Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Structural detail
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-15
2001-01-30
Pape, Joseph D. (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Structural detail
C296S203020, C296S070000, C296S072000, C280S779000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06179372
ABSTRACT:
The disclosures of Japanese Patent Application Nos. HEI 10-261941 filed on Sep. 16, 1998 and HEI 11-118547 filed on Apr. 26, 1999 including the specifications, drawings and abstracts are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a structure of the front portion of a vehicle body of an automobile, and more particularly to that of a passenger car.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in
FIG. 6
, a structure of the front portion of a vehicle body has been suggested. The structure incorporates front side members
10
disposed in the side portions of a vehicle body and extending in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle; a dash cross member
11
extending in the lateral direction of the vehicle and structured to connect the right and left front side members
10
to each other; front pillars
12
disposed to the rear of the dash cross member
11
at positions in the side portions of the vehicle; an instrument panel reinforcement
13
laterally extending and disposed between the front pillars
12
which are disposed in the right and left portions of the vehicle; and pillar braces
14
for connecting the front side members
10
and the front pillars
12
to each other. The structure of the front portion of a vehicle incorporating the pillar braces which are connected to the front side members and the front pillars has been disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. HEI 10-45034.
When the automobile collides thereby exerting a great load F to the front side members
10
in the direction to the rear of the vehicle, the load F is, as indicated with an arrow, transmitted to the portions of the front side members
10
which are connected to the pillar braces
14
. Thus, the load F is transmitted to the front pillars
12
through the pillar braces
14
. On the other hand, the load F is transmitted rearwards along the front side members
10
. If the amount of deformation of the front side member
10
is enlarged, the load is directly transmitted from tires
15
to the front pillars
12
. As a result, deformation of the front pillar
12
is excessively increased. Thus, there arises a problem in the opening/closing performance of the front door pivotally connected to the front pillar
12
.
Since only the deformation of the front pillar cannot sufficiently absorb the energy of the collision, the dash panel disposed below the instrument panel reinforcement and arranged to partition the cabin of the vehicle from the engine room has to be vertically bisectioned to increase the thickness of the lower portion. Thus, the energy of the collision is absorbed preventing deformation of the vehicle body.
Since the dash cross member
11
connects the right and left front side members
10
to each other, a portion of the rearward load F is dispersed in the lateral direction through the dash cross member
11
. The instrument panel reinforcement
13
cannot disperse a portion of the rearward load F in the lateral direction because the front pillar
12
is deformed prior to transmission of the load to the instrument panel reinforcement
13
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, it is an object of the present invention to provide a structure of the front portion of a vehicle body of an automobile designed to use an instrument panel reinforcement disposed between right and left front pillars in order to support a steering column, an air conditioner and other instruments to prevent deformation of the front pillar in the event of a collision.
According to the present invention, it is another object of the present invention to provide a structure of the front portion of a vehicle body of an automobile which uses the instrument panel reinforcement and the dash cross member to prevent deformation of the front pillar in the event of a collision.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a structure of the front portion of a vehicle body of an automobile including a front side member disposed in the side portion of a vehicle body and extending in the longitudinal direction of a vehicle, an instrument panel reinforcement disposed between front pillars, which are disposed in the right and left portions of the vehicle body, and extending in the lateral direction of the vehicle, and a pillar brace connected to the front side member disposed in the side portion and the instrument panel reinforcement.
When the vehicle collides exerting a load to the rearward direction of the vehicle, the load is transmitted to a portion of the front side member which is connected to the front pillar so that the load is transmitted to the front pillar through the pillar brace. On the other hand, the load is transmitted to the rear portion of the vehicle along the front side member. The load transmitted to the front pillar through the pillar brace acts to deform the front pillar in a direction toward the outside of the cabin. Since the instrument panel reinforcement is connected to the pillar brace, the load for deforming the front pillar to the outside of the cabin is, however, exerted to the instrument panel reinforcement as a tensile load. Thus, the load is dispersed in the lateral direction of the vehicle owing to the instrument panel reinforcement.
Since the pillar brace is directly connected to the instrument panel reinforcement, the load which is exerted to the front pillar through the pillar brace can be borne and dispersed by the instrument panel reinforcement. Thus, the deformation of the front pillar can be prevented and energy of the collision can be absorbed. Therefore, a necessity of vertically bisecting the dash panel and enlarging the thickness of the lower portion of the dash panel can be eliminated.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the instrument panel reinforcement is connected to the front pillar through the pillar brace. That is, the pillar brace is connected to the front pillar, while the instrument panel reinforcement is connected to the pillar brace.
The foregoing aspect enables the pillar brace connected to the front pillar to be used as brackets for the instrument panel reinforcement. Therefore, material waste caused by individual provision of the brackets, and unnecessary workload can be prevented.
The first aspect may be structured such that the front side member incorporates a front portion extending substantially straight in a side view and a bent portion bent downwards from the front portion in the side view, and the pillar braces are connected to the front side members at the rear portions of the front portions. A structure may be employed in which a first angle defined by an extension of the axial line of the front portion in the side view and the pillar brace and a second angle defined by an extension of the axial line of the front portion in the side view and the bent portion are determined such that the first angle is smaller than the second angle when the strength of a portion of the vehicle body above the axial line is higher than the strength of a portion of the vehicle body below the axial line, and the first angle is larger than the second angle when the strength of the portion of the vehicle body above the axial line is lower than the strength of the portion of the vehicle body below the axial line.
The load caused by the collision of an automobile is exerted to the portion of the front side member which is connected to the pillar brace. Then it is transmitted to the front pillar through the pillar brace. Meanwhile, the load is also transmitted rearward through the bent portion of the front side member. At this time, the load distributed according to the strength of the upper portion of the vehicle body and that of the lower portion of the vehicle body is exerted to the pillar braces and the bent portions of the front side members.
The foregoing aspect causes the load distributed in accordance with the strength of the vehicle body, that is, the load distributed such that a larger portion of the load is distri
Fukushima Keiichi
Sakamoto Sunao
Pape Joseph D.
Patel Kiran
Pillsbury Madison & Sutro LLP
Toyota Jidosha & Kabushiki Kaisha
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