Patent ID: 7624835

Claim:
A vehicle comprising: an underside; a feature on the underside, the feature having a contour; and a protective cover formed substantially from plastic, the protective cover being flexible upon impact; wherein the protective cover is attached to the underside; the protective cover comprises a bottom surface, an edge portion, at least one fastening portion, a first rib and a second rib, the second rib being laterally spaced from the first rib, at least a portion of each of the first rib and the second rib being laterally spaced from the edge portion, each of the first rib and second rib extending upwardly toward the underside; and at least one of the first rib and second rib is movable from a first position below and spaced apart from the feature to a second position upon impact of the bottom surface against a terrain obstacle and is shaped and configured to substantially mirror the contour of the feature to matingly contact the feature on the underside of the vehicle when the at least one of the first rib and the second rib is in the second position so that loading from the impact is distributed in a predetermined manner from the protective cover to the feature.