US Patent Issued to Ford Global Technologies on May 20 for "Vehicle with selectively deployable roof rails" (Michigan Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,304,431, issued on May 20, was assigned to Ford Global Technologies LLC (Dearborn, Mich.).

"Vehicle with selectively deployable roof rails" was invented by Michael John Harmon (Northville, Mich.), David Brian Glickman (Southfield, Mich.), Stuart C. Salter (White Lake, Mich.) and Jeffrey Scott Mayville (Ypsilanti, Mich.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a motor vehicle assembly, including: a roof including a recess; a rail, wherein the rail is moveable between a retracted position and a deployed position, wherein the rail is at least partially within a recess of the roof in the retra...