JP2000062492A - Shift lever device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve safety by forming plural fitting arms on a retainer, fixing a shift lever assembly to a bracket, and providing a separating means for releasing fixing by load above fixed to slip off the assembly from the bracket. SOLUTION: At both side edges of a retainer of a shift lever assembly, four fitting arms are projected sideways at unequal spaces and fixed to a bracket, and each fitting arm 4 is provided with a separating means 6 which is deformed and broken by fixed load at the time of a collision. When a collision accident occurs and an occupant collides with a knob 3 of the shaft lever assembly, the force for pressing the shift lever assembly, that is, the fitting arms 4 downward is applied by the collision, and by the force of sliding downward the fitting arms 4, a connecting part 7b of the separating means 6 of the fitting arms 4 is broken due to a collision with a washer or a bolt head to slip off the shift lever assembly from the bracket.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an AT or MT shift lever device mainly attached to an instrument panel.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a shift lever has been mounted on the floor on the side of the driver's seat, but in recent years, a shift lever has been arranged in the instrument panel. However, when a shift lever is attached to the instrument panel, if a collision accident occurs when the occupant is not wearing a seat belt, the occupant may collide with the shift lever attached to the front of the instrument panel and be injured. For this reason, it is conceivable to retract the shift lever at the time of collision like a telescopic steering so that the shift lever is not injured even if the occupant collides with it. There was the problem of being bulky.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a shift lever device which is simple in structure, inexpensive, and safe.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention forms a plurality of mounting arms on the retainer of the shift lever assembly and fixes the shift lever assembly to the bracket by the mounting means via the mounting arms. A shift lever device is also provided, in which the mounting arm or the mounting means or both are provided with a separating means for releasing the shift lever assembly from the bracket by releasing the fixing of the mounting arm to the bracket by a load applied to the shift lever assembly at a certain level or more. In the invention of claim 1, the invention according to claim 1 provides a shift lever device in which the separating means for dropping the shift lever assembly deforms or breaks or deforms and breaks either one or both of the mounting arm and the mounting means. According to the invention of Item 2, shift lever A plurality of mounting arms are formed on the retainer of the assembly, the shift lever assembly is fixed to the bracket by the mounting means via the mounting arms, and the collar of the mounting means is held and locked by the mounting arm. Shift lever device provided with a separating means including a narrow portion, a narrow passage that guides the collar that comes out of the holding portion by a constant load, and a connecting portion that surrounds the upper portion of the attaching means and is broken by the attaching means by a load of a certain amount or more. Is the invention of claim 3.

[0005]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Next, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 is a bracket fixed to the vehicle body side such as an instrument panel brace,
The shift lever assembly 2 for AT shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is attached to the bracket 1 via a retainer, and a plurality of welding nuts 1a for attachment are provided on the back side of the bracket 1 to which the shift lever assembly 2 is attached. It is arranged. Further, the front surface side of the bracket 1 to which the retainer of the shift lever assembly 2 is attached has a smooth surface so that the shift lever assembly 2 can slide off. Reference numeral 3 denotes a shift operation knob mounted on the shift lever assembly 2, and the knob 3 is provided with a push button 3a for select operation.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, four mounting arms 4 are laterally extended at unequal intervals on both side edges of the retainer of the shift lever assembly 2 to hinder the mounting work on the bracket 1. I try not to. Further, the separation means 6 that deforms and breaks due to a constant load applied to the shift lever assembly 2 at the time of a collision with each mounting arm 4.
Is provided. The specific structure of the separating means 6 is as follows. An arc-shaped holding portion 7 having an opening at the top for holding and locking a collar 9 of a mounting means 8 which will be described later, and a collar 9 following the opening of the holding portion 7. The narrow passage 7a for guiding and the connecting portion 7b surrounding the upper portion of the attachment means 8, that is, the bolt head 10a and the washer 11.
The holding portion 7 of the separating means 6 is composed of
The collar 9 is held and held up to the upper half of the collar 9, and the holding portion 7 receives a load of a certain amount or more.
In addition, the holding portion 7 and the narrowed passage 7a are deformed and expanded outward with the point a shown in FIG. 2 as the center, and the collar 9 comes out of the holding portion 7. Further, the narrowed passage 7a
Is smaller than the diameter of the collar 9 to give resistance to the collar 9 which is slide-guided to absorb energy. Further, when the collar 9 comes out of the grip portion 7 under a load of a certain amount or more, the connecting portion 7b collides with the bolt head 10a or the washer 11 of the mounting means 8 and is broken, and the mounting arm 4, that is, the shift lever assembly 2 To drop down.

Reference numeral 8 denotes an attaching means for attaching the shift lever assembly 2 to the bracket 1 via an attaching arm 4 of the retainer. The attaching means 8 is a bolt 10 screwed to a weld nut 1a on the back side of the bracket 1. The collar 9 having a height substantially equal to the thickness of the deformable holding portion 7 of the mounting arm 4 and the collar 9 are brought into contact with each other to prevent the tightening force of the bolt 10 from being applied to the holding portion 7. The washer 11 and the weld nut 1a on the bracket 1.
The mounting arm 4 of the retainer is detachably fixed to the mounting means 8 fixed with. 12 is a holding part 7
Is a notch formed around the holding portion 7 so as to be deformable.

In this structure, the attachment arms 4 of the retainer of the AT shift lever assembly 2 are aligned with the positions of the weld nuts 1a of the bracket 1 fixed to the vehicle body such as the instrument panel brace. In addition, the collar 9 of the mounting means 8 is connected to the separating means 6 of the mounting arm 4.
The bolt 1 is inserted into the holding portion 7 of the
If 0 is inserted through the collar 9 and screwed into the weld nut 1a of the bracket 1 and tightened, the shift lever assembly 2 is fixed to the bracket 1, but at this time, the collar 9 holds the bolt on the holding portion 7. No tightening force of 10 is applied. As described above, the shift lever assembly 2 mounted on the instrument panel brace performs the shift operation by sliding the knob 3 after performing the select operation by pressing the push button 3a of the knob 3.

However, when a collision accident occurs and an occupant not wearing a seat belt collides with the knob 3 provided in the instrument panel, the collision causes the shift lever assembly 2, that is, the mounting arm. A force to push down 4 will be applied. The holding portion 7 of the separating means 6 that holds and holds the collar 9 of the mounting means 8 fixed to the bracket 1 by the force of sliding the mounting arm 4 downward is shown in FIG.
The collar 9 is deformed and expanded to the notch 12 side around the point.
You will be able to release the hug lock. Almost at the same time, by sliding the mounting arm 4 downward, the mounting arm 4
The connecting portion 7b of the separating means 6 collides with the washer 11 or the bolt head 10a and is broken. Connection part 7b
Although the mounting arm 4 tries to slide downward at a stretch due to the breakage of the mounting arm 4,
Since the collar 9 is clamped so as to give a constant resistance, the mounting arm 4 descends while absorbing the collision energy, and the shift lever assembly 2 is dropped from the bracket 1. Due to this drop, the impact force applied to the occupant colliding with the knob 3 is reduced, and fatal injury is accurately prevented.

The second separating means 6 shown in FIG.
In the first separating means 6, the shift lever assembly 2 is dropped due to deformation and breakage, but the holding portion 7 is only deformed to drop the shift lever assembly 2. Specifically, the separating means 6 is an arc-shaped holding portion 7 that holds and holds the collar 9 of the mounting means 8.
A narrow passage 7a for guiding the collar 9 and a notch 14 cut out to one side of the holding portion 7 to form a deformable holding piece 15 on one side of the holding portion 7. Since the attachment to the bracket 1 by the attachment means 8, the engagement between the holding portion 7 and the attachment means 8 and the detaching process of the shift lever assembly 2 are the same as those in the preferred embodiment, the description thereof will be omitted.

In the preferred embodiment, the collar 9 is fastened with the washer 11, but the bolt 10 is a bolt with a washer to reduce the number of parts and simplify the assembling work, thereby reducing the cost. Can be planned. Furthermore, in the preferred embodiment described above, the mounting means 4 is provided with the separating means 6, but the mounting means 8 may be provided with the separating means 6, or the mounting arm 4 and the mounting means 8 are provided. Of course, the separating means 6 of the mechanism may be used. Furthermore, in the preferred embodiment described above, the connecting portion 7b is broken, but it goes without saying that the separating means 6 and the mounting means 8 of the mounting arm 4 may be fixed by a breaking pin. Further, although the mounting arms 4 are formed at four places, it is sufficient that the number of the mounting arms 4 is three or more, and the disposition positions thereof are not evenly spaced in the preferred embodiment, but the mounting work and the shift lever assembly 2 are smoothly removed. Needless to say, they may be arranged at equal intervals if possible.

[0012]

As is apparent from the above description, the present invention provides a separating means for removing the shift lever assembly by releasing the fixing of the mounting arm to the bracket by the mounting means due to a certain load or more applied to the shift lever assembly. Since it is provided by associating with the mounting means and the separating means, it is not necessary to separately provide the mounting means and the separating means, and by mounting the shift lever assembly to the bracket by the mounting means, the separating means can be incorporated at the same time. Since the assembling work can be completed easily and in a short time, the productivity is good, and the structure can be provided inexpensively. Further, as in claim 3, by releasing the tightening force of the attaching means applied to the holding portion of the separating means by the collar of the attaching means, the design of the deforming holding portion can be facilitated, and moreover,
By providing the holding means that deforms and the connecting portion that breaks, the separating means has various advantages such as being able to accurately prevent malfunctions due to vibration during traveling or malfunctions due to impact when passing through a step. Therefore, the present invention greatly contributes to the development of the industry as a shift lever device that solves the conventional problems.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a first separating means according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing a first separating means according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a rear view showing a shift lever assembly used in a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing a shift lever assembly used in a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing a second separating means according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 bracket 2 shift lever assembly 4 mounting arm 6 Separation means 7 grip 7a Constriction passage 7b connection part 8 mounting means 9 colors

Continued front page    (72) Inventor Tomoki Mori             Ama Prefecture Anjo City Imahoncho 4-14-24 Universal             Industry Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 3D040 AA01 AA12 AD05 AF07                 3J052 AA07 AA19

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of mounting arms (4) are formed on a retainer of the shift lever assembly (2), and the mounting arms (4) are formed.
Install the shift lever assembly (2) through the mounting means (8)
The shift lever assembly (2) by fixing the mounting arm (4) to the bracket (1) by the mounting means (8) by fixing the bracket to the bracket (1) with the load above a certain level applied to the shift lever assembly (2). Attach the separating means (6) to remove the mounting arm (4) or the mounting means.
(8) A shift lever device characterized by being provided on both sides. 2. A separating means (6) for dropping the shift lever assembly (2) is a mounting arm (4) or a mounting means.
The shift lever device according to claim 1, wherein either or both of (8) are deformed or broken, or deformed and broken. 3. A plurality of mounting arms (4) are formed on the retainer of the shift lever assembly (2), and the mounting arms (4) are formed.
Install the shift lever assembly (2) through the mounting means (8)
It is fixed to the bracket (1) by means of a deformable holding part (7) that holds and holds the collar (9) of the mounting means (8) on the mounting arm (4) and the holding arm with a constant load. Enclose the constriction passage (7a) that guides the collar (9) that comes out of the part (7) and the upper part of the attachment means (8), and attach it by a load above a certain level.
Separation means consisting of connecting part (7b) broken by (8)
(6) A shift lever device characterized by being provided.