US Patent Issued to TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING NORTH AMERICA, TOYOTA JIDOSHA on Jan. 13 for "Vehicles including frangible storage compartment sealing devices" (Michigan Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 13 -- United States Patent no. 12,522,145, issued on Jan. 13, was assigned to TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING NORTH AMERICA INC. (Plano, Texas) and TOYOTA JIDOSHA K.K. (Toyota, Japan).

"Vehicles including frangible storage compartment sealing devices" was invented by Troy N. Grantham (Saline, Mich.) and Haley L. Grantham (Saline, Mich.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A vehicle includes a vehicle frame member, a storage compartment, and a sealing device coupling the storage compartment to the vehicle frame member. At least a portion of the sealing device is configured to move in a downward vehicle vertical direction upon a force exceeding a predetermined threshold...