Vehicle front body structure

Details Vehicle front body structure Vehicle front body structure

2002-10-23

2003-07-08

Pedder, Dennis H. (Department: 3612)

Land vehicles: bodies and tops

Bodies

Structural detail

C296S203010

Reexamination Certificate

active

06588832

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle front body structure.
2. Description of Related Art
In a conceivable vehicle front body structure, illustrated in FIG.
6
and
FIG. 7
, a front floor
1
and a dash floor
2
are composed of a center floor panel
4
at a central region in a vehicle transverse direction
3
of the floors
1
and
2
, and floor panels
5
on transversely outer sides of the center floor panel
4
. On a central section of the center floor panel
4
, a floor tunnel
7
extends in a vehicle longitudinal direction
6
. On transversely outer sides of the floor tunnel
7
, reinforcing members
8
extends in parallel thereto. Under the floor panels
5
, front side members
9
extend in the vehicle longitudinal direction
6
, on each of which a suspension fitting portion
10
is provided.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In the vehicle front body structure, however, since the reinforcing members
8
extend parallel to the floor tunnel
7
in the vehicle longitudinal direction
6
, the reinforcing members
8
are subject to axial loads and create large reaction forces in the event of a full-lap collision. On the contrary, in the event of an offset collision, the reinforcing members
8
are subject to bending loads and create small reaction forces.
Moreover, due to the above-described structure, the reinforcing members
8
do not function as stiffening members of a sub-frame. Therefore, it is necessary to separately provide stiffening members, resulting in increases in cost and weight.
An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle front body structure creating controlled reaction forces upon collision, which is light in weight and low in cost.
An aspect of the present invention is a vehicle front body structure comprising: a floor panel with a floor tunnel extending in a vehicle longitudinal direction; front side members provided under the floor panel, extending in the vehicle longitudinal direction; a sub-frame fixed at its front and rear fixing points to the front side members, the rear fixing points being located on inner side in a vehicle transverse direction of the front fixing points; and reinforcing members fixed to the floor panel, each extending substantially in parallel to a straight line passing through the front and rear fixing points on transversely same side of the sub-frame, a front part thereof connected to a vicinity of the rear fixing point of the sub-frame and a rear part thereof connected to the floor tunnel of the floor panel.


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