Patent ID: 8002337

Claim:
A vehicle frame sub-assembly comprising: a hinge pillar assembly including a hinge pillar reinforcement, a cowl side inner panel, and an outer hinge pillar panel, wherein the hinge pillar reinforcement and the cowl side inner panel are assembled together to define a vertically extending back-up rail extension, an A-pillar assembly including an A-pillar reinforcement, an A-pillar side inner panel, and an outer A-pillar panel, the A-pillar assembly being assembled to an upper portion of the hinge pillar assembly; an upper rail extending in a longitudinal vehicle direction and being attached to the A-pillar assembly and the upper portion of the hinge pillar assembly, wherein the upper rail is part of an upper load path; a front rail extending from a bumper to a back-up rail, the back-up rail extending from a back portion of the front rail in an outboard vehicle direction to a rocker, wherein the front rail, back-up rail, and rocker define a lower load path; and wherein the upper load path and lower load path are joined by the box channel and a back-up rail extension that is assembled between the back-up rail and the vertically extending box channel of the hinge pillar assembly, wherein a box channel section is assembled to the back-up rail and to the box channel to define a lower intermediate load path to the box channel.