Tonneau cover
AssigneeRivian IP Holdings, LLC
InventorJoseph Brown
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tonneau cover can be provided for installation on a vehicle. The tonneau cover may be adaptably installed onto the vehicle. For example, in certain embodiments, the panels can be provided and/or stored individually and then installed into an assembled configuration on the vehicle to overlap a cargo area of the vehicle. In certain embodiments, the tonneau cover may be inserted at a perimeter of the cargo area. For example, the panels can be linked together as they are installed until secured onto the vehicle.
Claims20
An end panel for a tonneau cover, the end panel comprising:
- an engager configured to releasably engage a receptacle of an inner panel;
- sliders at opposing sides of the end panel and configured to be inserted into rails of a cargo area;
- a slat extending between the sliders and defining a bottom side for facing the cargo area when the sliders are inserted into the rails;
- and
- a locking assembly comprising:
- retention tabs each retractably extending through a corresponding one of the sliders;
- a release handle at the bottom side of the slat and facing the cargo area when the sliders are within the rails;
- and
- a cable connecting the release handle to the retention tabs and being configured to retract the retention tabs towards each other and into the sliders when the release handle is actuated.
A tonneau cover for a vehicle, the tonneau cover comprising:
- an inner panel comprising a receptacle;
- and
- an end panel comprising:
- an engager configured to releasably engage the receptacle of the inner panel;
- sliders at opposing sides of the end panel;
- and
- a locking assembly comprising:
- retention tabs each retractably extending through a corresponding one of the sliders, wherein the retention tabs each define (1) an inner surface extending transversely to the sliders and facing towards the engager and (2) an outer surface extending orthogonally to the sliders and facing away from the engager;
- and
- a release handle configured to retract each of the retention tabs towards the corresponding one of the sliders when the release handle is actuated.
A method of assembling a tonneau cover, the method comprising:
- inserting an inner panel partially into rails of a vehicle to partially cover a cargo area;
- while a portion of the inner panel is within the rails and one or more receptacles of the inner panel are outside of the rails, engaging the one or more receptacles with engagers of an end panel;
- inserting the end panel into the rails while advancing the inner panel along the rails to further cover the cargo area;
- and
- engaging recesses defined by the rails with retention tabs of the end panel to lock the end panel with respect to the rails.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.