Designing and manufacturing vehicle floor trays
A vehicle floor tray is molded from a multiple extrusion polymer sheet such that it has high shear and tensile strength, an acceptable degree of stiffness and a high coefficient of friction on its upper surface. The floor tray design is digitally fitted to a foot well of a particular vehicle such that large areas of at least two upstanding walls of the tray depart from respective surfaces of the foot well by no more than an eighth of an inch.
1. A vehicle floor tray thermoformed from a sheet of thermoplastic polymeric material of substantially uniform thickness, comprising:
a central panel substantially conforming to a floor of a vehicle foot well, the central panel of the floor tray having at least one longitudinally disposed lateral side and at least one transversely disposed lateral side;
a first panel integrally formed with the central panel of the floor tray, upwardly extending from the transversely disposed lateral side of the central panel of the floor tray, and closely conforming to a first foot well wall, the first panel of the floor tray joined to the central panel of the floor tray by a curved transition;
a second panel integrally formed with the central panel of the floor tray and the first panel, upwardly extending from the longitudinally disposed lateral side of the central panel of the floor tray, and closely conforming to a second foot well wall, the second panel of the floor tray joined to the central panel of the floor tray and to the first panel of the floor tray by curved transitions;
a reservoir disposed in the central panel of the floor tray;
a plurality of upstanding, hollow, elongate baffles disposed in the reservoir, each of the baffles having at least two ends remote from each other, the central panel, the first panel, the second panel, the reservoir and the baffles each having a thickness from a point on the upper surface to a closest point on the bottom surface thereof, said thicknesses, as a result of the tray being thermoformed from the sheet of thermoplastic polymeric material of substantially uniform thickness, being substantially uniform throughout the tray;
the baffles each having a width more than two times the thickness of the last said substantially uniform thickness, the baffles adapted to elevate the shoe or foot of the occupant above fluid collected in the reservoir, the baffles each including at least one longitudinally oriented portion which impedes transverse movement, induced by vehicle acceleration, of fluid collected in the reservoir, and at least one transversely oriented portion joined to the at least one longitudinal portion and disposed to impede the longitudinal movement, induced by vehicle acceleration, of fluid collected in the reservoir, any portion of the reservoir connected to a remote portion of the reservoir by a path formed around ends of the baffles.
2. The floor tray of claim 1 , further comprising a third panel integrally formed with the central panel of the floor tray and joined to at least one of the first and second panels by curved transitions, the third panel upwardly extending from a third lateral side of the central panel of the floor tray.
3. The floor tray of claim 2 , further comprising a fourth panel integrally formed with the central panel of the floor tray and joined to at least one of the second and third panels by curved transitions, the fourth panel upwardly extending from a fourth lateral side of the central panel of the floor tray.
4. The floor tray of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first and second panels has a top margin, the top margin being at least five inches higher than the central panel of the floor tray at its greatest vertical separation therefrom.
5. The floor tray of claim 1 , wherein the first and second panels have top margins which are substantially coplanar with each other.