JP7149042B2 - vehicle structure - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to vehicle structures such as automobiles.

As a specific example of the vehicle structure, there are structures described in Patent Documents 1 and 2.
In the vehicle structures described in these documents, the steering column that supports the steering shaft is attached to a pillar-to-pillar member (a member that spans between a pair of left and right pillars of the vehicle) of the vehicle, and the steering column is installed in the vehicle compartment. placed in the front. On the other hand, a brace is erected on the floor of the passenger compartment, and the upper part of this brace is connected to the pillar-to-pillar member.
According to such a configuration, the support rigidity of the steering column is increased by using the brace, and the effect of suppressing vibration of the steering column, the steering shaft, and the steering wheel can be obtained.

However, the prior art still has room for improvement as described below.

That is, when a frontal collision of a vehicle occurs, a large collision load is input to the front portion of the vehicle from the front side of the vehicle, and part of this load may act on the steering column. On the other hand, the steering column is generally mounted in a rearwardly inclined state so that the upper portion is located on the rear side of the vehicle rather than the lower portion. Therefore, when a load is applied to the steering column, the lower part of the steering column is displaced toward the rear of the vehicle. As a result, the steering column stands up in a position that is closer to vertical than it should be, and the upper part rises. do. Along with this, the steering shaft operated by the driver also rises. From the viewpoint of driver protection (passenger protection), it is desirable to appropriately prevent or suppress such phenomena.
As means for solving the above-described problems, it is conceivable to increase the rigidity of the floor portion to which the brace is connected (for example, the rigidity of the floor tunnel portion). However, adopting such a means causes an increase in vehicle weight and manufacturing costs. In addition, since it is not a means for actively lowering the upper portion of the steering column, the effect of preventing the upper portion of the steering column from rising is small.

JP-A-2000-128025 Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2014-227108

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been devised under the circumstances as described above, and is intended to suppress an increase in vehicle weight and manufacturing costs, and to raise the upper portion of the steering column when a frontal collision of the vehicle occurs. An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle structure capable of appropriately preventing or suppressing the defects that occur.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention takes the following technical means.

The vehicle structure provided by the present invention is supported by a predetermined support member, and the steering wheel is provided in the front part of the passenger compartment in a rearwardly inclined state so that the upper part is located on the rear side of the vehicle rather than the lower part. A column and a brace whose upper part is connected to the steering column or the support member via a brace upper connection portion are arranged to be spaced apart from each other in the vehicle width direction and extend in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, and midway in the longitudinal direction. A vehicle structure comprising a pair of left and right front side members provided with a kick-up portion that slopes forward upward along a front region of the floor portion of the vehicle compartment, The brace includes a main body portion extending in the vertical direction at a position on the rear side of the vehicle relative to the upper brace connecting portion, and a main body portion extending from the upper portion of the main body portion toward the front side of the vehicle to reach the upper connecting portion of the brace. and a bent arm portion connected to the main body portion in a bent form, and the lower portion of the main body portion of the brace is bent by a predetermined load or more applied to each of the front side members from the front side of the vehicle. The brace is connected to the kick-up portion or a portion that descends together with the kick-up portion via a brace lower connection portion so that the upper side of the steering column can be lowered when the kick-up portion descends. The lower connecting portion is also positioned on the rear side of the vehicle relative to the upper connecting portion of the brace .

According to such a configuration, the frontal collision of the vehicle occurs, and the collision load is input to the lower side of the steering column, which may cause the upper side of the steering column to rise. is obtained.
That is, when a frontal collision of the vehicle occurs and a large collision load exceeding a predetermined amount is applied to the front side member from the front side of the vehicle, the kick-up portion of the front side member, which is inclined forward upward, descends. Accompanying this, the brace is also lowered, and it is possible to lower the upper portion of the steering column. Therefore, when a frontal collision of the vehicle occurs, it is possible to effectively prevent the upper portion of the steering column and, in turn, the steering wheel from rising, thereby appropriately protecting the occupants. The deployment operation of the steering wheel airbag can also be performed accurately.
On the other hand, in the present invention, as means for lowering the upper part of the steering column, there is provided means for directly connecting the lower part of the brace to the kick-up portion or connecting it to a portion of the floor portion that descends together with the kick-up portion. Since it is adopted, the configuration can be made simple and compact. Therefore, it is possible to suppress an increase in vehicle weight and an increase in manufacturing costs.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become clearer from the following description of embodiments of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(a) is a schematic side cross-sectional view of a main part showing an example of a vehicle structure according to the present invention, and (b) is a schematic perspective view of a main part of (a). FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line II-II of FIG. FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory view of the vehicle structure shown in FIG. 1;

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings.

The vehicle structure B shown in FIG. It has a cross member 6 set on 11 .

The steering column 2 is a member that rotatably supports a steering shaft 21 having a steering wheel 20 attached to its upper end, and is a bracket fixed to a pillar-to-pillar member 7 (corresponding to an example of the supporting member according to the present invention). The mounting is achieved by being supported by 70 . The steering column 2 is installed in a rearwardly inclined mounting posture so that the upper portion is positioned on the rear side of the vehicle rather than the lower portion. The pillar-to-pillar member 7 is a member that spans between a pair of left and right pillars of the vehicle A, and is constructed using, for example, a cylindrical pipe material.

The brace 3 has an upper portion connected to the pillar-to-pillar member 7, a lower portion connected to the floor tunnel portion 11a of the floor portion 11, and an upper portion having a bending arm portion 30. It stands up in the vertical height direction at a position on the vehicle rear side. The brace 3 is originally intended to increase the strength of the pillar-to-pillar member 7 and thus the support strength of the steering column 2. It plays a role of suppressing the upward movement of the upper portion of the steering column 2 when a collision occurs.

The front side members 4 are body frame members extending in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. The front side member 4 includes a front portion 4a located in the engine room 12, a kick-up portion 4b connected to the rear end of the front portion 4a, and a kick-up portion 4b having a forwardly rising slope. It has an extended portion 4c extending to the rear side of the vehicle. The kick-up portion 4b and the extension portion 4c are joined to the lower surface side of the floor portion 11 of the passenger compartment 10, and the front region of the floor portion 11 located above the kick-up portion 4b is the kick-up portion 4b. is similarly slanted.

The kick-up portion reinforcement 5 is configured using a hat-shaped member in cross section similar to that of the front side member 4, and is located near the front end of the kick-up portion 4b and the extension portion 4c of the front side member 4 on the floor portion 11. It is arranged in a position overlapping with the area.
More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the kick-up portion reinforcement 5 is arranged to face the front side member 4 with the floor portion 11 interposed therebetween. and the pair of flange portions 40 of the front side member 4 are joined through the floor portion 11 by means such as spot welding.

The cross member 6 is made of, for example, a bent metal plate or a member with a hat-shaped cross-section. It is connected to the internal reinforcement 5 as a bridge. One end portion 6a and an intermediate portion 6c of the cross member 6 in the vehicle width direction are joined to the kickup portion reinforcement 5 and the floor portion 11, respectively.
On the other hand, the other end portion 6b of the cross member 6 in the vehicle width direction is sandwiched between the side wall portion of the floor tunnel portion 11a and the floor tunnel reinforcement 14 joined to the upper portion of the floor tunnel portion 11a. connected to these.

At the lower brace connecting portion J, the lower portion of the brace 3 is superimposed on the floor tunnel reinforcement 14, the other end portion 6b of the cross member 6, and the side wall portion of the floor tunnel portion 11a. A connection using bolts 9 is intended for the person. Instead of connecting means using bolts 9, or in addition, means such as welding may be used.
With such a configuration, the lower brace connection portion J of the floor tunnel portion 11a is rigidly connected to the kickup portion 4b via the cross member 6, the kickup portion reinforcement 5, and the floor portion 11. As will be described later, when a frontal collision of the vehicle A occurs and the kick-up portion 4b is lowered, the kick-up portion 4b is lowered accordingly (in the floor tunnel portion 11a, the brace lower connection portion J is provided corresponds to an example of the "part that descends together with the kick-up portion" in the present invention).

Next, the operation of the vehicle structure B described above will be described.

When a frontal collision of the vehicle A occurs and, as shown in FIG. 1, part of the collision load F acts as a force F1 that presses the lower part of the steering shaft 21, the upper part of the steering column 2 and the steering wheel 20 are There is a possibility that it will rise as indicated by an arrow Na. It is desirable to appropriately eliminate such fears.

On the other hand, according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, when a collision load F larger than a predetermined amount is input to the front side member 4 from the front side of the vehicle, the front portion 4a of the front side member 4 is compressed and deformed. While the shock absorbing effect is obtained, the rear portion of the kick-up portion 4b is lowered as indicated by the arrow Nb due to the displacement of the front portion 4a toward the rear side of the vehicle. Then, along with this, the brace lower connecting portion J is also lowered, and the brace 3 lowers the pillar-to-pillar member 7 as indicated by the arrow Nc. Therefore, the steering column 2 also descends, and the upward movement of the upper portion of the steering column 2 and the steering wheel 20 as indicated by the arrow Na in FIG. 1 is appropriately prevented or suppressed.

Further, in this embodiment, when the brace 3 descends, the bending arm portion 30 of the brace 3 rotates the pillar-to-pillar member 7 in the direction indicated by the arrow Nd (FIG. 3). This rotation causes the upper side of the steering column 2 to descend. As a result, the upward movement of the upper portion of the steering column 2 and the steering wheel 20 can be more thoroughly prevented or suppressed.

The invention is not limited to the content of the embodiments described above. The specific configuration of each part of the vehicle structure according to the present invention can be modified in various ways within the intended scope of the present invention.

In the above-described embodiment, the lower portion of the brace 3 is connected to the portion where the floor tunnel portion 11a, the floor tunnel reinforcement 14, and the cross member 6 are overlapped and joined, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the lower portion of the brace 3 may be connected to another portion of the cross member 6 or to the kick-up portion reinforcement 5. In this case also, when the frontal collision of the vehicle A occurs, the brace 3 is lowered. It is possible to obtain the effects intended by the present invention.
Further, in the present invention, a member different from the kick-up portion reinforcement 5 and the cross member 6 is connected to the kick-up portion 4b, and this member descends together with the kick-up portion 4b when a frontal collision of the vehicle A occurs. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the lower part of the brace 3 is connected to the member after setting to do so.
On the other hand, in the present invention, the lower portion of the brace 3 may be directly connected to the kick-up portion 4b of the front side member 4. FIG.

The upper portion of the brace 3 may be connected to a supporting member of the steering column 2 or the steering column 2 itself. The support member is not limited to the pillar-to-pillar member 7 .

B Vehicle structure J Brace lower connection part 10 Vehicle room 11 Floor part 2 Steering column 3 Brace 4 Front side member 4b Kick-up part (of front side member)
5 Kick-up reinforcement 6 Cross member 7 Pillar-to-pillar member (supporting member)

Claims (1)

a steering column supported by a predetermined support member and provided at the front part of the vehicle compartment in a rearwardly inclined state so that the upper part thereof is located on the rear side of the vehicle rather than the lower part thereof;
a brace whose upper part is connected to the steering column or the support member via a brace upper connection part ;
A kick-up section extends in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle while being spaced apart from each other in the vehicle width direction, and slopes upward along the front region of the floor section of the vehicle compartment in the middle of the longitudinal direction. A pair of left and right front side members provided,
A vehicle structure comprising:
The brace includes a body portion extending in the vertical direction at a position on the rear side of the vehicle relative to the brace upper connection portion, and a body portion extending from the upper portion of the body portion toward the vehicle front side to reach the brace upper connection portion. a bent arm connected to the main body in a bent form,
The lower portion of the main body portion of the brace is capable of lowering the upper portion of the steering column when the kick-up portion is lowered due to a load input from the front side of the vehicle to each of the front side members that is greater than or equal to a predetermined amount. , the brace lower connecting portion is connected to the kick-up portion or a portion that descends together with the kick-up portion via a brace lower connecting portion, and the brace lower connecting portion is also positioned on the vehicle rear side of the brace upper connecting portion . A vehicle structure, characterized by:

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