Tailgate hitch sensor system
AssigneeCurt Manufacturing, Inc.
InventorsPraveen Reddy Muddasani, Graham A. Motzing, Joel D. Diller
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tailgate hitch sensor system is installed by mounting a housing around the end of a receiver tube on the back of a hitch, and then plugging the system into both the OEM passenger side tailgate locking mechanism and the OEM driver side tailgate locking mechanism. A magnetically operated reed switch is positioned at the top of the housing, and a cover supporting a magnet is pivotally hinged to the housing so the cover has a normally closed position covering the receiver tube. When the cover is closed, the tailgate operates normally. When the cover is open, the electrical circuit for at least one stage of lowering the tailgate is de-activated.
Claims20
A tailgate hitch sensor system comprising:
- a cover for a receiver tube of a hitch attached at the rear of a truck having a bed with a tailgate, the tailgate being movable from an upright position to at least one downward position, the cover being movable between a closed position where the cover extends over a rear opening into the receiver tube and an opened position where the rear opening into the receiver tube is exposed;
- a switch which changes connection state based upon movement of the cover between the closed position and the opened position;
- and
- an electrical circuit which inactivates movement of the tailgate to the at least one downward position based on the connection state of the switch when the cover is in the opened position.
A tailgate hitch sensor system comprising:
- a sensor mounted adjacent a receiver tube of a hitch attached at the rear of a truck having a bed with a tailgate, the tailgate being movable from an upright position to at least one downward position, the sensor being able to assess an indication of when the receiver tube is in use;
- and
- an electrical circuit which inactivates movement of the tailgate to the at least one downward position based on the sensor, the electrical circuit comprising at least one plug, which matches a plug of an electrical system of the truck, such that the tailgate hitch sensor system can be installed in the truck by plugging into the electrical system of the truck and without cutting or stripping any wires of the electrical system of the truck.
A method of installing a tailgate hitch sensor system, comprising:
- mounting a sensor adjacent a receiver tube of a hitch attached at the rear of a truck having a bed with a tailgate, the tailgate being movable from an upright position to at least one downward position, the sensor being able to assess an indication of when the receiver tube is in use, the sensor being part of a tailgate hitch sensor system including an electrical circuit;
- and
- plugging a plug of the electrical circuit into an electrical system of the truck without cutting or stripping any wires of the electrical system of the truck, such that the tailgate hitch sensor system inactivates movement of the tailgate to the at least one downward position based on the sensor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.