Patent ID: 8240751

Claim:
A vehicle roof system for closing and opening a roof opening formed in a fixed roof panel of a vehicle with a moveable roof panel, said vehicle roof system comprising: a front frame secured to a lower surface of the fixed roof panel and extending laterally along a front edge of the roof opening, the front frame including a laterally extending groove part including a front wall, a bottom wall and a rear wall, and a front planar part extending substantially horizontally forward from an upper end of the front wall at a higher elevation than the bottom wall, and the front frame being fixedly secured to the fixed roof panel at a plurality of mounting features provided on the front planar part; an electric motor attached to the front frame; a power transmitting system for transmitting an output of the electric motor to the moveable roof panel; and an onboard device operatively attached to the fixed roof panel of the vehicle adjacent to the front edge of the roof opening and located below the front planar part; wherein the onboard device is located in a laterally central part of the fixed roof panel, and the electric motor is laterally offset from but longitudinally overlapping with the onboard device.