Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Mars, Incorporated

William H Wurz

Stuart C Salter

David Brian Glickman

Charles Richard Lewis, Jr

Michael David Nunn

Raymond M Walker

David Charles Deaville

Robert Clauser

John D Snider

Alfred F Bergeron

Jeffrey T Thawley

Pietro Buttolo

Ryan J O'Gorman

Peter Phung

Christopher L Crawford

Paul Kenneth Dellock

Michael Musa Azzouz

Kristin Ann Hellman

Matthew B Rutman

David Kennedy

Eric Scott Levine

Jeffrey R Sturges

Annette Lynn Huebner

Brendan F Diamond

Aaron Bradley Johnson

William David Treharne

Hussein H Berry

Zeljko Deljevic

Michael Lozano

Luciano Lukacs

Lorne Forsythe

Kenneth Mchugh

Shawn Ferret

William Jackson

Jeffrey T Thanley

Clive Mckenzie

A vehicle assembly according to an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure includes, among other things, a cargo bed of a vehicle and a crossbar spanning the cargo bed. The crossbar is slidable relative to the cargo bed. A lift assist device is mounted to the crossbar. The assembly can include a passenger side rail mounted to a passenger side wall assembly of the cargo bed, and a driver side rail mounted to a driver side wall assembly of the cargo bed. The crossbar can be slidably coupled to both the driver side rail and the passenger side rail.

Vehicle assembly having cross-bar mounted lift assist device and operating method

An accessory attachment system includes a baseplate that provides an attachment interface on a support surface. The baseplate is configured to engage with at least one accessory via the attachment interface to secure the accessory to the support surface. The attachment interface provides a plurality of different mounting positions for the at least one accessory. At least one mounting foot is associated with the at least one accessory and is configured to be selectively coupled to the attachment interface to provide a desired one of the plurality of different mounting positions. The at least one mounting foot includes an adjustment feature to account for any warpage of the support surface when the at least one accessory is mounted in the desired one of the plurality of different mounting positions.

Baseplate mounting system with locking mechanism

An adjustable base plate system includes a first track structure configured to extend along one side of a vehicle cargo area and a second track structure configured to extend along an opposite side of a vehicle cargo area. At least one base plate has a first edge and a second edge opposite of the first edge, wherein the first edge is supported by the first track structure and the second edge is supported by the second track structure. The first track structure and the second track structure each comprise at least a first tier track and a second tier track such that a distance between a bottom surface of the at least one base plate and a support surface of the vehicle cargo area can be adjusted.

Adjustable base plate

A system includes a first vehicle computer programmed to monitor first vehicle sensor data as the first vehicle traverses a route; identify a location of interest along the route based on a topographic feature of the location of interest determined from the first vehicle sensor data; and store a selected subset of the first vehicle sensor data for the location of interest in a set of collected data about the route. The system further includes a second computer programmed to receive the collected data about the route; and based on the collected data about the route, generate a set of guidance data including one or more recommended operating parameters for the location of interest, whereby the recommending operating parameters are available to a third computer for a second vehicle.

Vehicle guidance

A vehicle winch control assembly includes, among other things, a winch, and a vehicle input device that is reassigned to control the winch. The vehicle input device can be an accelerator pedal. A vehicle winch control method includes, among other things, reassigning a vehicle input device, and, after the reassigning, controlling a winch using the vehicle input device.

Winch control using reassigned vehicle input device

Systems and methods are provided for coordinating and controlling power flow during bidirectional energy transfer events between an electrified vehicle and one or more charging trailers. The systems and methods may prioritize energy transfers between each connected energy based on a charge priority selection that may be manually input by a user of the system. Charge energy may be transferred to the appropriate energy unit using such a manual approach to meet customer needs with varying levels of priority according to an energy transfer prioritization control strategy that is derived from various inputs that are considered.

Systems and methods for controlling power flow between electrified vehicles and charging trailers based on manually selected charge priority levels

A base plate system includes at least one base plate configured to support at least one accessory and at least one sensor that is configured to determine at least one characteristic of the at least one accessory and/or the at least one base plate. A controller uses the at least one characteristic to estimate a stress and/or strain caused by the at least one accessory on the at least one base plate and predicts how the stress and/or strain could change depending on position of the at least one accessory and/or orientation of the at least one base plate within a vehicle.

Method and apparatus for estimating stress on a vehicle base plate

A computer includes a processor and a memory storing instructions executable by the processor to receive data indicating a plurality of tasks to be performed at a site by a plurality of electric machines, receive charge statuses of the electric machines and of a plurality of first electric vehicles at the site, and generate an ordered allocation of a plurality of charging operations for the electric machines and first electric vehicles based on the plurality of tasks and on the charge statuses. The charging operations include charging at least one of the electric machines or first electric vehicles from a second electric vehicle with charge ports that is scheduled to visit the site from offsite.

Collective vehicle power management

An electrified vehicle winch includes, among other things, a winch and a charge port connector that connects to a charge port of an electrified vehicle. The winch is powered through the charge port connector. A winch operating method includes, among other things, operating a winch to move a load and, during the operating, powering the winch through a charge port of the electrified vehicle.

Electrified vehicle winch and winch operating method

A first message is broadcasted to a plurality of remote computers identifying an attribute of a host vehicle. A second message including a request to receive data about the identified attribute in response to broadcasting the first message is received from one of the remote computers. Upon receiving the second message, a host vehicle component is actuated to output at least one of light or sound associated with the identified attribute.

Vehicle operation for providing attribute data

A vehicle assembly includes, among other things, a cargo bed of a vehicle, a passenger side rail mounted to a passenger side wall assembly of the cargo bed, and a driver side rail mounted to a driver side wall assembly of the cargo bed. A crossbar is slidably coupled to the passenger and driver side rails. The crossbar is slidable along the passenger and driver side rails between a forward position and a rearward position. The crossbar is closer to a cab of the vehicle when the crossbar is in the forward position than when the crossbar is in the rearward position.

Slidable vehicle crossbar and operating method

A vehicle assembly includes, among other things, a cargo bed of a vehicle, a first crossbar spanning the cargo bed, and a second crossbar spanning the cargo bed. The first and second crossbars are slidable relative to the cargo bed. The first and second crossbars are slidable relative to each other.

Slidable vehicle crossbars and cargo holding method

A method and an apparatus, according to an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure includes, among other things, a vehicle headlamp assembly comprising at least one laser and a controller in communication with the vehicle headlamp assembly to control the at least one laser to provide a plurality of functions. An input device is configured to receive input commands to control the at least one laser to provide a selected one of the plurality of functions.

Multi-functional headlamp and image projector

Chassis for a currency acceptor system

Currency acceptor system

Growing community of inventors

San Francisco, CA, United States of America

William H Wurz