US Patent Issued to Ford Global Technologies on Sept. 1 for "Deployable step assembly for vehicle" (Michigan Inventor)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 1 -- United States Patent no. 12,722,570, issued on Sept. 1, was assigned to Ford Global Technologies LLC (Dearborn, Mich.).

"Deployable step assembly for vehicle" was invented by Adrian Nania (Rochester, Mich.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A vehicle assembly includes a bumper of a vehicle and a deployable step assembly that is pivotable back-and-forth between a stowed position and a deployed position relative to the bumper. When in the stowed position, a step pad of the deployable step assembly is received within a bumper pocket of the bumper. When in the deployed position, the step pad is rearward and vertically lower than the bumper."

The patent was filed on Dec. 1...