Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Yali Li

Mohammad Omar Faruque

Dean M Jaradi

S M Iskander Farooq

Saeed David Barbat

James Chih Cheng

Srinivasan Sundararajan

Ching-Hung Chuang

Nirmal Muralidharan

Ninad Trifale

A vehicle door interior trim assembly includes a trim panel and an armrest supported by the trim panel. The armrest includes an energy absorbing device. The energy absorbing device includes an inboard panel and an outboard panel. The outboard panel is between the inboard panel and the trim panel. The energy absorbing device has a variable crush resistance based on a temperature of the energy absorbing device. A heater is operatively coupled to the energy absorbing device.

Vehicle energy absorbing device

A self-healing glass panel includes first and second glass layers, a reservoir between the first and second glass layers, and a liquid healing agent for healing the first or second glass layers if a crack occurs. The liquid healing agent is entrapped in the reservoir by at least one of the first or second glass layers.

Self-healing glass panel

An instrument panel assembly includes a support beam and an exterior panel. The instrument panel assembly includes an energy absorbing device between the support beam and the exterior panel and having a variable crush resistance based on a temperature of the energy absorbing device. The instrument panel assembly includes a heater operatively coupled to the energy absorbing device.

A component, e.g., a bumper assembly, of a vehicle includes a fascia spaced from a bumper beam, a structure defining gaps between the structure and the bumper beam and between the structure and the fascia, and a computer programmed to supply electrical current to vary a stiffness of the structure in response to a vehicle speed beyond a threshold.

Bumper assembly with variable stiffness

A bumper assembly includes a bumper beam and a fin supported by the bumper beam. The fin has a proximate end proximate to the bumper beam and a distal end distal to the bumper beam and an axis extending from the proximate end to the distal end. The fin has a sinuous shape in a cross section normal to the axis.

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Saline, MI, United States of America

Yali Li