US Patent Issued to Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Toyota Jidosha on Nov. 18 for "Vehicle tire guard device" (Michigan Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 18 -- United States Patent no. 12,473,036, issued on Nov. 18, was assigned to Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc. (Plano, Texas) and Toyota Jidosha K.K. (Toyota, Japan).

"Vehicle tire guard device" was invented by Daniel J. F. Cressman (Ypsilanti, Mich.), Matthew K. Killeen (Ypsilanti, Mich.) and Ryan C. Harris (Saline, Mich.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Systems, methods, and other embodiments described herein relate to a vehicle tire guard that retracts in response to a force. In one embodiment, the vehicle tire guard device includes a tire guard extending downward from a vehicle frame and a retraction system attached to the vehicle frame. The ...