Motor vehicles – With means for promoting safety of vehicle – its occupant or... – Responsive to engagement of portion of perimeter of vehicle...
Reexamination Certificate
1998-03-06
2001-08-21
Culbreth, Eric (Department: 3611)
Motor vehicles
With means for promoting safety of vehicle, its occupant or...
Responsive to engagement of portion of perimeter of vehicle...
C024S512000, C180S271000, C280S748000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06276483
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a safety device for a motor vehicle.
A safety device of this kind is disclosed in DE 2,151,599 C2 (B 60 R 21/04). Inside a dashboard, a deformation element is there arranged, extending more or less rectilinearly over the entire width of the vehicle and configured as a knee-restraining member. The deformation member is at the same time utilized to back up the steering gear and/or the pedal suspension. As illustrated in more detail specifically in the parallel application U.S. Pat. No. 3,856,103, in frontal a collision, owing to the attendant bulkhead intrusion, an impact on the pedal articulation is to be reckoned with, such that the pedal will be moved towards the occupants and thus considerably endanger the lower extremities especially. More recently, designs have been disclosed that provide either a swinging of the pedal towards the bulkhead (see DE 3,904,616 A1, B 60 T 7/06) or a retraction thereof from the footnotes (see esp. DE 4,305,290 A1, B 60 K 23/00). The principle of action common to the two sources last mentioned is that the bulkhead intrusion attendant upon a head-on collision leads to a relative displacement vis-á-vis a transversely extending and substantially flexurally rigid structural beam. From this relative motion, by a certain arrangement of functional parts associated with the pedal, a swinging or shifting motion is obtained.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is to provide a safety device and pedal action for motor vehicles whereby the danger of injury to occupants of the vehicle may be still further reduced.
This object is accomplished by providing a vehicle with at least one pedal articulated in a bearing block and at least one beam member extending over at least about one half the width of the vehicle and rigidly connected to the vehicle superstructure and to the bearing block, wherein the pedal is articulated so that it will be mechanically uncoupled from the vehicle bulkhead upon collision-related displacement of the bulkhead.
According to the invention, then, as also in DE 3,904,616 A1 and DE 4,305,290, the structural member extending transverse to the direction of travel is rendered flexurally rigid, and moreover uncoupled from the bulkhead in such manner that it will retain its spatial location even in a head-on or “offset” collision, despite bulkhead intrusion. Otherwise than in the cited sources, however, the pedal is not arranged between the flexurally rigid beam and the bulkhead, but on the flexurally rigid beam itself. Thus the pedal, distanced from the bulkhead as a rule, at least retains its position of safety for the occupants. According to especially advantageous modifications of the invention, however, alternatively or additionally, a swinging motion can be generated by obtaining actuating forces for the swing or shift of the pedal from the displacement of the bulkhead and/or fixtures.
The articulation of the pedal directly to a beam member integral with the superstructure is known in principle from DE 3,040,722 C2 (B 60 T 7/04). Starting from a floorplate, the beam member, to be sure, is there substantially vertical, and incidentally comes so close to an outside wall that in an impact on this wall by a colliding object in an accident, the entire beam and with it the pedal articulated therein must be expected to move inward.
Especially advantageous is an extension of the flexurally rigid beam member between two bodywork columns, viz. for example between the two so-called A-columns. By this measure, the stability of the bodywork in side collisions is definitely improved as well. A further embodiment of stability can be achieved by a massive integration of the beam member with a central tongue extending down the middle of the vehicle. In addition, the beam member according to the invention may be utilized for the lower abutment of a steering column. A heightened measure of safety is further provided if the steering column is equipped with a telescoping force absorber. The forces exerted by the occupant on the steering wheel during an accident are thus reduced to a tolerable measure.
Another advantage of the concept according to the invention is to be seen in that, for example by attachment of the brake force amplifier and main brake cylinder to the beam member, the acoustics in the passenger compartment may be improved, because there is no longer a direct acoustic transmission path from the engine compartment. In a preferred embodiment, all controls such as pedal, pushrod, brake amplifier and main brake cylinder pertaining to the braking system as well as other gear to actuate power controls and coupling or steering parts are integrated into one subassembly with the beam member. Supplementarily, suspension elements for an airbag support or a knee pad may also be provided on the beam member. The knee pad may alternatively be formed by a glove compartment cover capable of abutting at least indirectly on the beam member. This will generally also reduce the assembly outlay for a motor vehicle equipped with a pedal action according to the invention. It should also be mentioned that the beam member, being uncoupled from the bulkhead, is not exposed to any high stresses, so that in its stress analysis, only the actuating forces exerted on the pedals and the dead weight of other functional parts need be considered. For this reason, the beam member is preferably made of a light metal, for example extruded aluminum. A hollow section produced in this way with closed cross section may at the same time serve as a conduit for air or liquid.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3856103 (1974-12-01), Scholz et al.
patent: 3988945 (1976-11-01), Fasano
patent: 4297550 (1981-10-01), Leighton et al.
patent: 4779480 (1988-10-01), Stocker
patent: 4946195 (1990-08-01), Ioka et al.
patent: 5169172 (1992-12-01), Dolla
patent: 5211072 (1993-05-01), Barlas et al.
patent: 5239891 (1993-08-01), Stocker
patent: 5327797 (1994-07-01), Seifrit, Jr.
patent: 5460061 (1995-10-01), Redding et al.
patent: 5531135 (1996-07-01), Dolla
patent: 5563355 (1996-10-01), Pluta et al.
patent: 5615749 (1997-04-01), Kato
patent: 6006626 (1999-12-01), Notake et al.
patent: 2151599 (1973-05-01), None
patent: 2313115 (1974-09-01), None
patent: 2516659 (1975-10-01), None
patent: 3040722 (1981-05-01), None
patent: 3533420 (1987-03-01), None
patent: 3904616 (1989-08-01), None
patent: 3928869 (1990-03-01), None
patent: 4200360 (1993-07-01), None
patent: 93 07274.0 (1993-09-01), None
patent: 4305290 (1993-09-01), None
patent: 92 17184.2 (1994-05-01), None
patent: 4335511 (1994-05-01), None
patent: 4340633 (1994-06-01), None
patent: 4305049 (1994-08-01), None
patent: 4409235 (1994-10-01), None
patent: 4409324 (1994-10-01), None
patent: 4409285 (1994-10-01), None
patent: 4415642 (1994-12-01), None
patent: 19515852 (1995-11-01), None
patent: 378314 (1990-07-01), None
patent: 0659615 (1994-12-01), None
patent: 2031814 (1980-07-01), None
patent: 2062153 (1981-05-01), None
patent: 56163973 (1981-12-01), None
patent: 5170065 (1993-07-01), None
patent: 06211115 (1994-08-01), None
patent: 9706036 (1997-02-01), None
Knothe Ulrich
Sinnhuber Ruprecht
Thum Holger Michael
Vöge Frank
Baker & Botts L.L.P.
Culbreth Eric
Volkswagen AG
LandOfFree
Motor vehicle safety arrangement does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Motor vehicle safety arrangement, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Motor vehicle safety arrangement will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2542290