JP7499004B2 - Vehicle Structure - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a vehicle structure that includes a pillar garnish on the interior side of the upper part of the pillar.

Patent Document 1 discloses a structure for attaching a pillar trim to a center pillar. The pillar trim, which is attached to the interior side of the pillar as an interior member, is also called a pillar garnish. In Patent Document 1, a locking hole is formed through the upper end of the center pillar, and a hook is formed on the back side of the upper end of the pillar trim. The back side of the pillar trim is the outside of the passenger compartment of the pillar trim, i.e., the side facing the center pillar. The hook is bent upward from the back side of the pillar trim. The pillar trim is attached to the center pillar by inserting and hooking the hook into the locking hole from below.

Patent Document 2 discloses a mounting structure for mounting a seat belt sash guide to a rear pillar. The sash guide is a member that guides the seat belt to the shoulder of an occupant seated in a seat, and is also called a seat belt guide. In Patent Document 2, a seat belt reinforcement is built into the sash guide mounting portion in the inner panel of the rear pillar. The inner panel is formed with a mounting seat surface for mounting the sash guide. The inner panel and the seat belt reinforcement are spot welded at the mounting seat surface. The inner panel and the seat belt reinforcement are formed with bolt holes that penetrate the mounting seat surface. The sash guide is fixed with a nut by passing a bolt through the bolt hole from the inside of the vehicle compartment. The seat belt reinforcement is formed with a bead near the mounting seat surface.

JP 2011-98581 A Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-127312

When a hook is provided on the back side of the upper end of the pillar garnish and the hook is inserted into a locking hole formed in the upper end of the pillar, it is difficult for the worker to visually check the hook and the engagement hole from inside the vehicle compartment when installing the pillar garnish. This makes it difficult to assemble the pillar garnish to the pillar.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a vehicle structure that makes it easy to assemble a pillar garnish to a pillar.

A vehicle structure according to one aspect of the present invention includes:
A pillar garnish that is attached to the inside of the vehicle interior at the top of the pillar,
a seat belt guide attached to the pillar below the pillar garnish,
The pillar is
a guide attachment portion to which the seat belt guide is attached;
a bead protruding into the vehicle interior from a position above the guide attachment portion,
The pillar garnish has a lower end portion having a notch portion that overlaps with the bead.

The above vehicle structure allows the pillar garnish to be properly attached to a predetermined position on the upper part of the pillar by aligning the lower end of the pillar garnish so that the cutout portion and the bead overlap. With the above vehicle structure, when attaching the pillar garnish, the pillar garnish can be easily aligned while visually checking the bead and using the bead's position as a guide. Therefore, the above vehicle structure makes it easy to assemble the pillar garnish to the pillar.

When viewed from inside the vehicle, the cutout and bead overlap, so that the bottom end of the pillar garnish appears to be connected to the bead. This gives a nice appearance.

In addition, the presence of a bead can improve the strength of the guide mounting portion. When the seat belt is pulled, a load in the belt pulling direction may act from the seat belt guide to the guide mounting portion. Even if a load in the belt pulling direction acts on the guide mounting portion, the bead can suppress deformation of the guide mounting portion.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a main part of a vehicle structure according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing a main part of the vehicle structure according to the embodiment, with a pillar garnish removed. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line III-III of FIG. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV of FIG. FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view of the pillar garnish as viewed from the back side.

A specific example of a vehicle structure according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In each drawing, the same or corresponding parts are given the same reference numerals. In the drawings, "FR" indicates the front of the vehicle, "RR" indicates the rear of the vehicle, "LH" indicates the left side of the vehicle, "RH" indicates the right side of the vehicle, "UP" indicates the top of the vehicle, and "LWR" indicates the bottom of the vehicle. Hereinafter, these will be simply referred to as the front, rear, etc. The front-to-rear direction corresponds to the vehicle length direction. The left-to-right direction corresponds to the vehicle width direction. The up-down direction corresponds to the vehicle height direction.

[Embodiment]
A vehicle structure according to an embodiment will be described with reference to Figures 1 to 5. As shown in Figure 1, the vehicle structure includes a pillar 1, a pillar garnish 3, and a seat belt guide 5. The pillar garnish 3 and the seat belt guide 5 are attached to the interior side of the pillar 1. As shown in Figure 3, the pillar 1 has a guide attachment portion 11 to which the seat belt guide 5 is attached, and a bead 12 that protrudes into the interior of the vehicle. One of the features of the vehicle structure according to the embodiment is that the lower end of the pillar garnish 3 has a notch portion 32 that overlaps with the bead 12. In this vehicle structure, the lower end of the pillar garnish 3 is aligned so that the notch portion 32 and the bead 12 overlap, thereby making it easy to align the pillar garnish 3 with respect to the pillar 1.
Each component will be described in detail below.

<Pillar>
As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the pillar 1 extends in the vehicle height direction. The pillar 1 is disposed on both the left and right sides of the vehicle. In Figures 1 and 2, the upper part of the pillar 1 on the right side of the vehicle is viewed toward the rear seat side or the right front side of the vehicle interior. For the pillar 1 on the right side of the vehicle, the inside of the vehicle interior is the left side of the vehicle, and the outside of the vehicle interior is the right side of the vehicle. The longitudinal direction of the pillar 1 is generally along the vehicle height direction. In this embodiment, the pillar 1 is a center pillar, i.e., a B-pillar. The center pillar is disposed between a front door and a rear door, not shown.

3 and 4, the pillar 1 includes an inner panel 10 provided on the vehicle interior side and an outer panel 20 provided on the vehicle exterior side. As shown in FIG. 4, the cross-sectional shape of each of the inner panel 10 and the outer panel 20 is hat-shaped. The cross-sectional shape is a cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the pillar 1. The inner panel 10 is arranged so that the opening faces the vehicle exterior, that is, the upper side in FIG. 4. The outer panel 20 is arranged so that the opening faces the vehicle interior, that is, the lower side in FIG. 4. In other words, the inner panel 10 and the outer panel 20 are arranged so that their openings face each other. The pillar 1 is constructed by overlapping the edges of the inner panel 10 and the outer panel 20 and joining them by spot welding or the like. Although not shown in this embodiment, a pillar reinforcement may be provided between the inner panel 10 and the outer panel 20 as a reinforcing member.

(Mounting hole)
2 and 3, a mounting hole 13 to which the pillar garnish 3 is attached is provided in the upper part of the inner panel 10. As shown in Fig. 3, a clip 33 provided on the pillar garnish 3 is engaged in the mounting hole 13. The clip 33 will be described later.

(Guide mounting part)
As shown in Fig. 3, the inner panel 10 is provided with a guide mounting portion 11 to which the seat belt guide 5 is attached. The guide mounting portion 11 is located lower than the mounting position of the pillar garnish 3. The guide mounting portion 11 is provided with a seat surface in which a bolt hole 115 is formed. A bolt 53 for mounting the seat belt guide 5 is inserted into the bolt hole 115. A nut 55 is joined to the rear side of the guide mounting portion 11 at a position corresponding to the bolt hole 115. The rear side of the guide mounting portion 11 is the passenger compartment outer side of the inner panel 10. Although not shown in the present embodiment, a seat belt reinforcement may be provided as a reinforcing member on the rear side of the guide mounting portion 11.

(bead)
As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the inner panel 10 is provided with a bead 12. As shown in Figure 3, the bead 12 protrudes into the vehicle cabin from a position above the guide mounting portion 11. The bead 12 increases the rigidity of the inner panel 10, thereby improving the strength of the guide mounting portion 11. The bead 12 is located in the vicinity of the guide mounting portion 11. The bead 12 is formed along a direction intersecting the vehicle height direction. In this embodiment, the bead 12 is formed generally along the vehicle length direction, as shown in Figure 2.

<Seat belt guide>
As shown in Fig. 1, the seat belt guide 5 is attached below the pillar garnish 3. The seat belt guide 5 is a member that guides a seat belt 6, which is withdrawn from a retractor (not shown), to the shoulder of an occupant (not shown). The seat belt guide 5 has a guide hole 51 through which the seat belt 6 is inserted. As shown in Fig. 3, the seat belt guide 5 is attached to the inner panel 10 by inserting a bolt 53 into a bolt hole 115 formed in the guide attachment portion 11 and fastening it to a nut 55.

<Pillar garnish>
The pillar garnish 3 is attached to the upper part of the pillar 1 as shown in Figures 1 and 3. The pillar garnish 3 is disposed along the longitudinal direction of the pillar 1. In this embodiment, the pillar garnish 3 is attached only to the upper part of the pillar 1. The lower end of the pillar garnish 3 is disposed at a position overlapping the bead 12 when viewed from the inside of the vehicle compartment, or from the left side in Figure 3. In other words, the lower end of the pillar garnish 3 and the bead 12 are located at the same height in the longitudinal direction of the pillar 1, i.e., in the vehicle height direction. The lower end of the pillar garnish 3 and the bead 12 may partially overlap in the longitudinal direction of the pillar 1, or the lower end of the pillar garnish may overlap so as to cover the entire bead.

The pillar garnish 3 is made of resin. The cross section of the pillar garnish 3 is shaped like a square bracket. The cross section of the pillar garnish 3 refers to a cross section perpendicular to the vertical direction of the pillar garnish 3, i.e., the longitudinal direction of the pillar 1. The pillar garnish 3 is attached so that its opening faces the outside of the vehicle compartment, i.e., toward the pillar 1. As shown in FIG. 4, the pillar garnish 3 is arranged to sandwich the inner panel 10 from both the front and rear. The side of the pillar garnish 3 that faces the outside of the vehicle compartment, i.e., the side that faces the inner panel 10, is the back side. The side of the pillar garnish 3 that faces the interior of the vehicle compartment is the front side, which is the design surface.

(Notch)
As shown in FIG. 1, a notch 32 is formed at the lower end of the pillar garnish 3. As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the notch 32 overlaps with the bead 12. In this embodiment, the bead 12 is not completely covered by the pillar garnish 3 when viewed from the inside of the vehicle compartment, or from the left side in FIG. 3. That is, the lower end of the pillar garnish 3 does not reach the lower side of the bead 12, and the lower end of the pillar garnish 3 and the bead 12 partially overlap in the longitudinal direction of the pillar 1. This allows the position of the bead 12 to be as close as possible to the guide attachment portion 11 while ensuring a certain clearance between the lower end of the pillar garnish 3 and the seat belt guide 5. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the notch 32 overlaps with the top of the bead 12, and the lower end of the pillar garnish 3 is located in the middle of the bead 12 in the longitudinal direction of the pillar 1. The lower side of the bead 12 is exposed from the lower end of the pillar garnish 3. In contrast, if the bead 12 is completely covered by the pillar garnish 3, the lower end of the pillar garnish 3 will cover the underside of the bead 12. In this case, it is difficult to ensure a clearance between the lower end of the pillar garnish 3 and the seat belt guide 5 when the bead 12 and the guide attachment portion 11 are in close proximity to each other.

The cutout portion 32 is formed generally along the shape of the bead 12 so as to abut or be close to the bead 12. At least a portion of the opposing surfaces of the bead 12 and the cutout portion 32 may be in contact with each other. There may be a gap between the above surfaces, but the gap is so small that the front and rear positions of the lower end of the pillar garnish 3 are generally restricted when the cutout portion 32 is overlapped with the bead 12.

(clip)
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the pillar garnish 3 has a clip 33 for attachment on its rear side. The clip 33 is made of resin. As shown in FIG. 3, the clip 33 protrudes from the rear side of the pillar garnish 3 toward the inner panel 10. In this embodiment, one clip 33 is provided on each of the upper and lower parts of the pillar garnish 3. Each clip 33 is located in the center of the pillar garnish 3 in the front-rear direction. The positions and number of the clips 33 can be set appropriately. In this embodiment, the clip 33 is attached to a boss 34 formed on the rear side of the pillar garnish 3. The clip 33 may be integrally formed with the pillar garnish 3. The pillar garnish 3 is attached to the inner panel 10 by pushing the clip 33 into the attachment hole 13 formed in the inner panel 10. Unlike this embodiment, the pillar garnish 3 may be attached to the inner panel 10 by adhesion or the like.

(shock absorbing material)
In this embodiment, as shown in Fig. 5, a shock absorbing material 35 is provided on the rear side of the pillar garnish 3. The shock absorbing material 35 is a member that reduces the impact on the head when the head of an occupant collides with the pillar garnish 3 during a collision or the like. The shock absorbing material 35 is formed of a molded body of a foamed resin such as polypropylene, polyethylene, or polyurethane. The shape of the shock absorbing material 35 is not particularly limited, and in this embodiment, it is block-shaped.

<Action and Effect>
The vehicle structure of the present embodiment provides the following advantages.

The pillar garnish 3 is easy to assemble to the pillar 1. When attaching the pillar garnish 3, the clip 33 is aligned to a position corresponding to the mounting hole 13 by aligning the lower end of the pillar garnish 3 so that the notch 32 overlaps the bead 12. Therefore, even if the clip 33 and the mounting hole 13 cannot be seen from inside the vehicle, the pillar garnish 3 can be properly attached to a predetermined position on the upper part of the pillar 1 by visually aligning the notch 32 so that it overlaps the bead 12. In addition, when the pillar garnish 3 is attached, the clip 33 and the mounting hole 13 are hidden by the pillar garnish 3 and cannot be seen from inside the vehicle, so the design is not impaired.

By overlapping the cutout portion 32 and the bead 12, the opening of the cutout portion 32 is blocked by the bead 12. In other words, it appears as if there is a continuous line from the underside of the bead 12 to the surface of the pillar garnish 3, which is highly aesthetically pleasing. In addition, the bead 12 is not completely covered by the pillar garnish 3, and the cutout portion 32 is positioned so as to overlap the top of the bead 12. This allows the bead 12 to be brought close to the guide mounting portion 11.

The bead 12 can improve the strength of the guide mounting portion 11. When an occupant moves forward during a collision, the seat belt 6 is pulled accordingly. When the seat belt 6 is pulled, a load in the belt pulling direction acts from the seat belt guide 5 to the guide mounting portion 11. When an occupant moves forward, the belt is pulled mainly forward. As described above, the bead 12 can be brought close to the guide mounting portion 11, so that the bead 12 can effectively reinforce the guide mounting portion 11 against the load in the belt pulling direction. Therefore, even if a load in the belt pulling direction acts on the guide mounting portion 11, deformation of the guide mounting portion 11 can be suppressed. For example, peeling of the joint between the inner panel 10 and the outer panel 20 at the position where the guide mounting portion 11 is provided can be suppressed. Furthermore, since the bead 12 is formed along the vehicle length direction, the belt pulling direction and the extension direction of the bead 12 are approximately parallel, so that the strength of the guide mounting portion 11 in the belt pulling direction can be easily increased.

The present invention is not limited to these examples, but is intended to include all modifications within the scope of the claims and meaning equivalent to the claims. For example, the pillar 1 may be a rear pillar, i.e., a C-pillar. In the above embodiment, a configuration in which the lower end of the pillar garnish 3 and the bead 12 partially overlap in the longitudinal direction of the pillar 1 is illustrated, but a configuration in which the lower end of the pillar garnish 3 covers the entire bead 12 is also possible.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 pillar 10 inner panel 20 outer panel 11 guide mounting portion 115 bolt hole 12 bead 13 mounting hole 3 pillar garnish 32 cutout portion 33 clip 34 boss 35 shock absorbing material 5 seat belt guide 51 guide hole 53 bolt 55 nut 6 seat belt

Claims (1)

A pillar garnish that is attached to the inside of the vehicle interior at the top of the pillar,
a seat belt guide attached to the pillar below the pillar garnish,
The pillar is
a guide attachment portion to which the seat belt guide is attached;
a bead protruding into the vehicle interior from a position above the guide attachment portion,
The pillar garnish has a lower end portion having a notch portion overlapping with the bead.
Vehicle structure.

Images