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US 8,616,622 B2Granted
Energy management hood bumper
AssigneeMacLean-Fogg Company
InventorsDavid J. Davis, Larry J. Wilson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A hood bumper assembly for automotive vehicle hoods is provided that can manage impact energy from a collision with a pedestrian. The hood bumper assembly may have a bumper with a cushion that is threaded to a retainer attached to the vehicle frame. The threaded engagement between the bumper and the retainer may have a percentage of thread engagement that is less than industry standards so that the threads skip without substantially deforming when an impact load is applied to the vehicle hood.
Claims20
A bumper assembly for a vehicle hood, comprising:
- a retainer adapted to be attached to a vehicle frame, said retainer comprising a first thread;
- a bumper comprising a bumper surface adapted to contact a bottom surface of a vehicle hood to thereby support the vehicle hood at a predetermined height, said bumper comprising a second thread;
- wherein said first thread and said second thread are threadably engaged with each other, relative motion between said first and second threads thereby adjusting said predetermined height of said vehicle hood, at least one of said first and second threads being made from a plastic polymer;
- and
- wherein a percentage of thread engagement between said first and second threads is between about 30% and about 50%, said first and second threads thereby being adapted to skip past each other without substantially deforming said first and second threads when an impact load is applied to said vehicle hood, said bumper surface thereby moving toward said vehicle frame to permit said vehicle hood to move below said predetermined height.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.