This disclosure relates generally to motor vehicle fascia, and more particularly to a vehicle fascia assembly including a license plate bracket providing a lower profile, improved air flow to a vehicle engine, and reduced interference with sensors associated with the fascia assembly.
Modern motor vehicles are equipped with fascia which among other functions provide a covering for bumper assemblies, and further which contribute to the aerodynamic properties and aesthetic appearance of the motor vehicle so equipped. As one element of a motor vehicle fascia, there is may be provided a portion to which a license plate bracket can be attached, providing a place to secure a license plate proving vehicle identification information as is required under most if not all national laws.
Conventional license plate brackets include a substantially flat front surface to which the license plate is attached, but also include lateral side walls which provide an element of support for the bracket. While effective for their intended purpose, as will be discussed below such conventional brackets provide numerous disadvantages including potentially at least partially blocking air flow to the motor vehicle engine, and also at least partial blocking of signals emitted by various sensors associated with the motor vehicle fascia. These problems could be addressed by reducing the dimensions (height and length) of the license plate bracket. However, this is not a feasible solution because the dimensions of a license plate, and so the required dimensions of a supporting license plate bracket, are not under the control of the automotive manufacturer. Instead, these dimensions are dictated by various governmental agencies.
To solve these and other problems, the present disclosure relates to a motor vehicle fascia assembly including a floating license plate bracket of relatively simple structure that is advantageously inexpensive to manufacture and provides a reduced depth dimension compared to conventional license plate brackets. Savings in manufacturing cost and component weight, improvements in cooling airflow to the motor vehicle engine, and reduced interference with sensor signals are achieved by use of the described motor vehicle fascia assembly.
In accordance with the purposes and benefits described herein, a motor vehicle fascia assembly is provided. The assembly comprises a motor vehicle fascia and a floating license plate bracket.
More specifically, the motor vehicle fascia assembly includes a front fascia panel defining an air inlet structure including upper and lower air inlets disposed at least partially around an intermediate panel, and a license plate mounting bracket secured to the intermediate panel. A substantially central rear rib structure of the license plate mounting bracket contacts the intermediate panel and provides a narrow gap between the license plate mounting bracket rear surface and the intermediate panel. The license plate mounting bracket side edges do not contact the intermediate panel. Air flow is directed around the license plate mounting bracket and into the upper and lower air inlet structures.
The intermediate panel may include a recessed surface for receiving the license plate mounting bracket. The substantially central rear rib structure configuration typically matches a contour or slope of the intermediate panel recessed surface. In embodiments, a top surface of the license plate mounting bracket defines a substantially planar crown radius. In other embodiments, the top surface of the license plate mounting bracket defines an arcuate crown radius whereby at least one side edge of the license plate mounting bracket has a narrower depth dimension than a top or bottom edge of the license plate mounting bracket.
In the following description, there are shown and described embodiments of the disclosed motor vehicle fascia assembly. As it should be realized, the motor vehicle fascia assembly is capable of other, different embodiments and its several details are capable of modification in various, obvious aspects all without departing from the device 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 motor vehicle fascia assembly, 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 motor vehicle fascia assembly, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawing figures.
Reference is now made to
In the depicted embodiment, the floating license plate bracket 22 contacts the fascia 12 at recessed surface 20 via a substantially centrally disposed contact structure rather than requiring contact between the edges of the bracket 22 and a surface of the fascia 12. More specifically, with reference to
Advantages of the motor vehicle fascia assembly 10 of the present disclosure will now be described. With reference to
In contrast, with reference to
As shown in
In addition to the foregoing discussion, it is known in modern motor vehicles to provide sensors which emit signals to provide various functionalities to the motor vehicle user. As a non-limiting example, it is known to provide a front-mounted autonomous cruise control (ACC; also called adaptive or radar cruise control) sensor 38 (see
The lateral or side walls of a conventional license plate bracket 30 such as that depicted in
Conveniently, the reduced height of the floating license plate bracket 22 of the present disclosure relative to the fascia 12 surface, in addition to improving cooling airflow patterns as discussed above, also reduces the likelihood of interference with signals emitted by sensors mounted near the license plate bracket such as ACC sensor 38. This is because the reduced height (i.e., the distance the license plate bracket 22 projects from the front surface of the fascia 12) of the floating license plate bracket 22 allows positioning a sensor such as ACC sensor 38 relatively close to the bracket 22 without interfering with the emitted sensor signal.
In summary, numerous benefits are provided by the motor vehicle fascia assembly 10. As should be appreciated, the assembly provides improved airflow patterns, and also reduced interference with signals emitted from sensors positioned in, on, or under the vehicle fascia. Likewise, reductions in weight and component cost are achieved. The foregoing disclosure 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, while the floating license plate bracket 22 in the illustrated embodiments is rectangular in shape and substantially flat or planar, in alternative embodiments the bracket 22 may define an arcuate crown radius whereby the side edges of the bracket 22 are narrower than the top and bottom edges, and so disposed even closer to the front surface of the fascia 12 (see