Door Assemblies Including An Engagement Member and Vehicles Incorporating The Same
AssigneeToyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.
InventorDavid T. Nakayama
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A door assembly including a door outer panel, a door inner panel that is coupled to and positioned inboard of the door outer panel in a vehicle lateral direction, an door impact beam positioned between the door outer panel and the door inner panel, where the door impact beam extends in a vehicle longitudinal direction, and an engagement member coupled to the door impact beam, the engagement member including a shaft that extends through a hole defined by the door impact beam and that extends in the vehicle lateral direction toward the door inner panel.
Claims20
A door assembly comprising:
- a door outer panel;
- a door inner panel that is coupled to and positioned inboard of the door outer panel in a vehicle lateral direction;
- a door impact beam positioned between the door outer panel and the door inner panel, wherein the door impact beam extends in a vehicle longitudinal direction;
- and
- an engagement member coupled to the door impact beam, the engagement member comprising a shaft that extends through a hole defined by the door impact beam and that extends in the vehicle lateral direction toward the door inner panel.
A vehicle comprising:
- a body comprising a forward pillar assembly and a rearward pillar assembly, wherein at least one of the forward pillar assembly and the rearward pillar assembly comprises:
- a pillar outer panel;
- a pillar inner panel coupled to and positioned inboard of the pillar outer panel in a vehicle lateral direction;
- a door assembly coupled to the forward pillar assembly, the door assembly comprising:
- a door outer panel;
- a door inner panel that is coupled to and positioned inboard of the door outer panel in the vehicle lateral direction;
- and
- an engagement member is positioned between the door inner panel and the door outer panel, wherein the engagement member is aligned with the pillar outer panel and the pillar inner panel in the vehicle longitudinal direction and at least a portion of the engagement member extends in the vehicle lateral direction toward the door inner panel.
A method of inhibiting movement of a door assembly with respect to a rearward pillar assembly, the method comprising:
- providing an engagement member positioned between a door outer panel and a door inner panel in a vehicle lateral direction;
- and
- positioning the engagement member such that when the engagement member translates inboard in the vehicle lateral direction, the engagement member pierces the door inner panel and a pillar outer panel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.