Abstract: A vehicle bed assembly 10 has a floor pan 18, a front wall 20, and substantially identical side walls 14, 16. The front wall 20 and the side walls 14, 16 are coupled to the floor pan 18. The vehicle bed assembly 10 further includes a rear wall 22 which is deployed upon a tailgate 21 which is selectively coupled to the floor pan 18, and a pair of substantially identical top rail members 100 which overlay and receive a unique one of the side walls 14, 16 and a bracket 210 which overlays and receives the front wall 20 and which is coupled to the top rail member 100 by a pair of end cap members 122. Particularly, the end cap members 122 and the top rail members 100 cooperatively provide a direct load path from any location on each of the side walls 14, 16 to the bracket 210 which may be coupled to a portion of the vehicle 12, thereby reducing the likelihood of damage to the sidewalls 14, 16 and the front wall 20.

Abstract: A vehicle bed assembly including a frontwall, a pair of sidewalls, a backwall, and a bed portion. The walls and the bed portion include stiffening ribs that cooperatively allow the bed assembly to be easily cleaned and allow the bed assembly to be formed from relatively lightweight material. The vehicle bed assembly further includes side mounting assemblies which allow the assembly to be secured to the vehicle frame.

Abstract: A vehicular bed assembly 12 and a method 100 for making the vehicular bed assembly 12 by a process which requires the use of a roll 103 of material 104. Particularly, material 104 from the roll 103 is continually fed through a stamping or mold assembly 110 which forms raised stiffening beads on the material 104. The material 104 is then continually fed through a cutter 118 in which the received material is 103 selectively cut, thereby forming panels or segments, such as and without limitation segment or panel 120, which are used to form the walls 14, 16, 20, 22 and which are further used to form the floor pan 18. In this manner, the methodology 100 allows for a variety of dissimilarly sized bed assemblies 12 to be easily and efficiently produced.