Vehicle running board assembly
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsStuart C. Salter, Kamal Bhojwani, Phani Shashank Vuttaluru, Paul Kenneth Dellock, David Brian Glickman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A running board assembly of a vehicle is provided herein and includes a running board having two ends, each covered by an end cap having an optic. Two light sources are disposed inside the running board and are each located proximate a corresponding end cap. Each light source is operable to emit light toward the optic of the corresponding end cap based on a signal indicating a selected mode of the vehicle.
Claims20
A running board assembly of a vehicle, comprising:
- a running board having two ends, each covered by an end cap having an optic, each end cap having a base portion coupled with the running board and an apex disposed outwardly of the base portion;
- and
- two light sources disposed inside the running board and each located proximate a corresponding end cap, wherein each end cap operates to enclose the light sources within the running board, and wherein each light source is operable to emit light toward the optic of the corresponding end cap based on a signal indicating a selected mode of the vehicle.
A running board assembly of a vehicle, comprising:
- a running board having two ends, each covered by an end cap, each end cap having a triangular cross section with base portion coupled with the running board and an apex disposed outwardly of the base portion;
- an optic disposed within each end cap, wherein the optics are positioned proximate to the apex of each end caps, respectively;
- and
- two light sources disposed inside the running board and each located proximate a corresponding end cap, wherein each light source is operable to emit light toward the optic of the corresponding end cap based on a signal indicating a vehicle off-road mode.
A vehicle lighting system comprising:
- a running board having two ends, each covered by an end cap having an optic, the running board terminating below a door of the vehicle and the end cap extending towards a wheel well;
- two light sources disposed inside the running board and each located proximate a corresponding end cap, wherein each light source is operable to emit light toward the optic of the corresponding end cap;
- a controller operably coupled to the light sources and configured to operate the light sources based on a signal indicating a vehicle off-road mode;
- and
- a user-input device configured to generate the signal based on input specifying the vehicle off-road mode, wherein a color of emitted light is determined via the user-input device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.