Patent Application
20180057071
This disclosure relates generally to motor vehicle grille assemblies. More particularly, the disclosure relates to a guidance tab, configured for enhanced flexibility to provide self-centering and locator functions for proper attachment of a first vehicle element to a second vehicle element such as a motor vehicle grille.
It is known to utilize various tabs, clips, etc. in place of “hard” fasteners such as bolts and/or screws, particularly when attaching vehicle elements such as headlamp assemblies, fog lamp assemblies, and the like to other vehicle elements such as grilles, fascia, etc. Conventional tabs are suited for their intended purpose, but suffer from a deficiency. For a conventional, substantially inflexible molded tab, the shear force imposed while inserting and attaching the vehicle element, particularly if the vehicle element is not properly centered/located, is great enough that the tab may break.
Accordingly, a need is identified in the art for improvements to tab fasteners for vehicle elements such as headlamp assemblies.
In accordance with the purposes and benefits described herein and to solve the above-summarized and other problems, in one aspect a fastener tab for connecting a first vehicle element to a second vehicle element is described, the fastener tab including a body comprising a head portion and a flexible neck portion. The head portion is configured to engage and capture a portion of the first vehicle element or the second vehicle element. The flexible neck portion includes a first length, a second length, and an intervening flexible length.
In embodiments, the intervening flexible length defines a living hinge. In certain embodiments, the fastener tab is associated with the vehicle element. In other embodiments, the fastener tab is associated with a portion of the vehicle grille assembly. The vehicle element may be any of a number of elements, including without intending any limitation a headlamp assembly, a fog lamp assembly, and a running light assembly.
In other aspects, vehicle grille assemblies including vehicle elements attached to a portion of a grille by the fastener tab as described above are provided.
In the following description, there are shown and described embodiments of the disclosed self-locating fastener tab. As it should be realized, the device is capable of other, different embodiments and its several details are capable of modification in various, obvious aspects all without departing from the devices and methods as set forth and described in the following claims. Accordingly, the drawings and descriptions should be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.
The accompanying drawing figures incorporated herein and forming a part of the specification, illustrate several aspects of the disclosed self-locating fastener tab, and together with the description serve to explain certain principles thereof. In the drawing:
Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the disclosed self-locating fastener tab, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawing figures wherein like reference numerals indicate like features.
Such fastener tabs 220 are placed to allow centering and locating, e.g., a headlamp assembly 160 to define a suitable margin and fit since usually there are no positive locators on either the headlamp assembly or the grille assembly 150. The fastener tabs 220 contact the headlamp assembly 160, biasing it into a properly centered position for attachment. Alternatively, if the fastener tabs 220 are associated with a portion of the headlamp assembly 160, they contact the grille assembly 150, again biasing the headlamp assembly into a properly centered position. Frontal biasing forces cause the fastener tabs 220 to engage the headlamp assembly 160. However, particularly if the headlamp assembly 160 is not properly centered before applying the frontal biasing forces, the shear force imposed on the fastener tabs 220 can cause them to break.
To solve this and other problems, with reference to
The self-locating fastener tab 300 further includes a portion provided with enhanced flexibility, to provide an additional degree of flexibility and to allow the described self-locating functions. In particular, the self-locating fastener tab neck portion 360 includes a first neck length 380, a second neck length 400, and an intervening neck length 420 having a greater degree of flexibility compared to that of the first neck length and the second neck length.
In one embodiment (see
In alternative embodiments (see
As will be appreciated, by the above-described self-locating fastener tabs 300, 300′ and the greater degree of flexibility provided by the intervening neck length 420 as described, advantageously a greater range of motion is provided for the fastener tab head portion 320 in locating a cooperating aperture 340. Thus, even if a first vehicle element 120 is held off-center when attaching to a second vehicle element 140, for example when attaching a headlamp assembly 160 to a motor vehicle grille assembly 150 manually or as part of an automated process, the increased flexibility of the self-locating fastener tabs 300, 300′ according to the present disclosure allows the headlamp assembly to be properly seated in and attached to the grill assembly, without risk of breakage of the fastener tab.
The foregoing has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Obvious modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings. For example, the foregoing description primarily describes attachment of various vehicle elements such as headlamp assemblies to vehicle grille assemblies. However, the skilled artisan will readily appreciate that the described self-locating fastener tab is applicable for attaching other vehicle elements such as fog lamps, running lights, and others. Likewise, the skilled artisan will readily appreciate that the described self-locating fastener tabs 300, 300′ are equally applicable for attaching such vehicle elements to other vehicle elements such as fascia.
Still more, it will be appreciated that the described self-locating fastener tabs 300, 300′ could be associated with either of the first vehicle element 120 or the second vehicle element 140, with the cooperating aperture 340 being associated with the other element. All such modifications and variations are within the scope of the appended claims when interpreted in accordance with the breadth to which they are fairly, legally and equitably entitled.
