US Patent Issued to Ford Global Technologies on May 5 for "Retractable bumper assembly with actuator based on vehicle speed" (Michigan Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,617,360, issued on May 5, was assigned to Ford Global Technologies LLC (Dearborn, Mich.).

"Retractable bumper assembly with actuator based on vehicle speed" was invented by S.M. Iskander Farooq (Novi, Mich.), Mohammad Omar Faruque (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and Dean M. Jaradi (Macomb, Mich.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A vehicle includes a bumper assembly. The bumper assembly includes a bumper, a rod fixed relative to the bumper and elongated along an axis, and a bracket spaced from the bumper along the axis of the rod. The bracket movably receives the rod. An actuator is supported by the bracket and is releasably engageable with the rod. A spri...