Patent ID: 8820824

Claim:
A vehicle assembly comprising: a vehicle body including a pair of laterally spaced body members for defining sides of a passenger compartment and a front roof rail and a rear roof rail spanning between the body members, the body members together with the front and rear roof rails support a vehicle roof structure over the passenger compartment, the vehicle body is formed of steel or a steel alloy; and the vehicle roof structure including a roof panel, a roof stiffener, a forward connecting member and a rearward connecting member, the vehicle roof structure is formed of aluminum or an aluminum-based alloy, wherein the vehicle roof structure is bonded to the vehicle body via an adhesive, and further including a plurality of bolts installed along adhesive application areas between the vehicle body and the vehicle roof structure for attaching the vehicle roof structure to the vehicle body, at least one bolt connects the forward connecting member to the front roof rail and at least one bolt connects the rearward connecting member to the rear roof rail, wherein each connecting member is separate from the roof panel and is fixedly secured to the roof panel to facilitate bolting between the roof panel and the vehicle body, the at least one bolt connecting the forward connecting member to the front roof rail is positioned inwardly of the adhesive, and the at least one bolt connecting the rearward connecting member to the rear roof rail is positioned outwardly of the adhesive, wherein the adhesive together with the plurality of bolts reduce thermal distortion of the attached roof panel relative to the vehicle body when the vehicle assembly is heated in a paint bake oven during the manufacture of the vehicle assembly.