A soft panel top assembly for a vehicle in sealing engagement with a hard top portion of a roof. The soft panel top assembly has a fixed portion attached to the vehicle and a lightweight pivotal portion that folds back to provide a quick and easy open air effect. Two door rails of the soft panel top assembly are connected to the vehicle. Two side rail linkage assemblies are attached to the header, which is secured to a windshield frame when in a closed position, and are connected at pivot points created with a bracket attached to the door rails to allow the pivotal portion to pivot to an open position. The soft panel top assembly includes a rear header that is lightweight and has a sealing arrangement that engages with the hard top roof portion and existing seal of the hard top roof portion to provide a weatherproof seal.

An articulating slanted back soft top assembly for 4-door and 2-door SUVs. A fabric cover is supported by a frame that is at least partially articulatable from at least a closed position to at least one open air position. The frame includes at least one forward fabric support bow member and at least one rearward fabric support bow member. The rear fabric support bow member being positioned when in the closed position in a manner which allows the fabric to clear a sport bar or roll bar member of a vehicle in the closed position such that a rear portion of the top is angled from the vertical when viewing the vehicle from the side.

A soft top assembly for SUV/UTV vehicles having connected thereto at least one lighting source, such as a fixed light emitting diode lighting device, a rope/flexible light emitting diode lighting device, a solid fiber optic lighting device, to illuminate the interior of the vehicle. The lighting device has at least one water resistant housing that is low profile. The lighting device is also shock resistant. The lighting device has a predetermined ON/OFF feature and at least one power source is provided such as battery powered, powered by replaceable/rechargeable batteries, via connection to the vehicle by a wired harness or electrical contacts, or solar powered.

A soft panel top assembly for a vehicle in sealing engagement with a hard top portion of a roof. The soft panel top assembly has a fixed portion attached to the vehicle and a lightweight pivotal portion that folds back to provide the occupant a quick and easy open air effect. Two door rails of the soft panel top assembly are connected to the vehicle. Two side rail linkage assemblies are attached to header, which is secured to a windshield frame when in a closed position, and are connected at pivot points created with a bracket attached to the door rails to allow the pivotal portion to pivot to an open position. The soft panel top assembly includes a rear header that is lightweight and engages with the existing seal of the hard top roof portion to provide a weatherproof seal.

An articulating front top cover assembly for a vehicle in sealing engagement with a hard top portion of a roof. The articulating portion is operably connected to a frame. An articulating portion movable between at least a closed position over the front vehicle compartment and open position for an open air feel.

A locking device for a convertible vehicle is proposed, comprising a locking support, a locking hook, which can be shifted in a translational and/or rotational manner so as to be displaced between a release position and a locked position, and a driving mechanism for the locking hook, said driving mechanism comprising a driving element, which is driven by a driving motor and drives the locking hook, as well as a detection device for detecting a position of the driving element. The detection device is a sensor, which continuously detects the position of the driving element with respect to the locking support.

A soft panel top assembly for a vehicle in sealing engagement with a hard top portion of a roof. The soft panel top assembly has a fixed portion attached to the vehicle and a lightweight pivotal portion that folds back to provide the occupant a quick and easy open air effect. Two door rails of the soft panel top assembly are connected to the vehicle. Two side rail linkage assemblies are attached to header, which is secured to a windshield frame when in a closed position, and are connected at pivot points created with a bracket attached to the door rails to allow the pivotal portion to pivot to an open position. The soft panel top assembly includes a rear header that is lightweight and engages with the existing seal of the hard top roof portion to provide a weatherproof seal.

A cover assembly (10) for a vehicle having an integrated fiber windshield rod (14) that is connected to a windshield area and held in place using windshield footman loop portions (22) eliminating the need for a windshield channel or windshield header. The windshield footman loop portions (22) have a plate (24) with a snap stud (26) for attaching a snap eyelet (32) of a web strap (30) to secure the fiber windshield rod (14) in place, which is connected to a fabric cover. The cover assembly (10) has a plurality of straps (16, 20) to secure the sides and rear of the cover assembly to sport bars (18, 21) of the vehicle. The fabric cover assembly (10) creates a sun screen and/or soft top liner effect over at least the vehicle cockpit and is storable in the installed position while the vehicle roof hard top roof assembly or soft top roof assembly is also in installed position on the vehicle.

A frame and soft top assembly which includes lift assist and improved fabric management. The assembly includes a pair of front arms pivotally attached to rear side rails and are attached to the vehicle roll bar. A plurality of fabric control bows connected with pivot links provide fabric control to the top material during pivoting of the front side rails. A pair of bow pivot links are pivotally connected to the rear side rail. A rear gas strut and a front gas strut are attached longitudinally to either side of the pair of bow pivot links, one providing lift assistance at the start of the pivotal opening of the sunroof while the other of the struts gets loaded as the top is deployed and buffers the closing of the roof which also loads the strut to provide assistance in the closing direction when it is time to close the sunroof.

A soft window storage unit may comprise a fabric storage roller and a window storage roller mounted to a base or built into a vehicle. A soft fabric may be coupled to and wrapped around the fabric storage roller. A method of storing a soft window of a vehicle may include unrolling a length of fabric from a fabric storage roller and wrapping at least a portion of the length of fabric onto a window storage roller; then wrapping a soft window around the window storage roller while wrapping the fabric around the window storage roller. The method may further include wrapping the soft window between layers of fabric into the window storage roller. The method may further include removing the soft window from storage by wrapping the fabric back onto the fabric storage roller while simultaneously unwrapping the fabric and the soft window from the window storage roller.