a rail member is disposed within the cabin. The vehicle also includes a frame having a frame structural member. The vehicle additionally includes a body structural member disposed below the cabin floor. The vehicle further includes a first bulkhead disposed between the body structural member and the cabin floor, and a second bulkhead disposed between the body structural member and the cabin floor. A gap is provided between at least a portion of the first bulkhead and the second bulkhead. A first fastener secures the body structural member to the frame structural member. The first fastener passes through a first location in the gap. A second fastener secures the body structural member to the rail member. The second fastener passes through a second location in the gap.

Vehicle frame, body, and cabin structure assembly

The substitution of aluminum alloy roof panels for the low carbon steel roof panels most commonly used in motor vehicles is an attractive option for vehicle mass reduction. Often, however, the remainder of the vehicle body structure continues to be fabricated of steel. The combination of the aluminum alloy roof attached to the steel body may create compressive stresses in the aluminum roof when the body is subjected to elevated temperatures such as those required to cure or bake the paint applied to the body. These stresses may lead to unacceptable appearance features in the visible segment of the roof. By modifying the roof stamping to introduce a tabbed flange for attachment to the body and/or modifying the generally-vertical wall joining the flange to the roof interior, the stresses may be minimized and relocated to segments of the roof not normally visible.

Growing community of inventors

Oshawa, Canada

Stewart T Edmison