Top Mount Assembly Having Adjustable Damping Characteristics

A top mount assembly for interconnecting a damper assembly and a frame of a vehicle, said top mount assembly comprising:

• a housing disposed about an axis for being connected to the frame of the vehicle;
• a rod connection assembly disposed in said housing for being attached to a piston rod of the damper assembly;
• a chamber defined between said rod connection assembly and said housing for receiving a fluid;
• a resilient member disposed between said rod connection assembly and said housing and allowing relative movement between said rod connection assembly and said housing;
• a partition assembly positioned between said resilient member and said housing and axially dividing said chamber into an upper chamber region and a lower chamber region;
• said partition assembly defining at least one passage extending between said upper chamber region and said lower chamber region to allow said fluid to pass between said upper and lower chamber regions during movement of said housing relative to said rod connection assembly to dampen the movement of said rod connection assembly relative to said housing;
• and
• a least one electromagnetic coil disposed adjacent to said passage for selectively modifying the characteristics of said fluid passing through said passage to modify the damping characteristics of said top mount assembly.