The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 25, 2015
Filed:
Mar. 05, 2014
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc., Erlanger, KY (US);
Norman Charles Kerr, III, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING NORTH AMERICA, INC., Erlanger, KY (US);
Abstract
A vehicle includes sidewalls, a tailgate located proximate to rear ends of the sidewalls, and a tailgate energy management system. The tailgate energy management system includes a governor coupled to one of the sidewalls and to the tailgate. The governor selectively applies a governing force to the tailgate to reduce an opening speed of the tailgate. The tailgate energy management system also includes a speed sensor sensing an opening speed of the tailgate and an electronic control unit electronically coupled to the governor and the speed sensor. The electronic control unit includes a processor and memory storing an instruction set. The electronic control unit receives a speed signal indicative of the opening speed of the tailgate and the processor executes the instruction set to cause the electronic control unit to transmit a control signal to the governor to slow the opening speed of the tailgate based on the speed signal.