Detachable underbody protection plates and methods of providing detachable underbody protection plates
AssigneesToyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc., Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorJeremiah T. Hammer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle includes a protection plate that is releasably mounted to an underside of the vehicle. The protection plate has a slot having a first opening portion and a second opening portion. A bolt extends through the second opening portion and connects to a cross member that extends between longitudinally extending side members of a frame of the vehicle. The second opening portion is sized and configured to allow the bolt to slide out of the second opening portion and toward the first opening portion upon application of a longitudinal force of a preselected amount to release the protection plate from the bolt and at least partially from the underside of the vehicle.
Claims18
A vehicle comprising:
- a protection plate that is releasably mounted to an underside of the vehicle, the protection plate having a slot having a first opening portion and a second opening portion, wherein the protection plate comprises a vertically turning connecting lip at a front edge of the protection plate, the connecting lip mounted to a front face of a bumper reinforcement beam;
- and
- a bolt extends through the second opening portion and connects to a cross member that extends between longitudinally extending side members of a frame of the vehicle, the second opening portion is sized and configured to allow the bolt to slide out of the second opening portion and toward the first opening portion upon application of a longitudinal force of a preselected amount to release the protection plate from the bolt and at least partially from the underside of the vehicle.
A protection plate that releasably mounts to an underside of a vehicle, the protection plate comprising:
- a slot having a first opening portion and a second opening portion;
- wherein the second portion is sized to receive a bolt through the second opening portion and connect to a cross member that extends between longitudinally extending side members of a frame of the vehicle, the second opening portion is sized and configured to allow the bolt to slide out of the second opening portion and toward the first opening portion upon application of a longitudinal force of a preselected amount to release the protection plate from the bolt and at least partially from the underside of the vehicle;
- wherein the protection plate comprises a vertically turning connecting lip at a front edge of the protection plate, the connecting lip configured to mount to a front face of a bumper reinforcement beam.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.