If you’ve ever tried to wrestle the hard top off a Jeep Wrangler or a Ford Bronco, you know it’s not exactly a one-person job. There’s a reason companies sell hoists that install on a garage ceiling for just this purpose. But a new patent application from Hyundai and Kia shows that there may be a better, easier way.
Modular and Magnetic
For starters, the hard-top design described is modular: it consists of two side panels, a rear panel, and a roof panel. U.S. patent application 19/071,347, Modular Canopy Assembly System, also explains that strategically placed magnets help align the pieces and hold them together while you’re building or disassembling.
The example procedure starts with placing the side panels in their spots and then adding the rear piece, which sticks on with magnets; that frees you up to twirl on some giant plastic nuts. Then the roof panel drops on from above, again located and held in place by magnetism, allowing you to then turn the latches inside to hold everything together. This hardware looks similar to the quarter-turn latches used to secure roof panels on modern Bronco and Wrangler hard tops.
By harnessing the power of magnets, that can all be done solo. We imagine the modular roof panel could be left off, again like the pseudo T-tops on today’s four-door off-roaders. The application explains that the magnets and latches could be combined differently, so a production design could have more or fewer of one or the other.
Something Off-Road This Way Comes
This patent concept is made all the more relevant because Hyundai has stated its intention to play in the same dirt-covered arena as the Bronco and Wrangler. Its new product will ride on a body-on-frame platform designed specially for the North American market, and the final product will be built in the U.S. That future off-roader, which could carry the Bouldername, is expected to be accompanied by a related pickup truck like the Jeep Gladiator. Whatever it’s called, we hope its top features this clever design. There’s only so much innovation you can expect from a brick-like live-axle SUV.