GB1468399A - Motor vehicle bodies - Google Patents

Abstract

1468399 Motor vehicle bodies; vehicle doors DAIMLER-BENZ AG 5 April 1974 [16 April 1973] 15140/74 Headings B7B and B7J Hollow stiffening members 3 run longitudinally inside the side doors of a passenger car and are so arranged that under the influence of longitudinal impact forces each end of each stiffening member becomes directly or indirectly braced either by the end of another stiffening member or by a component of the main body structure. Fig. 4 illustrates the front of a front door where the stiffening member 3 is to be braced by a column 8. The door hinge 17 is directly connected to the member 3 and forces are transmitted between the column 8 and the member 3 by a bracing section 9 and a stiffening plate 10. In a modification (not shown), the bracing section 9 is mounted on the column 8. Fig. 5 illustrates the arrangement at the adjacent edges of front and rear doors. When both doors are closed, a spring loaded bar 12 lies between the adjacent ends of the members 3 to provide the necessary force transmission. The bar 12 does not interfere with opening of the rear door since the latter's front edge 13 can displace the bar against its spring bias. The illustrated members 3 are each formed by a horizontally corrugated plate 4 and a plane plate 5. In an alternative construction (not shown), the members 5 are each formed in part by the outer skin of the door. To increase resistance against lateral impact, the bottom of each door has an inwardly directed flange which engages under an outwardly directed flange on the door sill, Fig. 6 (not shown).