US Patent Issued to TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING NORTH AMERICA, TOYOTA JIDOSHA on Jan. 13 for "Collapsible tow hook with stowing" (Michigan Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 13 -- United States Patent no. 12,522,035, issued on Jan. 13, was assigned to TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING NORTH AMERICA INC. (Plano, Texas) and TOYOTA JIDOSHA K.K. (Japan).

"Collapsible tow hook with stowing" was invented by Ryan C. Harris (Saline, Mich.) and Scott L. Frederick (Brighton, Mich.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Methods, systems, and apparatus for a tow hook assembly for a vehicle. The tow hook assembly includes a tow hook having a distal end and a proximal end opposite the distal end, a translating member configured to be coupled to the tow hook, a hinge disposed between the tow hook and the translating member, a housing configured to house at ...