US 12,434,638 B2Granted

Vehicle interior panel with one or more damping pads

AssigneeFca US LLC

InventorsGary H Nakkash, Mark Sanders, Sarah Oliver, Matthew Maranzano, Wesley Dietrich, Sneha Rampa

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Abstract

In at least some implementations, a panel for a vehicle includes a base having an interior surface and an exterior surface, and at least one damping pad having a first surface secured to the exterior surface of the base and a second surface opposite to the first surface. The at least one damping pad has a thickness measured between the first surface and the second surface, and the thickness of the at least one damping pad in an uncompressed state prior to installation into the vehicle is at least 5% greater than a thickness of the at least one damping pad in a compressed state when installed into the vehicle.

Claims14

Dependent claims

A panel for a vehicle, comprising:

a base having an interior surface and an exterior surface;
and
at least one damping pad having a first surface secured to the exterior surface of the base and a second surface opposite to the first surface, the second surface being uncovered and adapted to directly engage a roof of a vehicle when the panel is installed in the vehicle, the at least one damping pad having a thickness measured between the first surface and the second surface, and the thickness of the at least one damping pad in an uncompressed state prior to installation into the vehicle is at least 5% greater than a thickness of the at least one damping pad in a compressed state when installed into the vehicle, and wherein the at least one damping pad covers at least 25% of the surface area of the exterior surface, and wherein the at least one damping pad, including the first surface and the second surface, is formed from a material defined by interconnected polymeric fibers.

A vehicle, comprising:

a frame including roof rails and a roof panel over the roof rails and defining an exterior surface of the vehicle, wherein the frame includes two roof rails that extend in a fore-aft direction between front and rear ends of the frame, and the frame includes supports extending in a cross-car direction between the two roof rails;
an interior panel received adjacent to an opposite side of the roof rails from the roof panel, the interior panel has a base with an interior surface that defines part of a passenger compartment of the vehicle and an exterior surface facing the roof panel, and the interior panel includes multiple damping pads having a first surface secured to the exterior surface of the base and a second surface opposite to the first surface and engaged with the roof panel, the damping pads having a thickness measured between the first surface and the second surface, and the thickness of the damping pads in an uncompressed state, prior to installation of the interior panel into the vehicle, is at least 5% greater than a distance between the exterior surface and the roof panel such that the damping pads engage the roof panel and are compressed between the base and the roof panel, and wherein the damping pads are formed from a porous polymeric material including interconnected fibers, and said material defines the first surface and the second surface and is directly engaged with the roof panel, and wherein the damping pads are spaced apart from each other and at least two damping pads are located on opposed sides of one of said supports, and wherein the roof rails and the supports do not engage the second surface of the damping pads.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.