US Patent Issued to Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Toyota Jidosha on Nov. 25 for "Grille shutters with active upper load path and vehicles including same" (Michigan Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 25 -- United States Patent no. 12,479,397, issued on Nov. 25, was assigned to Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc. (Plano, Texas) and Toyota Jidosha K.K. (Toyota, Japan).

"Grille shutters with active upper load path and vehicles including same" was invented by Haley L. Grantham (Saline, Mich.), Aaron R. Steinhilb (Milan, Mich.) and Troy N. Grantham (Saline, Mich.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A vehicle includes an active grille shutter system including an actuation frame and grille fins that extend between opposite sides of the actuation frame. The grille fins each include a fin body rotatably connected to the actuation frame and a fin extension m...