Vehicle hood apparatus

Details Vehicle hood apparatus Vehicle hood apparatus

2000-07-07

2001-09-25

Dickson, Paul N. (Department: 3618)

Motor vehicles

With means for promoting safety of vehicle, its occupant or...

Responsive to engagement of portion of perimeter of vehicle...

Reexamination Certificate

active

06293362

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a hinged hood apparatus for covering a front engine room of a vehicle and, more particularly, to a vehicle hood apparatus arranged such that when a vehicle employing the hood apparatus collided with an obstacle while running, it mitigates the collision impact applied to the obstacle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When an obstacle is hit by a running vehicle, the obstacle is often hit first by a front bumper of the vehicle, flown up and then landed on the hood. At this time, the obstacle is imparted with an impact of collision with the hood.
For mitigating such a collision impact, a vehicle hood apparatus is proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI-9-315266. The proposed hood apparatus is arranged such that upon collision, a rear end of the hood is lifted to provide a gap between the hood and an engine compartment or room so that the hood can deform downward to thereby absorb collision energy. In the hood apparatus, the collision of the vehicle with the obstacle is detected by a collision sensor. Based on a collision signal output from the collision sensor, a control unit actuates a rod of a hood lifting/retaining mechanism to ascend to cause a flexible link mechanism to extend or stretch to thereby lift a rear end of the hood so that a gap is provided between the hood and the engine room and the hood can be retained at its lifted position.
However, the obstacle hit by the vehicle does not always bump against an upper surface of the hood. In this instance, the lifted hood does nothing but to obstruct a driver's view. Since it is undesirable to obstruct a driver's view, the hood should soon be returned to its original position.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle hood apparatus which can instantly free a driver from a state in which his view is obstructed by a hood lifted upon collision of an obstacle with a vehicle.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle hood apparatus for, when a vehicle collided with an obstacle, lifting a hood at a frontal part of the vehicle a predetermined amount and retaining the hood at a lifted position, the hood apparatus comprising a timer for timing a predetermined time elapsed from the lift of the hood; and a hood-returning actuator for, when the predetermined time elapsed, returning, based on a signal outputted from the timer, the hood to a position where the hood was before lifting thereof.
When the vehicle collided with the obstacle and the predetermined time elapsed after the hood is lifted, it is determined that the obstacle will no longer collide with the hood, thereby causing the hood-returning actuator to return the hood to its original position. As a result, a driver's view obstructed by the lifted hood can be instantly cleared.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle hood apparatus for, when a vehicle collided with an obstacle, lifting a hood at a frontal part of the vehicle a predetermined amount and retaining the hood at a lifted position, the hood apparatus comprising: a hood collision detecting sensor for, when the obstacle collided with the hood, outputting a collision signal corresponding to the detected collision; a hood-returning actuator being operable to return the lifted hood to an original position thereof; and a hood-returning control section for, when fed with the collision signal after the hood is lifted and when fed with no collision signal but the time elapsed from the lift of the hood falls within the predetermined time, controlling the hood-returning actuator such that the actuator retains the hood at its lifted position, and for, when the predetermined time elapsed from the lift of the hood without being fed with the collision signal, controlling the hood-returning actuator such that the actuator returns the hood to its original position.
In the thus-arranged apparatus, the hood is lifted upon collision of the vehicle with the obstacle. When the hood collision detecting sensor detected the collision of the obstacle with the hood after the hood is lifted, the lifted hood is held in its lifted position so that the hood can substantially deform to thereby mitigate or absorb the collision impact applied to the obstacle.
When the predetermined time elapsed without the collision of the obstacle against the hood being detected by the hood collision detecting sensor, the hood is returned to a position where it was before it was lifted. As a result, a driver's view obstructed by the lifted hood can be instantly cleared.


REFERENCES:
patent: 3709316 (1973-01-01), Glance
patent: 4249632 (1981-02-01), Lucchini et al.
patent: 4572314 (1986-02-01), Anguera
patent: 4753475 (1988-06-01), Mochida
patent: 6182782 (2001-02-01), Matsuura et al.
patent: 6217108 (2001-04-01), Sasaki
patent: 9-315266 (1996-05-01), None
patent: 10-258774 (1997-03-01), None
patent: 11-34925 (1997-07-01), None
patent: 11-115680 (1999-04-01), None
patent: 12-264146 (2000-09-01), None
Specification of Application No.: 09/610,187.
Specification of Application No.: 09/611,249.
Specification of Application No.: 09/613,125.
Specification of Application No.: 09/619,323.

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