JPS644955B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a front body structure of an automobile in which the outer shell of the front end of the automobile is constituted by a soft fascia made of a soft skin member. It is something.

(Prior Art) Recently, the outer shell of the front end of an automobile has been constructed of a soft skin member called a soft fascia in order to have a high degree of molding freedom or to reduce weight. Conventionally, in order to fix the upper end of such a soft fascia to the vehicle body, a retainer integrated with the soft fascia was attached to a radiator shroud such as a shroud assemblage, as shown in Japanese Utility Model Application No. 52-112045. This was done by fixing it to the member.

By the way, recently, from a design standpoint,
The front nose is required to project significantly further forward than the radiator shroud member; It will be placed. Therefore, in such a vehicle, when supporting the soft fascia by the means described in the above-mentioned publication, the retainer integrated with the soft fascia must be extended far to the rear of the vehicle body and attached to the radiator. Alternatively, a retainer on the radiator shroud member side that extends further forward than the radiator shroud member may be separately provided, and a retainer on the soft facia side may be attached to the retainer on the radiator shroud member side. Become.

However, in any of the above cases, the retainer will extend significantly in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.
Problems will arise in terms of the support strength of the soft fascia. In other words, the weight of the soft fascia and the external force applied to its upper end are borne by the radiator shroud member via the elongated retainer supported in a cantilevered manner by the radiator shroud member. This poses a problem in that the retainer is easily bent and the attachment position of the soft fascia is greatly distorted.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and even when the soft fascia is located further forward than the radiator shroud member, the soft fascia can be To provide a front body structure for an automobile that can be securely attached to and supported by a vehicle body.

(Structure of the Invention) In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention has the following structure. In other words, it is a mounting structure for a soft fascia made of a soft skin member that covers the front of the vehicle body, and extends forward from a radiator shroud member that extends in the width direction of the vehicle to direct the running wind introduced from the front of the vehicle body to the radiator. A pair of left and right air guide side panels are provided for guiding, the lower ends of the pair of left and right air guide side panels are connected to the left and right side frames, and the lower ends of the pair of left and right air guide side panels are lower than the radiator shroud members of the pair of left and right air guide side panels. Upper end portions located at the front are connected to each other by a cross member extending in the vehicle width direction, and upper end portions located forward of the radiator shroud member of the pair of left and right air guide side panels extend in the vehicle width direction. They are connected by a fascia set plate, and the upper end of the soft fascia is supported by the fascia set plate. With this configuration, in front of the radiator shroud member, there are a pair of left and right fascias. The air guide side panels and the fascia set plates and cross member butts that connect the upper and lower ends of the pair of left and right air guide side panels create a rectangular structure with excellent strength when viewed from the front of the vehicle. A cross-sectional structure is formed, and the force applied to the soft fascia is firmly borne by the side frame through this closed cross-sectional structure.

In particular, when the soft fascia is positioned so as to protrude further forward than the radiator shroud member, the lateral rigidity of the front upper end of the side panel also increases as the wind guide side panel also protrudes further forward from the radiator shroud member. Although this makes it difficult to secure the lateral rigidity, sufficient lateral rigidity can be ensured by using the face set plate. Similarly, by using the cross member, sufficient lateral rigidity of the lower front end of the wind guide side panel is ensured.

(Example) In FIG. 1, the front end outer shell of an automobile A is constructed of a soft fascia 1 made of a soft skin member. In this embodiment, the soft fascia 1 includes a bumper portion 1a located at the frontmost position, and an air skirt portion 1b extending downward from the bumper portion 1a, and a central portion of the air skirt portion 1b in the vehicle width direction. A running wind inlet 1c for introducing running wind is opened.

The mounting structure part of the soft fascia 1 is attached to the second
To explain this with reference to Figures 4 to 4, 2 is a shroud top that extends in the vehicle width direction and is a component of the radiator shroud member, 3 is a pair of left and right side frames that extend in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, and 4 is a pair of left and right apron rainforests. Reference numeral 5 denotes a pair of left and right fender brackets, which extend forward arm portions 4a of the side frame 3 and apron reinforcement 4.
and the fender bracket 5 extend forward from the shroud upper 2, respectively.

Both ends of the shroud upper 2 are joined to the apron reinforcement 4, and a portion slightly inward in the vehicle width direction from both ends is connected via a pair of left and right struts 6 having a closed cross-section structure and extending in the vertical direction. , coupled to and supported by the side frame 3.
A space formed below the shroud upper 2 on the outer side of the pillar 6 in the vehicle width direction is partitioned in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body by a radiator shroud panel 7 whose plate surface is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body.
The radiator shroud panel 7 is joined to the shroud upper 2, the apron reinforcement 4, and the support column 6 at its peripheral edge. Also, for this radiator shroud panel 7, a rear flange portion 5 of the fender bracket 5 is attached.
a is joined to the upper end of the fender bracket 5, and the front extending arm 4a of the apron reinforcement 4 is joined to the upper end of the fender bracket 5. The lower front end of the fender bracket 5 is connected to the front end of the side frame 3 via a reinforcing bracket 8.

On the inner side in the vehicle width direction of the pair of left and right struts 6,
As shown in FIG. 4, each is provided with a radiator support bracket 9 whose plate surface is perpendicular to the vehicle width direction. This radiator support bracket 9 is
Its upper end is connected to the shroud topper 2, its lower end is connected to the side frame 3, and its vertical middle part is connected to the support column 6.
The radiator 10 arranged at the rear of the shroud upper 2 is attached to the rear flange part 9a formed at the rear end.
Supported.

In front of the shroud upper 2, a fascia set plate 11 extending in the vehicle width direction and a pair of left and right air guide side panels 12 are disposed. The air guide side panel 12 has its lower end joined to the side frame 3, and its flange 12a is joined to the front flange 9b of the radiator support bracket 9. Both ends of the fascia set plate 11, which is disposed in front of the shroud upper 2, are joined and supported by a pair of left and right wind guiding side panels 12. Further, a cross member 13 is installed between the lower ends of the pair of left and right wind guide side panels 12, and is positioned forward of the shroud uppers 2 and extends in the vehicle width direction.
The wind guide side panel 12 is reinforced to increase its rigidity in the vehicle width direction. The cross member 13 and the fascia set plate 11 are connected to each other by a front stay 14 at their respective intermediate portions in the vehicle width direction, thereby reinforcing the fascia set plate 11 at its intermediate portions in the vehicle width direction. . Furthermore, each intermediate portion of the cross member 13 and the shroud upper 2 in the vehicle width direction is connected to the rear stay 15.
The intermediate portion of the shroud upper 2 in the vehicle width direction is reinforced by this. As shown in FIG. 2, the upper end of the rear stay 15 is equipped with a locking device 17 (omitted in FIG. 3) for locking the bonnet 16. Of course, this locking device 17 is connected to the striker 1 provided on the bonnet 16, as in the conventional case.
8, the main lock is released by operating the main lock release knob (not shown) in the vehicle interior, resulting in a so-called half-lock state, and the bonnet 16 opens slightly.Insert your finger through this slightly opened gap to release the lock device. By operating the sub-lock release lever 17a of 17, the locking device 1
7 is now completely unlocked.

Between the cross member 13 and the shroud upper 2, a central wind guide panel 19 having a downwardly convex arc shape is installed. In the embodiment, the front end of the central wind guide panel 19 constitutes (also serves as) the bottom wall portion of the cross member 13, and as a result, the cross member 13 has a closed cross-section structure and its rigidity is increased. It's made stronger. Of course, the vertical position of the front end of the central wind guide panel 19 is set at approximately the same height as the upper opening edge of the running wind inlet 1c of the soft fascia 1, so that The introduced running wind passes between the pair of left and right wind guide side panels 12 and below the central wind guide panel 19, and is guided to the radiator 10. Further, in the embodiment, the side end portions of the central air guide panel 19 are joined to the air guide side panels 12 to further improve the strength.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 20 denotes a retractable headlamp, and second center 21 denotes a cross member in the form of a circular tube installed between a pair of left and right side frames 3 below the shroud upper 2. Further, although not shown in the drawings, a buffer body that substantially constitutes a bumper is provided to be located immediately behind the bumper portion 1a of the soft fascia 1, and the buffer body is held by the side frame 3. .

The installation of the soft fascia 1 described above is performed in the second
As shown in the figure, the upper end of the retainer 22 is connected to the face set plate 11.
It is fixed with screws 23 while being seated on top. In addition, the left and right ends of the soft fascia 1 are
It is fixed to the front flange portions 5b of the pair of left and right fender brackets 5 using screws (screw holes for this purpose are shown as 24 in FIG. 2). The front end of the forward extending arm 4a of the apron reinforcement 4 is joined to the front flange 5b, thereby reinforcing the front flange 5b.

Although the embodiments have been described above, the present invention is not limited thereto, and includes, for example, the following cases.

Although the locking device 17 is provided at the connecting portion between the shroud upper 2 and the rear stay 15, the locking device 17 is installed at the middle portion of the face set plate 11 in the vehicle width direction (between the face set plate 11 and the front stay). 14), and in this case, the rear stay 15 can be omitted.

The upper front end of the fender bracket 5 is connected to the upper front end of the assembly of the wind guiding side panel 12 and the fascia set plate 11 via the reinforcing bracket 25, as shown by the dashed line in FIG. In this case, the reinforcing bracket 25 may be integrally molded with the face set plate 11. By doing this, not only the rigidity of the fender bracket 5 is improved, but also the retractable headlamp 20 is prevented from being damaged by the soft fascia 1 that tends to protrude and deform rearward in the event of a collision or the like. This can be prevented as much as possible.

The front stay 14 and the rear stay 15 may be integrally molded as shown by reference numeral 26 in FIG.

Facia set plate 11, wind guide side panel 12, cross member 13, and front and rear stays 1
4, 15 and the central air guide panel 19 are made into one set in advance, and this assembled set is later integrated into the shroud upper 2 side, the precision of these assemblies can be improved. can.

(Effects of the Invention) As is clear from the above, the present invention has the following advantages:
The fascia set plate, which is placed in front of the radiator shroud member and to which the upper end of the soft fascia is attached, is supported by the side frame via a pair of left and right air guide side panels. Even when the soft fascia is positioned further forward than the radiator shroud member, the soft fascia can be securely fixed to the vehicle body. In particular, since the lower ends of the pair of left and right air guide side panels are connected and reinforced by a cross member, the structure of the vehicle body itself is excellent in strength.

Of course, the face set plate has a considerable length because it extends in the vehicle width direction and connects the pair of left and right wind guide side panels.
This makes it possible to support the soft facia over a wide area, which is also preferable from the viewpoint of supporting the soft facia, which is vulnerable to local forces.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of an automobile to which the present invention is applied. Figure 2 is a sectional view taken along the line shown in Figure 1. Third
The figure is a front perspective view showing the appearance of the automobile with the soft fascia removed. FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line -- in FIG. 3. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a modification of the stay. A...Automobile, 1...Soft fascia, 1c...Driving wind inlet, 2...Shroud top, 3...Side frame, 7...Radiator shroud panel, 10
...Radiator, 11...Facial set plate,
12...Air guide side panel, 13...Cross member.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A soft fascia mounting structure consisting of a soft skin member covering the front part of the vehicle body, which extends forward from a radiator shroud member extending in the vehicle width direction and is introduced from the front part of the vehicle body. A pair of left and right wind guide side panels are arranged to guide running wind to the radiator, lower ends of the pair of left and right wind guide side panels are connected to left and right side frames, and the lower ends of the pair of left and right wind guide side panels are connected to the radiator of the pair of left and right wind guide side panels. The lower end portions located forward of the shroud member are connected to each other by a cross member extending in the vehicle width direction, and the upper end portions of the pair of left and right air guide side panels located forward of the radiator shroud member are connected to each other by a cross member extending in the vehicle width direction. A front body structure for an automobile, characterized in that the soft fascias are connected by a fascia set plate extending in the vehicle width direction, and an upper end portion of the soft fascia is supported by the fascia set plate.