ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,351,005, issued on July 8, was assigned to Cooper-Standard Automotive Inc. (Northville, Mich.).

"Plug for reducing potential damage to an outer belt cap and method" was invented by Richard Kulczycki (Canton, Mich.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A plug is disclosed that reduces a potential for damage to a cap or bright strip of a weatherstrip assembly. The plug can be an elongated member having a cross-sectional dimension that extends between and contacts an indented, transition region of a body of the weatherstrip assembly and an inner surface of the cap."

The patent was filed on June 2, 2022, under Application No. 17/830,689.

*For furt...