JP2003312419A - Knee bolster for automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a knee bolster for an automobile for effectively reducing a chest injury value by stably and properly restricting knees and the waist in a collision. <P>SOLUTION: This knee bolster is arranged inside an instrument panel in front of a seat, and has knee pads 13 supported by a body side reinforcement 12 via brackets 11, and oppositely arranged in a knee part M<SB>1</SB>of an occupant M. The knee pads 13 have a load-displacement characteristic showing almost constant load up to a prescribed range of a deformation displacement quantity. At least its hardness and a dimension including the thickness are set to absorbing input energy before reaching a prescribed displacement quantity. Left and right hard urethane pads 13L and 13R correspondingly arranged in the knee part M<SB>1</SB>of the occupant M are included as the knee pads. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a knee bolster used as a safety measure in a vehicle collision such as a passenger car.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In vehicles such as passenger cars, various restraint devices such as knee airbags and pretension seat belts are used as a method of restraining knees and hips in a collision to reduce the injury value of the chest. Has been done.

FIG. 7 shows a conventional example of this type of restraint device. This example is a sheet metal type knee bolster arranged inside the instrument panel in front of the seat (driver's seat). In this example, the panel member 102 is supported via the sheet metal bracket 101 by utilizing the reinforcement 100 arranged inside the instrument panel. According to this knee bolster, the knee portion M1 of the occupant M at the time of a vehicle collision
Is to restrain the knee portion M1 from entering.

[0004]

However, in the conventional knee bolster as described above, the sheet metal bracket 1 is used.
Since 01 was not crushed under a constant load, it could not be constrained under a constant load. That is, the metal plate bracket 101
When the rigidity strength is weak, the knee part M1 cannot be sufficiently restrained, and as shown in FIG. 8A, the sheet metal bracket 101 is considerably deformed and displaced by the input load from the knee part M1. The load-displacement characteristic in this case is represented by the curve A in FIG. In FIG. 9, the vertical axis of the graph shows the input load (F) to the knee bolster, and the horizontal axis shows the amount of deformation displacement (S).

On the other hand, when the rigidity of the sheet metal bracket 101 is high, the amount of displacement of the sheet metal bracket 101 is small and the thigh load becomes large as shown in FIG. 8B. The load-displacement characteristic in this case is represented by the curve B in FIG. As described above, as can be seen from the characteristics of FIG. 9, it is difficult to restrain the knee portion M1 in a stable manner, so that it is difficult to restrain the knee and the waist properly, and it is not always possible to effectively reduce the amount of flexure of the chest portion. could not.

In view of the above points, an object of the present invention is to provide a knee bolster for an automobile, which stably and properly restrains the knees and hips during a collision and effectively reduces the chest injury value.

[0007]

A knee bolster for a vehicle of the present invention is a knee bolster for a vehicle arranged inside an instrument panel in front of a seat, and is supported by a body side reinforcement through a bracket. In addition, the knee pad is disposed so as to face the occupant's knee.

In the knee bolster for an automobile according to the present invention, preferably, the knee pad has a load-displacement characteristic in which a load is substantially constant up to a predetermined range of a deformation displacement amount, and an input is performed before the predetermined displacement amount is reached. It is configured to be able to absorb energy.

In the knee bolster for an automobile of the present invention, preferably, the knee pad is set to have dimensions including at least its hardness and thickness so as to absorb the input energy before reaching a predetermined displacement amount. There is.

In the knee bolster for an automobile according to the present invention, the knee pads preferably include left and right hard urethane pads arranged corresponding to both knees of an occupant.

According to the present invention, the knee pad has a load-displacement characteristic in which the applied load is substantially constant within a predetermined range of the deformation displacement amount, and can absorb the input energy before the predetermined displacement amount is reached. It is configured. In this case, in particular, the knee pad is set to have a dimension including at least its hardness and thickness so that the knee pad can absorb the input energy before reaching a predetermined displacement amount. As a result, the input or impact energy can be absorbed with a constant load, and the knee or the like can be properly restrained.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of a knee bolster for an automobile according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a knee bolster according to the present invention. In this embodiment, for example, in a vehicle such as a passenger car, the knee bolster 10 is arranged inside the instrument panel in front of the driver's seat.
The knee bolster 10 is supported by the body-side reinforcement 12 via a bracket 11, and the knee portion M1 of the occupant M is supported.
Has a knee pad 13 arranged so as to face.

In this example, the knee pad 13 includes a pair of left and right hard urethane pads 13L and 13R which are arranged corresponding to both knees M1 of the occupant M. As shown in FIG. 2, the knee pad 13 is arranged inside the instrument panel 1 at substantially the same height as the knees M1. The left and right pads 13L and 13R are set at predetermined positions near the lower part of the instrument panel 1, that is, positions corresponding to the heights of both knees M1 of the occupant M who has boarded and sat down.

FIG. 4 shows a specific structure of the knee bolster 10 in this embodiment. Reinforce 12
Is laterally supported on the body side inside the instrument panel 1. The bracket 11 is fixed to the reinforcement 12 so as to project toward the occupant (that is, the rear of the vehicle). The bracket 11 is composed of left and right metal brackets 11L and 11R, and the bracket 11L has a plurality of bracket members fixed to the reinforcement 12 directly or indirectly, and two bracket members 14 and 15 in the figure. Similarly, the bracket 11R has a plurality of bracket members fixed to the reinforcement 12 directly or indirectly, that is, two bracket members 1 in the figure.
6 and 17. Then, as shown by left-handed rotation in FIG.
The left and right pads 13L and 13R are attached to the brackets 11L and 11R by fastening with bolts via the attachment brackets 18 and 19, respectively.

Here, in the knee bolster 10 of the present invention, the knee portion M1 of the occupant M enters the knee pad 13 as shown in FIG. In this case, the knee pad 13
As shown in FIG. 6, has a load-displacement characteristic in which the applied load F is substantially constant up to a predetermined range (typically 60%) of the deformation displacement amount S. Such characteristics can be set particularly by the hardness of the knee pad 13 and the dimension including the thickness (or height) T.

In the above structure, as shown in FIG. 5, the knee portion M1 of the occupant M is placed on the knee pad 13 at the time of a vehicle collision.
As shown in FIG. 6, the deformation displacement amount S1 of the knee pad 13 at the time of entering the area absorbs the collision energy within the range of 60% of the pad thickness, thereby suppressing the chest deflection amount by 10% or more, and significantly reducing the value. Can be reduced to

As in the above-described example, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the load energy F on the knee pad 13 can be kept constant, and the impact energy can be completely absorbed during that time to stabilize the knee portion M1. Can be restrained to suitability. As a result, the injury value of the chest can be effectively reduced, and high safety can be realized, but the restraint performance can be freely changed only by changing the hardness of the knee pad 13, and the usability is improved. It is extremely easy to handle.

Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment, and various changes and the like can be made within the scope of the present invention. For example, the hardness or size of the knee pad 13 is appropriately changed as necessary, and the material thereof is not limited to urethane, and other synthetic resin materials having the same characteristics can be adopted. In the illustrated example, the knee pad 1
Although 3 is shown by a pair of left and right pads arranged corresponding to both knees of the occupant M, the present invention is not limited to this, for example, an integrated knee pad having a lateral width corresponding to the width of both knees of the occupant M. It is clear that

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, in the knee bolster of this kind, by stably restraining the knee portion appropriately, the injury value of the chest can be effectively reduced, and the restraint device of the conventional example. It can have extremely stable performance as compared with. In this case, since the structure / configuration is simple, there are advantages such as realizing high performance characteristics at low cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration example according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of essential parts around a knee pad according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a configuration example of an instrument panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a specific configuration example according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an operation in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing load-displacement characteristics of the knee bolster in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a conventional device.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an operation in the conventional device.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing load-displacement characteristics in a conventional device.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 knee bolster 11 bracket 12 Reinforce 13 knee pads 14, 15, 16, 17 Bracket material M crew M1 knee

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Satoshi Funabashi             1 Toyota Town, Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture Toyota Auto             Car Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A knee bolster for an automobile, which is arranged inside an instrument panel in front of a seat, is supported by a body-side reinforcement through a bracket, and is arranged to face an occupant's knees. A knee bolster for an automobile, which has a knee pad. 2. The knee pad has a load-displacement characteristic in which the applied load is substantially constant within a predetermined range of the deformation displacement amount, and is configured to be able to absorb the input energy before the predetermined displacement amount is reached. Claim 1 characterized by the fact that
The knee bolster for automobiles described in. 3. The knee pad is set to have a dimension including at least its hardness and thickness so as to absorb the input energy before reaching a predetermined displacement amount. The knee bolster for automobiles described in. 4. The knee bolster for an automobile according to claim 1, wherein the knee pads include left and right hard urethane pads arranged corresponding to both knees of an occupant. .