Vehicle fenders – Buffer or bumper type – With grille or radiator guard
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-12
2001-11-13
Gordon, Stephen T. (Department: 3612)
Vehicle fenders
Buffer or bumper type
With grille or radiator guard
C293S155000, C293S102000, C180S068600
Reexamination Certificate
active
06315338
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to vehicle grille or brush guards.
2. Description of the Art
Vehicle grille or brush guards are typically formed of a tubular frame structure having horizontal slats and/or vertical posts mounted within an outer frame. The brush guard is mounted by means of brackets in front of the vehicle grille and headlights.
Typically, brush guards have been mounted over the top and front of the bumper and connected to the top or side of the vehicle frame rails or extend below the bumper to a connection with the bottom of the frame rails. Such mounting arrangements place a portion of the brush guard in front of the vehicle front bumper where it is in a position to contact an object during a front collision before the bumper engages the object.
However, the placement of a vehicle brush guard in front of the bumper raises a significant problem with respect to the on-board collision sensors which are designed for interaction with crush surfaces in the vehicle to activate a passenger restraint, such as an air bag, at the proper time during a front end collision so that the air bag inflates in sufficient time to absorb forward motion of the vehicle front seat occupant(s).
The conventional mounting of vehicle brush guards in front of the vehicle will cause the vehicle crush surfaces to begin their movement toward each other and result in an earlier engagement with and earlier triggering of the vehicle collision sensors which activate the air bag restraint slightly earlier than would be normal if the vehicle did not have a brush guard and the vehicle bumper itself, as it was originally designed, first contacted the object. An earlier than designed activation of the air bag during a front collision will cause the air bag to inflate earlier than normal such that the air bag itself would be starting to deflate when first contacted by a vehicle front seat occupant. This, of course, negates the restraint features provided by the air bag.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a vehicle brush guard mountable in front of the vehicle grille which does not change the spatial relationship between the vehicle crush surfaces which trigger collision sensors used to activate a vehicle passenger restraint air bag in a front end collision.
SUMMARY
The present invention is a vehicle attachment is the form of a brush guard mountable on a vehicle in a position which does not change the vehicle front end collision sensor activation sequence during a front-end collision with the vehicle bumper. In one aspect, the vehicle attachment is a brush guard and a mounting member for mounting the brush guard to a vehicle frame where the front surface of the brush guard is disposed behind a front-most edge of the front vehicle bumper.
The brush guard, in an exemplary aspect, is constructed of spaced, joined members. Each of a pair of mounting members includes means for attaching the mounting members to the brush guard. Each mounting member includes a mounting surface or portion mountable between the bumper mounting bracket and the bumper frame rail mounting bracket of a vehicle. Each mounting member also has a crush surface which is designed to be positioned in the same spacial relationship from a vehicle mounted sensor activation crush surface as the original crush surface on the bumper mounting bracket.
In one aspect of the invention, a pair of brush guard mounting members are provided on the brush guard. Each one of the pair of brush guard mounting members has a first crush surface nominally spaced from a sensor crush surface at the first spacing.
In another aspect of the invention, outrigger support brackets are mounted between a laterally outboard position of the brush guard and the vehicle bumper. Preferably, the brush guard is releasably connected to the outrigger support bracket.
The brush guard mounting member, in one aspect, is movably mountable on the bumper mounting bracket. In another aspect, the brush guard mounting member is pivotal relative to the bumper mounting bracket under vehicle collision forces.
The mounting members provide a secure mount for a brush guard on a vehicle without requiring the brush guard to be attached to the bumper of the vehicle. More importantly, the mounting members mount the brush guard on a vehicle in a position above the top surface of the bumper so that the brush guard does not extend forwardly of the foremost surface of the bumper. This prevents the brush guard from interfering with the normal crush sequence of the bumper and collision sensors of the vehicle during a front end collision.
The crush surfaces formed on the brush guard mounting members act in the same fashion as similar crush surfaces normally found on the bumper mounting brackets to trigger or activate the vehicle collision sensors at the same time during a front collision as the bumper mounting brackets in a vehicle crush sequence for nominal operation of the inflatable passenger restraint air bags.
The present brush guard is easily attachable to existing vehicles despite the different vehicle bumper mounting configurations.
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Adelman Edwin M.
Bartel James J.
Schneider Michael J.
Gordon Stephen T.
Patel Kiran B.
Transportation Design & Manufacturing
Young & Basile P.C.
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