Motor vehicle stowable roof assembly
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsTorsten Gerhardt, Alan Condon, John Harding
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An actuation mechanism for a stowable front roof panel includes a first support assembly to provide vertical movement of the roof panel and a second sliding support structure to provide horizontal movement of the front roof panel. The first support assembly includes first and second upwardly extending supports and a transverse tubular cross member that in combination form an inverted U-shaped roll over protection member. The roll over protection member is used to provide roll over protection to the occupants of the motor vehicle in the event of a vehicle roll over.
Claims12
A motor vehicle stowable roof assembly comprising a first support assembly to provide substantially vertical movement of a roof panel and a second sliding support assembly to provide substantially horizontal movement of the roof panel, the roof panel being moveable from an in use position to a stowed position by sliding the roof panel rearwards using the second support assembly from the in use position and lowering the roof panel using the first support assembly, the first support assembly including an inverted U-shaped roll over protection member that is selectively upwardly deployable when the roof panel is in the stowed position so as to protect the occupants of the motor vehicle in the event of a vehicle roll over.
A stowable roof assembly for a motor vehicle comprising:
- a roof panel moveable relative to the motor vehicle between an in use position and a stowed position;
- a first support assembly providing substantially vertical movement of the roof panel between the in use and stowed positions, and including an inverted U-shaped roll over protection member that is selectively upwardly deployable when the roof panel is in the stowed position;
- and
- a second sliding support assembly providing substantially horizontal movement of the roof panel.
A stowable roof assembly for a motor vehicle comprising:
- a roof panel moveable relative to a body structure of the motor vehicle between an in use position and a stowed position;
- a first support assembly operatively connected with the roof panel to provide substantially vertical movement of the roof panel between the in use and stowed positions, the first support assembly comprising an inverted U-shaped roll over protection member that is selectively upwardly deployable when the roof panel is in the stowed position, the roll over protection member comprising first and second upwardly extending supports slidingly connected to respective first and second guide rails attachable to the body structure of the motor vehicle, and a transversely extending member connecting respective upper ends of the first and second upwardly extending supports;
- at least one roll over protection actuator operable to upwardly deploy the roll over protection member;
- and
- a second sliding support assembly operatively connected with the roof panel and the first support assembly to provide substantially horizontal movement of the roof panel between the in use and stowed positions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.