Patent ID: 8388049

Claim:
An undercarriage assembly for a motor vehicle, comprising: a base; a support positioned adjacent to said base at a connection area; and at least one nail inserted into said support and said base at said connection area and rigidly connecting said support with said base without any pre-foil led fastener holes, wherein the one nail includes a shaft having an enlarged head at an outer end wherein the enlarged head is defined by a generally planar undersurface, and a pointed tip defining a vertex at the other end, wherein the nail defines a longitudinal axis extending along the shaft through a center of the head and through the vertex of the pointed tip, and wherein the shaft includes a series of sawtooth barbs on a first side of the shaft, and a series of steps on a second side of the shaft, wherein the second side is substantially opposite the first side, and wherein: each barb includes a stepped retaining surface and a wedge surface that intersects the retaining surface to form a tip, the retaining surfaces extending transversely outward at a first angle relative to longitudinal axis and defining a transverse dimension from the next adjacent wedge surface, wherein the retaining surfaces face the head of the nail, and wherein the wedge surfaces extend outwardly at a second angle relative to the longitudinal axis, wherein the second angle is significantly smaller than the first angle; each step includes a first surface that is approximately parallel to the longitudinal axis, and a second step surface that extends transversely outward relative to a first surface of an adjacent step, and wherein the first surfaces of each step face away from the head of the nail.