ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,576,700, issued on March 17, was assigned to Nissan North America Inc. (Franklin, Tenn.).
"Retractable shields for vehicle tailgates" was invented by David Kovie (Livonia, Mich.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A tailgate for a vehicle that includes a door body and a shield that is connected to the door body such that the shield is repositionable between a stowed (retracted) position, in which the shield is concealed by the door body, and a deployed (advanced) position, in which the shield is exposed from the door body. In various embodiments of the disclosure, it is envisioned that the shield may be pivotably (rotatably) connected to the...