Front pillar for a vehicle

Details Front pillar for a vehicle Front pillar for a vehicle

2000-12-04

2002-01-22

Pape, Joseph D. (Department: 3612)

Land vehicles: bodies and tops

Bodies

Structural detail

C296S205000, C296S182100

Reexamination Certificate

active

06340203

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a front pillar for a vehicle which is preferably prevented from interfering with a front door while being deformed so as to absorb an impact applied thereto.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is known a front pillar for a vehicle which is designed to be deformed when an object collides thereagainst to thereby absorb an impact generated by the collision. For example, there is described such a front pillar for a vehicle in JP-A-9-39833.
FIG. 7
is a cross-sectional view of the related art front pillar shown in this publication. A front pillar
200
includes a pillar main body
203
formed into a tube-like body by joining a pillar inner
201
with a pillar outer
202
and a substantially U-shaped impact absorbing panel
204
acting to absorb an impact which is attached to the front face of the pillar main body
203
with an opening side thereof being oriented toward the pillar main body
203
.
Here, reference numeral
206
denotes a resin garnish;
207
: a windshield;
208
: a sealant;
211
: a window sash;
212
,
213
: weather strips; and
214
: a window glass of a front door.
Referring to
FIG. 8
, the function of the front pillar
200
will be described.
FIG. 8
is a functional diagram for explaining the function of the related art front pillar.
When an object collides against the front pillar
200
from the front of a vehicle, an external force is applied to the impact absorbing panel
204
via the resin garnish
206
, whereby the impact absorbing panel
204
is deformed.
This relaxes an impact force that is to be transmitted to the pillar main body
203
, but, for example, in the event that the impact absorbing panel
204
interferes with the window sash
211
while being deformed, the impact absorbing panel
204
is prevented from being deformed further.
As a result of this, it is conceived that the impact force applied to the impact absorbing panel
204
is not fully absorbed, whereby the impact is transmitted to the pillar main body
203
and the window sash
211
.
Additionally, with a door having no window sash or a so-called “sash-less” window, the deformation of the impact absorbing panel
204
is prevented similarly by a window glass (which corresponds to the window glass
214
), and therefore it is predicted that the impact is transmitted to the window glass of the door.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention was made to cope with this, and an object thereof is to provide a front pillar for a vehicle which is prevented from interfering with a front door while being deformed to thereby effectively absorb and relax an impact.
With a view to attaining the object, according to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a front pillar for a vehicle which is formed into a tube by joining an inner panel to an outer panel from a passenger compartment side, the outer panel being constituted by a front face which is substantially parallel with a windshield, an external side face which is formed by bending the front face in such a manner as to be substantially parallel with a window glass of a front door and a rear face which is formed by bending the external side face toward the passenger compartment. The outer panel is made thinner than the inner panel, and wherein the rear face facing the front door is bent so as to form a valley groove which is hollowed toward the interior of the tube, so that when a large magnitude of external force is applied to the front face in a rearward direction, the outer panel is allowed to be deformed more largely than the inner panel to thereby collapse the valley groove, whereby the rearward travel of the rear face can be reduced.
When a large magnitude of external force acts in the rearward direction on the front face of the outer panel, which is made thinner than the inner panel and in which the rear face thereof facing the front door is bent so as to form therein the valley groove which is hollowed toward the interior of the tube, the rearward travel of the rear face is reduced by causing the outer panel to be deformed more largely than the inner panel to thereby collapse the valley groove.
As a result of this, the interference of the rear face of the outer panel of the front pillar with the front door can be prevented, whereby the deformation of the front pillar is not disturbed, thereby making it possible to effectively absorb the impact applied to the front pillar.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5163730 (1992-11-01), Welch
patent: 5575500 (1996-11-01), Mimura et al.
patent: 5660426 (1997-08-01), Sugimori et al.
patent: 5720510 (1998-02-01), Daniel et al.
patent: 5762392 (1998-06-01), Suga
patent: 5803532 (1998-09-01), Karuppaswamy et al.
patent: 5836641 (1998-11-01), Sugamoto et al.
patent: 5868458 (1999-02-01), Hirata et al.
patent: 5941597 (1999-08-01), Horiuchi et al.
patent: 5988733 (1999-11-01), Kamo et al.
patent: 5992924 (1999-11-01), Noritake et al.
patent: 0040116730 (1991-11-01), None
patent: A-9-39833 (1997-02-01), None

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