Patent ID: 6959845

Claim:
A vehicle article carrier for supporting articles above an outer body surface of a vehicle, comprising: a pair of support rails secured to said outer body surface generally parallel to one another, and orientated parallel to a longitudinal axis extending along said outer body surface; a pair of cross bars supported from said support rails for supporting articles thereon, at least one of said cross bars being moveable from a stowed position wherein it is disposed parallel to one of said support rails, to an operative position wherein it extends generally perpendicular to said support rails and spans between said support rails; each said cross bar comprising: a pivot mechanism disposed at a first end for pivotally coupling said first end thereof to a first one of said support rails; and a securing mechanism disposed at a second end for latching said second end to a second one of said support rails, said securing mechanism including: a latching member pivotally supported from said first end; and an actuating member operably associated with said latching member for enabling an individual to urge said latching member between a latched position relative to said first one of said support rails, and an unlatched position relative to said one of said support rails.