Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Sushil Shastry

Deepak Patel

Robert Schwalm

Matthew Brian Makowski

Laike Misikir

Randall Frank

Ted Victor Kolar

Luis Jesus Chavela Guerra

Kevin Greene

A side sill assembly for a vehicle includes an inner shell connected to an outer shell and a reinforcement assembly. The reinforcement assembly includes a longitudinally extending tube and a plurality of reinforcement brackets provided at longitudinally spaced locations along the length of the tube. The reinforcement brackets each include a front wall and a back wall connected by an outer side wall. The reinforcement brackets define recesses for receiving the tube that is welded to the front walls and the back walls where the tube contacts an edge of the recesses. The reinforcement brackets may include a top flange on a top edge and a base flange on a bottom edge of each of the front walls and back walls. An inner flange is provided on an inner edge of each of the front walls and back walls that is welded to the inner shell.

Side sill assembly reinforced with a tube and box-shaped brackets

An apparatus, according to an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure includes, among other things, a hood inner panel having a rear edge and a front edge, a latch mounted to the hood inner panel at an offset location that is spaced from the front edge, and at least one bump stop mounted to the hood inner panel between the offset location and the front edge. The bump stop includes a lock feature to prevent removal of the bump stop from the hood inner panel. A method according to an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure includes, among other things, mounting at least one resilient bump stop to the hood inner panel between the offset location and the front edge to absorb impact energy and to provide a seal force to stabilize the latch during closure.

Bump stop for vehicle hood

A vehicle hood includes an inner panel, an outer panel coupled to the inner panel, and an insert disposed between the outer panel and the inner panel. The insert is formed of a material that is brittle relative to a material of the outer panel. The insert includes a plurality of strips connected to each other. Each strip is elongated along and disposed adjacent to the outer panel.

Vehicle hood stiffener

Growing community of inventors

Brighton, MI, United States of America

Sushil Shastry