Vehicle interior panel with adjustable locator
AssigneeFaurecia Interior Systems, Inc.
InventorsBrenton Bailo, Michael Twork, Stephen Jones
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle interior panel includes an adjustable locator. The adjustable locator is operable to move a panel body after the panel body is mounted to a vehicle body and enables alignment of an aesthetic feature line with a complimentary feature line of an adjacent vehicle interior panel. A post of the adjustable locator can engage a receiver of the vehicle body at a fixed location while a working surface of the adjustable locator exerts a force on a reaction surface of the panel body to move the panel body. The adjustable locator can include gear teeth, a cam surface, ratcheting features, an adjustment rotor, or any combination thereof.
Claims15
A vehicle interior panel for mounting to a portion of a vehicle body, the vehicle interior panel comprising:
- a panel body having an outer side and an opposite inner side, the outer side facing the interior of the passenger cabin of the vehicle when mounted to said portion of the vehicle body;
- and
- a plurality of locators extending from the inner side of the panel body and arranged to engage a corresponding plurality of receivers of the vehicle body at a fixed location with respect to said portion of the vehicle body, the locators and receivers cooperating to locate the panel body with respect to said portion of the vehicle body,
- wherein the plurality of locators includes an adjustable locator comprising a post that engages a respective one of the receivers and an adjustment mechanism coupled with the post, the adjustment mechanism being operable to change the position of the post with respect to the panel body and thereby change the location of the panel body with respect to said portion of the vehicle body when mounted to said portion of the vehicle body.
A method of aligning complimentary aesthetic feature lines in the passenger cabin of a vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a vehicle interior panel comprising a panel body and an adjustable locator extending from an inner side of the panel body, wherein at least a portion of the adjustable locator has a variable position with respect to the panel body and the panel body includes an aesthetic feature line;
- (b) mounting the vehicle interior panel to a portion of a body of the vehicle and adjacent to another vehicle interior panel having a complimentary aesthetic feature line, wherein the adjustable locator engages a receiver at a fixed location with respect to said portion of the body of the vehicle;
- and
- (c) adjusting the location of the panel body with respect to said portion of the body of the vehicle by changing said variable position by an amount sufficient to align the complimentary aesthetic feature lines.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.