Vehicle roof rail attachment apparatus and method
AssigneeLacks Enterprises, Inc.
InventorsThomas Hawkins, Paul Nikandrou, Brian Wojtczak
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A roof rail and an apparatus for attaching the roof rail to the roof of a vehicle are provided. The roof rail is elongated and includes a bottom portion for engaging the outer surface of the roof. The roof rail also includes inboard and outboard side portions extending between the bottom portion and a top portion. An access hole is provided in the roof rail on an inboard side portion or at a location that is lower than an uppermost point of the roof rail for providing access to a fastener such as a roof stud or bolt attaching the roof rail to the roof. The access hole is blocked from view from a laterally outer side of the roof rail.
Claims23
A roof rail for a roof of a vehicle, the roof rail comprising:
- a bottom portion for engaging the roof;
- a top portion opposite the bottom portion, and an inboard side portion and an outboard side portion each extending upward from the bottom portion to the top portion and extending generally parallel to one another in a longitudinal direction;
- the bottom portion, the top portion, the inboard side portion, and the outboard side portion defining an elongated shape enclosing an interior space of the roof rail;
- wherein the bottom portion, top portion, inboard side portion, and outboard side portion define a one-piece structure for directly attaching to the roof of the vehicle;
- wherein the elongated shape is defined by a tubular extrusion having a closed cross-section.
An attachment apparatus for attaching a roof rail to a roof of a vehicle comprising:
- the roof rail including a bottom portion for engaging the roof, and a top portion opposite the bottom portion, and an inboard side portion and an outboard side portion each extending between the top portion and the bottom portion and spaced apart from one another;
- the bottom portion and the top portion and the inboard side portion and the outboard side portion defining an elongated shape enclosing an interior space of the roof rail;
- wherein the roof rail is a one-piece structure having longitudinally opposite first and second ends;
- a fastener attaching the roof rail to the roof of the vehicle;
- an access hole in the roof rail to provide access to the interior space for attaching the roof rail to the roof of the vehicle, the access hole disposed below an uppermost point of the top portion, wherein the fastener is accessible through the access hole;
- wherein the bottom portion includes downwardly projecting leg portions, wherein the downwardly projecting leg portions are configured to engage the roof of the vehicle and hide the fastener.
A method of installing a roof rail to a vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:
- placing a roof rail onto a vehicle roof, wherein the roof rail includes a bottom portion, a top portion opposite the bottom portion, and inboard and outboard side portions extending between the bottom portion and the top portion and spaced apart from each other;
- wherein the top portion, the bottom portion, the inboard side portion, and the bottom portion are a one-piece structure that defines an interior space and a seamless closed loop cross-section;
- extending a stud through the bottom portion of the roof rail into the interior space;
- inserting a fastener through an access hole defined by the roof rail and into the interior space defined by the roof rail;
- attaching the fastener to the stud in a top-down direction and securing the roof rail to the vehicle roof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.