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US 10,519,701 B2Granted
Vehicle door check mechanism
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsIan Patterson, Brian Westgarth, Rob Swann, Jack Whitehurst, John Strudwick
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle door check mechanism includes a bellows to act as a pneumatic retarder to prevent a high load from being transferred from the door check mechanism to a structural part of a door of the motor vehicle if that door is opened to a fully open position at high speed.
Claims13
A vehicle door check mechanism comprising:
- a door holder bar having an end stop at one end thereof and being adapted at an opposite end by a transverse receiver in the door holder bar for attachment to part of a body structure of a motor vehicle;
- a support housing fastened within a door cavity of a door of the motor vehicle to a structural part of the respective door and having a passage through which the door holder bar extends;
- and
- a pneumatic retarder in a form of a bellows located on the door holder bar having at least one vent, the bellows being located between the end stop and the support housing and being compressed between the end stop and the support housing when the door approaches a fully open position so as to force air out through the at least one vent in a restricted manner thereby retarding motion of the door towards the fully open position.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.