ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 21 -- United States Patent no. 12,441,591, issued on Oct. 14, was assigned to Ford Global Technologies LLC (Dearborn, Mich.).
"Vehicle winch system" was invented by Mark George Vojtisek (Royal Oak, Mich.), Christopher Thomas Berchin (Dearborn, Mich.) and Theresa Carranza-Fulmer (Detroit).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A winch system for a vehicle is provided herein. The winch system includes a winch assembly that is coupled to a body. A sensor system is configured to monitor the winch assembly. A controller processes information from the sensor system. The controller is configured to determine a duration of use and service condition of the winch assembly. The controller i...