Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Seats with body modifications
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-21
2001-11-06
Gordon, Stephen T. (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Seats with body modifications
C296S182100, C297S216100, C297S216160, C297S216180
Reexamination Certificate
active
06312038
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an improved automotive vehicle body structure for enhancing the protection of vehicle occupants at the time of a vehicle crash while minimizing the vehicle weight.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In recent years, various proposals have been made in regard to automotive vehicle body structures to maximize the protection of vehicle occupants at the time of a vehicle crash. For instance, proposals have been made to minimize the deceleration of the part of the vehicle body occupied by vehicle occupants (or passenger compartment) by properly selecting the deformation of the remaining part of the vehicle body, and preventing the former part of the vehicle body from deforming (see Japanese patent laid open publication No. 7-101354, for instance).
However, only with such conventional approaches, it may be difficult to reduce the deceleration of the vehicle occupant in the case of small cars which do not provide adequate deformation strokes of the parts of the vehicle body other than the part occupied by the vehicle occupant.
Further, it is generally impossible to integrally attach a vehicle occupant to a vehicle body even if the seat is fixedly attached to the vehicle body because the seat belt for restraining the vehicle occupant to the seat has an inevitable slack. Thus, when a vehicle crash occurs, the deceleration acting upon the vehicle occupant at the time of a vehicle crash starts rising only after the vehicle occupant is fully restrained by the seat belt. Further, because the seat belt inevitably has a certain resiliency, the deceleration acting on the vehicle occupant, who tends to continue to move forward, reaches a maximum level when the maximum elongation of the seat belt takes place. The maximum deceleration level increases as the forward movement of the vehicle occupant with respect to the vehicle body under the inertial force increases, and is known to substantially exceed the average deceleration of the vehicle body. Therefore, in order to minimize the impact which the vehicle occupant receives at the time of a vehicle crash, it is necessary to minimize the time delay in the rise in the deceleration of the vehicle occupant with respect to the deceleration of the vehicle body and thereby reduce the forward movement of the vehicle occupant with respect to the vehicle body.
Proposals have been made in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,186,574 and 6,193,296, to impart a relative deceleration and acceleration to the vehicle seat or the member carrying the vehicle seat with respect to the main part of the vehicle body so that the vehicle occupant may experience a deceleration from an early stage of a vehicle crash, and the maximum vehicle occupant deceleration may be reduced by distributing the inertia force acting on the vehicle occupant over a longer period of time. The contents of these applications are hereby incorporated in this application by reference.
In the automotive vehicle body structure proposed in the previous applications, however, it is still desired to minimize the weight of the seat carrying member as well as the strength required thereto so as to reduce the total weight of the vehicle body and the manufacturing cost of the same.
Further, in view of the user's convenience, it is desired that the position of the seat is adjustable at usual times although the seat should be fixed to the seat carrying member at the time of a vehicle crash. It may be conceivable to provide the seat carrying member with a floor panel to mount a pair of guide rails thereon for slideably engaging slide shoes attached to the seat, and to provide a seat position adjustment mechanism to either one of the pair of guide rails. However, such a floor panel and a pair of guide rails provided to the seat carrying member would undesirably increase the weight of the seat carrying member.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the above problems in the prior art, a primary object of the present invention is to provide an automotive vehicle body structure comprising a seat carrying member that is moveable relative to the main part of the vehicle body to effect a desirable deceleration pattern of the seat at the time of a vehicle crash wherein the weight of the seat carrying member is significantly reduced.
A second object of the present invention is to provide such an automotive vehicle body structure wherein the strength required for the seat carrying member is significantly reduced.
A third object of the present invention is to provide such an automotive vehicle body structure which has a seat position adjustment mechanism so as not to deteriorate the vehicle occupant's convenience at usual times and which can achieve a seat deceleration that is effective in reducing the peak deceleration of the vehicle occupant
A fourth object of the present invention is to provide an automotive vehicle body structure which is simple in structure, and light in weight.
According to the present invention, these and other objects can be accomplished by providing an automotive vehicle body structure, comprising: a seat (
9
) which is fitted with a seat belt (
8
) for restraining a vehicle occupant (P) in the seat; a first member (
5
) attached to the seat and supported on a vehicle body so as to be moveable in a direction of an input crash load resulting from a vehicle crash, the first member being adapted to deform under the crash load while supporting an inertial force of said seat upon occurrence of the vehicle crash; a second member (
4
) which is connected to a main part of the vehicle body and adapted to deform under the crash load while supporting an inertial force of the vehicle body; and force generating means (
11
) for applying a force opposing said crash load to said first member with a certain time delay after the occurrence of the vehicle crash, wherein said first member comprises an elongated member (
6
) extending substantially in a fore-and-aft direction of said vehicle body, said elongated member having a portion adapted to substantially deform only after said force opposing the crash load is applied to said first member by said force generating means upon occurrence of the vehicle crash.
In this way, since a substantial part of the first member can be constituted by the longitudinally extending elongated member containing a deformable portion, the weight of the first member (or seat carrying member) can be minimized. The portion adapted to substantially deform may typically comprise a front portion of the elongated member of the first member.
Preferably, said seat is connected to said elongated member of said first member at a point substantially beneath a widthwise center of said seat so that at the time of a vehicle crash, the inertial force of the seat and the vehicle occupant will act in the direction that the elongated member of the first member extends and substantially no horizontal moment will be applied on the first member to thereby achieve reduction in the strength required for the first member.
It is also preferable if a seat position adjustment mechanism (
15
,
16
) is provided between said seat and said elongated member of said first member. Typically, said seat position adjustment mechanism comprises a latch finger (
15
) and a rack member (
16
). The seat position adjustment mechanism provided between the seat and the elongated member of the first member allows adjustment of the position of the seat at usual times and in case of a crash, functions to connect the first member and the seat integrally so that precise control of the seat deceleration can be achieved.
More preferably, a guide rail (
12
) for engaging a slide shoe (
13
) provided to the seat is secured on said second member so as to guide a position adjustment movement of said seat relative to said first member. Such an arrangement, in combination with the seat position adjustment mechanism provided between the seat and the elongated member of the first member, can allow the first member not to be equipped with a floor panel and a seat slide guide rail for seat position adj
Iwabe Tatsuo
Kamei Takahiro
Kawamura Yasushi
Motozawa Yasuki
Tsuruta Makoto
Engle Patricia
Gordon Stephen T.
Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
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