The present disclosure, in general, relates to a vehicle back door structure and specifically relates to a back door assembly for efficiently locking of a back door garnish panel and a continuous tail lamp in conjunction with maintaining a constant gap between them.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Nowadays, vehicle lighting systems are of major concern when road safety is taken into consideration. Therefore, most of the vehicle these days are using continuous tail lamp at a back door that increases the vehicle's visibility, and also allowing other drivers and pedestrians to see its presence, position, size, direction of travel, and its driver's intentions.
[0003] The continuous tail lamp is several times larger in comparison to a general tail lamp. In the existing design of the back door, the continuous tail lamp is positioned at the centre of the back door and construction of the continuous tail lamp is such that it is connected from end to end of the back door. Therefore, the proper connection is not built up between the back door panel, the back door garnish panel and the tail lamp.
[0004] In addition, the existing back door garnish panel is made of plastic for reducing the overall weight of the vehicle. So, when the continuous tail lamp is fitted with the back door panel, there is difficulty in locking them efficiently and also fails in maintaining the constant gap between the back door garnish panel and the continuous tail lamp. Moreover, due to the plastic material and the extra-long length of the back door garnish panel, the strength of the back door garnish panel is also reduced to a great extent.
[0005] Due to this, when the back door garnish panel is attached with the continuous tail lamp, there are great chances that the back door garnish panel can

be deformed which may cause the direct contact between the lower edge of the outer surface of the back door garnish panel and the upper edge of the continuous tail lamp which in turn creates direct interference between said parts.
[0006] This interference affects the appearance of the vehicle, and at the same time, it will also fails to maintain the required clearance between the back door garnish panel and the continuous tail lamp. It also affects the standard cycle time of the production line of automobile that in turn increases the overall cost of production.
[0007] Therefore, there is need of an assembly that helps in locking the existing back door garnish panel and the continuous tail lamp in a vehicle along with maintaining the constant gap between said parts.
OBJECTS OF THE DISCLOSURE
[0008] Some of the objects of the present disclosure, which at least one embodiment herein satisfy, are listed herein below.
[0009] It is a general or primary object of the present disclosure to provide a back door assembly that helps in maintaining a constant gap between a back door garnish panel and a continuous tail lamp in a vehicle.
[0010] It is another object of the present disclosure to provide the back door assembly that helps in locking the back door garnish panel and the continuous tail lamp.
[0011] It is further object of the present disclosure to improve the appearance quality of the back door of the vehicle.
[0012] It is yet another object of the present disclosure to attach and detach the parts easily from the back door of the vehicle.
[0013] It is further another object of the present disclosure to reduce the assembly time of the locking the back door garnish panel and the continuous tail lamp.
[0014] These and other objects and advantages will become more apparent when reference is made to the following description and accompanying drawings.

SUMMARY
[0015] This summary is provided to introduce concepts related to establishing a back door assembly for maintaining a constant gap between a back door garnish panel and a continuous tail lamp in a vehicle. The concepts are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.
[0016] In accordance with an embodiment, the present disclosure provides a back door assembly for maintaining a constant gap between a back door garnish panel and a continuous tail lamp in a vehicle. The back door garnish panel comprising a continuous flange extending from a lower edge of the back door garnish panel, a plurality of snap locks attached at consecutive intervals to continuous flange and a plurality of limiting ribs attached to the continuous flange in between the plurality of snap locks.
[0017] In an aspect, the snap locks are attached at a lower section of the flange at the consecutive intervals.
[0018] In an aspect, the limiting ribs are attached at an upper section of the continuous flange fitted in between the plurality of snap locks.
[0019] In an aspect, the snap locks are fitted inside the corresponding locking hole formed on the upper edge of the continuous tail lamp.
[0020] In an aspect, the plurality of limiting ribs includes a stopper which rests at locating holes formed on the upper edge of the continuous tail lamp to maintain a predefined gap in between the lower edge of the back door garnish panel and the upper edge of the continuous tail lamp.
[0021] In an aspect, the continuous tail lamp has two sandwich mountings that are sandwiched and snap locked between the back door garnish panel and a back door outer panel through positive connection.
[0022] To further understand the characteristics and technical contents of the present subject matter, a description relating thereto will be made with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the drawings are illustrative only but not used to limit the scope of the present subject matter.

[0023] Various objects, features, aspects, and advantages of the inventive subject matter will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, along with the accompanying drawing figures in which like numerals represent like components.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES
[0024] The illustrated embodiments of the present disclosure will be best understood by reference to the drawings, wherein like parts are designated by like numerals throughout. The following description is intended only by way of example, and simply illustrates certain selected embodiments of devices, systems, and processes that are consistent with the subject matter as claimed herein, wherein:
[0025] FIG. 1 illustrates a structure of an existing back door garnish panel and a tail lamp in accordance with the prior art;
[0026] FIG. 2 illustrates a back door assembly used for developing an interconnection between the back door garnish panel and the continuous tail lamp that can be utilized to implement one or more exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure;
[0027] FIG. 3 illustrates a perspective view of the back door garnish panel in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0028] FIG. 4 illustrates the continuous tail lamp in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0029] FIG. 5 illustrates an enlarged view of section A-A shown in FIG.2 of the back door assembly showing the snap lock attached at the lower section of the flange that can be utilized to implement one or more exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure; and
[0030] FIG. 6 illustrates an enlarged view of section B-B shown in FIG.2 of the assembly showing the limiting ribs attached at the upper section of the flange having a stopper that can be utilized to implement one or more exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0031] The figures depict embodiments of the present subject matter for the purposes of illustration only. A person skilled in the art will easily recognize from the following description that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the disclosure described herein.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0032] A few aspects of the present disclosure are explained in detail below with reference to the various figures. Example implementations are described to illustrate the disclosed subject matter, not to limit its scope, which is defined by the claims. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize a number of equivalent variations of the various features provided in the description that follows.
EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENT
[0033] While the present disclosure may be embodied in various forms, there are shown in the drawings, and will hereinafter be described, some exemplary and non-limiting embodiments, with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered an exemplification of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments illustrated. Not all of the depicted components described in this disclosure may be required, however, and some implementations may include additional, different, or fewer components from those expressly described in this disclosure. Variations in the arrangement and type of the components may be made without departing from the scope of the claims as set forth herein.
[0034] FIG. 1 illustrates the connection structure of an existing back door garnish panel and a continuous tail lamp in accordance with the prior art.
[0035] In the existing design of the back door outer panel 100, a continuous tail lamp 102 is positioned at the centre of the back door 100 and construction of the continuous tail lamp 104 is such that it is connected end to end of the back door outer panel 100. In addition, there is no locking structure between the back door garnish panel 102 and the continuous tail lamp 104 in the existing design.

Moreover, there is no provision to maintain the constant gap between the back door garnish panel 102 and the continuous tail lamp 104 that helps in improving the aesthetic look of the rear section of the vehicle.
[0036] To address the issues with the exiting design of the back door outer panel 100, FIG. 2 illustrates a back door assembly 200 of the back door garnish panel 102 and the continuous tail lamp 104 in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0037] FIG. 3 illustrates a perspective view of the back door garnish panel 102 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The back door garnish panel 102 comprises a continuous flange 302 extending from a lower edge of the back door garnish panel 102. It further illustrates a plurality of snap locks 304 attached at consecutive intervals to an upper section of the continuous flange 302, and a plurality of limiting ribs 306 attached to the lower section of the continuous flange 302 in between the plurality of snap locks 304. From FIG. 3, it is clear that the snap locks 304 and the limiting ribs 306 are attached to the continuous flange 302 in the consecutive manner.
[0038] FIG. 4 illustrates the continuous tail lamp 104 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The continuous tail lamp 104 at its upper edge includes locking holes 402 to receive the corresponding snap locks 304 formed on the back panel garnish 102. Also, as can be seen, the continuous tail lamp 104 at its upper edge includes locating holes 404 on which stoppers 306-S (FIG. 6) of the respective limiting ribs 306 rest so as to maintain a predefined gap in between the lower edge of the back door garnish panel 102 and the upper edge of the continuous tail lamp 104.
[0039] Near to the centre area, at two places, there is relation maintained between the back door garnish panel 102 and the continuous tail lamp 104. In this arrangement, the continuous tail lamp 104 has two sandwich mountings 406A, 406B that are sandwiched and snap locked between the back door garnish panel 102 and the back door outer panel 100 with positive studs & nut mountings, which will restrict the TL (along vehicle direction) movement as well as rotational moment of the continuous tail lamp 104 and in turn makes the snap also effective. This will

also pull the continuous tail lamp 104 and the back door garnish panel 102 towards each other and maintains the constant gap intact between them.
[0040] FIG. 5 illustrates an enlarged view of section A-A shown in FIG. 2 of the assembly 200 showing the snap lock 304 attached at the lower section of the continuous flange 302 that is fitted inside the corresponding locking holes 402 formed on the upper edge of the continuous tail lamp 104.
[0041] FIG. 6 illustrates an enlarged view of section B-B shown in FIG. 2 of the assembly 200 showing the limiting ribs 306 attached at the upper section of the flange 302 having the stopper 306-S that rests at locating holes 404 formed on the upper edge of the continuous tail lamp 104 so as to maintain the predefined gap in between the lower edge of the back door garnish panel 102 and the upper edge of the continuous tail lamp 104. Further, as can be seen from FIG. 6, the continuous tail lamp 104 has two sandwich mountings 406A, 406B, which are sandwiched & snap locked between the back door garnish panel 102 and the back door outer panel 100, with positive studs and nut mountings.
WORKING OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0042] During the assembled condition, the lower edge of the back door garnish panel 102 is attached with the upper edge of the continuous tail lamp 104 through the assembly 200. This assembly 200 consists of a continuous flange 302. The continuous flange 302 extending from a lower edge of the back door garnish panel 102. At the lower end of the continuous flange 302, a plurality of snap locks 304 are formed. The plurality of snap locks 304 are fitted inside the corresponding locking holes 402 formed on the upper edge of the continuous tail lamp 104 that acts as a locking structure. In addition, at the upper end of the continuous flange 302, limiting ribs 306 are provided with a stopper 306-S that rests at locating holes 404 formed on the upper edge of the continuous tail lamp 104 to helps in limiting the gap between the back door garnish panel 102 and the continuous tail lamp 104. Moreover, the snap locks 304 and the limiting ribs 306 are extended from the continuous flange 302 at consecutive intervals. Also, the continuous tail lamp 104 has two sandwich mountings 406A, 406B that are sandwiched and snap locked

between the back door garnish panel 102 and a back door outer panel 100 through positive connection.
ADVANTAGES
[0043] The back door assembly 200 of the present disclosure built up a locking structure between the back door garnish panel 102 and the continuous tail lamp 104 that also helps in maintaining the constant gap between the back door garnish panel 102 and the continuous tail lamp 104 which in turn improves the aesthetic look of the back door outer panel 100. This back door assembly 200 also facilitates in attaching and detaching the back door garnish panel 102 with the continuous tail lamp 104 that further helps in reducing the production cycle time and overall cost incurred.
EQUIVALENTS
[0044] The above description does not provide specific details of the manufacture or design of the various components. Those of skill in the art are familiar with such details, and unless departures from those techniques are set out, techniques, known, related art or later developed designs and materials should be employed. Those in the art are capable of choosing suitable manufacturing and design details.
[0045] Further, the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. It will be appreciated that several of the above-disclosed and other features and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be combined into other systems or applications. Various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations, or improvements therein may subsequently be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as encompassed by the following claims.
[0046] The claims, as originally presented and as they may be amended, encompass variations, alternatives, modifications, improvements, equivalents, and substantial equivalents of the embodiments and teachings disclosed herein,

including those that are presently unforeseen or unappreciated, and that, for example, may arise from applicants/patentees and others.
[0047] It will be appreciated that variants of the above-disclosed and other features and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be combined into many other different systems or applications. Various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations, or improvements therein may be subsequently made by those skilled in the art which are also intended to be encompassed by the following claims.

WE CLAIM:

1. A back door assembly (200) for maintaining a constant gap between a back
door garnish panel (102) and a continuous tail lamp (104) in a vehicle, said
assembly (200), wherein the back door garnish panel (102) comprising:
a continuous flange (302) extending from a lower edge of the back door garnish panel (102);
a plurality of snap locks (304) attached at consecutive intervals to the continuous flange (302); and
a plurality of limiting ribs (306) attached to the continuous flange (302) in between the plurality of snap locks (304).
2. The back door assembly (200) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the snap locks (304) are attached at a lower section of the continuous flange (302) at the consecutive intervals.
3. The back door assembly (200) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the limiting ribs (306) are attached at an upper section of the continuous flange (302) fitted in between the plurality of snap locks (304).
4. The back door assembly (200) as claimed in claim 2, wherein the snap locks (304) are fitted inside the corresponding locking holes (402) formed on an upper edge of the continuous tail lamp (104).
5. The back door assembly (200) as claimed in claim 3, wherein the plurality of limiting ribs (306) includes a stopper (306-S) which rests at locating holes (404) formed on the upper edge of the continuous tail lamp (104) to maintain a predefined gap in between the lower edge of the back door garnish panel (102) and the upper edge of the continuous tail lamp (104).

6. The back door assembly (200) as claimed in claim 3, wherein the continuous tail lamp (104) has two sandwich mountings (406A, 406B) that are sandwiched and snap locked between the back door garnish panel (102) and a back door outer panel (100) through positive connection.