JP2000108844A - Retractor connecting structure - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the damaging of a trim or the like by avoiding the generation of abnormal noises caused by car body vibration and suppressing a housing toward the inside of a car at the time of side clashing of a vehicle. SOLUTION: A retractor connecting structure is provided with a housing 6 housing a webbing 3 to be pulled out from its one end side, connecting brackets attached to the housing 6 and having a center part 902 facing the housing and formed to be oblong in a direction intersecting the pulling-out direction of the webbing 3, both side end parts 904 thereof being connected to a pair of fixed parts (a) and (b) provided in the inner wall of a car body, and the other end side connecting part 11 provided in the other end of the housing 6 and connected to the other end fixed part (c) provided in the inner wall of the car body.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connecting structure of a retractor housing a winding portion of a webbing that pulls out and rewinds a seat belt of a vehicle, and more particularly to a connecting structure of a retractor connected to a fixing portion of a vehicle body wall material.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A vehicle is equipped with a seat belt device for restraining an occupant sitting on a seat to an appropriate posture. For example, a three-point seat belt device is a webbing which is a woven belt made of a fiber material, a webbing winding portion which normally winds one end of the webbing by a spring mechanism and draws the inside, and only when one end of the webbing is suddenly pulled out. An ELR (emergency locking retractor) mechanism for locking the drawer, a tongue attached at a position where the webbing is divided into a shoulder belt and a lap belt, and a buckle that engages with the tongue and couples with the webbing on the tongue side. Prepare.

The retractor used here is required to have a structure capable of withstanding a sufficient tensile force by receiving a large tensile force at the time of a collision as an anchor point.
Usually, the webbing take-up part is housed in a housing which is a press-formed product, and this housing couples a bracket to an end opposite to one end for taking in and out the webbing,
The bracket is fastened and fixed to a fixing portion of the vehicle body wall material, for example, an inner wall at the lower portion of the center pillar via an anchor bolt, and a portion not interfering with the webbing at one end side of the housing is bolted to the inner wall of the center pillar via the upper bracket. .

For example, a retractor 100 shown in FIG. 7 accommodates a webbing take-up section 101 and has a webbing 1 at an upper end.
Housing 1 having an insertion opening 103 for taking in / out 02
04. The housing 104 has a lower connecting portion 105 extending from a lower end thereof, and a distal end thereof is fastened and fixed to a lower fixing portion such as a center pillar (not shown) with an anchor bolt 106, and the upper bracket 1 riveted to the upper end thereof.
07 is attached to the upper fixing part such as a center pillar (not shown).
8 is tightened. In addition, such a retractor 10
The reference numeral 0 denotes a vehicle having a different size depending on the type of the vehicle, the grade of the vehicle, and the like. In such a case, various retractors can be tightened and fixed to the same fixing portion only by adjusting the vertical length of the upper bracket 107. .

Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. Hei 6-74535 discloses a retractor in which upper and lower brackets are attached to upper and lower ends of a retractor housing, and these upper and lower brackets are fastened and fixed to a fixed portion of an inner wall of a vehicle body.

[0006]

When the retractor 100 receives a large tensile force at the time of a collision as an anchor point, the tensile force is applied by the lower connecting portion 105 of the housing and the anchor bolt 106 to a fixing portion of a vehicle body wall material such as a center pillar. And there is no problem in this regard. However, in the retractor disclosed in FIG. 7 and Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. Hei 6-74535, the housing is
5, 107 and the like are fastened and fixed at two points to a fixing portion of the vehicle body wall material. Therefore, when the retractor 100 receives the vehicle body vibration during the normal running of the vehicle, the housing 104 vibrates around the line connecting the two tightening points due to the relatively low coupling rigidity of the retractor, and the retractor 100 generates abnormal noise. There is a problem of doing.

Further, when the vehicle is in a side collision, the vehicle travels in the vehicle interior direction I from outside the vehicle.
When the housing receives an overload toward the upper bracket 107, the screws 108 and the like of the upper bracket 107 may come off, or a part of the upper bracket 107 may be damaged. Particularly, as shown in FIG. 7, when the upper bracket 107 has a large vertical length, the upper bracket 107 has a high possibility of being broken or deformed, and the upper end side of the housing 104 is largely displaced in the in-vehicle direction I. There is a possibility that the trims (not shown) may be damaged. In such a case, the trims need to be replaced at the time of repair, which increases the cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a retractor coupling structure capable of preventing generation of abnormal noise due to vehicle body vibration, suppressing displacement of a housing in a vehicle interior direction at the time of a side collision of a vehicle, and preventing damage to trims. Is to provide.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a housing for accommodating a webbing so that it can be pulled out from one end side, and a connecting bracket is attached to the housing. Has a central portion facing the housing, the central portion is formed to be long in a direction intersecting the webbing withdrawing direction, and both end portions of the central portion are respectively coupled to a pair of fixing portions provided on the inner wall of the vehicle body. The other end of the housing is provided with the other end side connecting portion, and the other end side connecting portion is connected to the other end side fixing portion provided on the inner wall of the vehicle body.

In this case, since the housing is connected to the pair of fixed portions and the fixed portion on the other end of the inner wall of the vehicle body at the three points, sufficient fixing strength can be secured, and generation of abnormal noise of the retractor due to vibration of the vehicle body can be ensured. Can be prevented. In addition, the coupling bracket receives the housing that has received an overload heading into the vehicle at the time of a side collision of the vehicle, and distributes the overload to the pair of fixed portions of the inner wall of the vehicle body via the coupling bracket. Displacement can be regulated and trims can be prevented from being damaged. Further, the coupling bracket coupled to the pair of fixing portions on the inner wall of the vehicle body can function as a strength member on the inner wall side of the vehicle body, thereby increasing the strength of the pillar and the like.

When the central portion is superimposed on the housing, it is possible to simplify the structure and reduce the amount of protrusion of the housing toward the inside of the vehicle, thereby increasing the mounting flexibility. be able to. The coupling bracket may be locked by a locking portion provided on the housing. In this case, since the connecting bracket can be separated, the size of the baggage during transportation can be reduced, the transportation cost can be reduced, and the degree of freedom in assembling the housing and the connecting bracket can be increased. In addition, if the coupling bracket is positioned, there is no need to provide a separate positioning means on the side of the housing that is locked by the bracket.

The connecting bracket may be connected to the housing via a connecting piece after a center portion of the connecting bracket is opposed to the housing via a gap. in this case,
When one end of the housing is displaced inward from the outside of the vehicle during a side collision of the vehicle, the connecting piece is plastically deformed by the amount of the gap, so that the impact on the connecting bracket can be reduced, and the connecting bracket can be prevented from being damaged by that amount. Function can be improved in reliability.

[0013]

1 to 5 show a retractor 1 to which a connecting structure of a retractor according to the present invention is applied. The retractor 1 is provided in a three-point seat belt device S (front passenger side is omitted) mounted on a front seat side of an automobile as shown in FIG. The seat belt device S for the driver's seat C1 and the passenger seat C2 is arranged symmetrically, and therefore, here, the retractor 1 of the seat belt device S on the driver's seat C1 side will be mainly described. .

The seat belt device S includes a retractor 1 attached to a fixed portion, which will be described later, of a center pillar 2 (see FIG. 1) as an inner wall of a vehicle body near the driver's seat C1, and a retractor 1
Anchor T1 for locking the webbing 3 at the upper side wall position (not shown) of the vehicle compartment R, and a buckle T3 for detachably connecting the webbing 3 from the shoulder anchor T1 to the center side base of the vehicle compartment R via the tongue T2. And an anchor plate T4 provided at the tip of the webbing 3 from the tongue T2, and an anchor bolt T5 for fastening the anchor plate T4 to the side sill 7.

As shown in FIG. 1, the retractor 1 has a webbing 3 having a length corresponding to the shape of an occupant sitting in a driver's seat C1.
A webbing take-up section 4 for drawing out or taking up
A lock mechanism (ELR) 5 that locks the webbing 3 when the vehicle is suddenly decelerated, a housing 6 that accommodates the webbing winding unit 4, and an inner panel 8 of the center pillar 2.
And a lower end side connecting portion 11 for connecting the housing 6 to the fixing portion.

The retractor 1 is accommodated in a mounting hole 12 formed at a lower portion of an inner panel 8 as an inner wall of the vehicle body.
A trim G (see FIG. 2) covering the same portion is provided on the vehicle interior direction I side. The retractor 1 includes a housing 6 made of sheet metal and having a substantially box shape. The housing 6 includes a main wall 601 serving as an in-vehicle facing wall facing the inside of the vehicle in the vehicle width direction Y (see FIG. 2), front and rear walls 602 and 603 facing the vehicle front-rear direction X (see FIG. 1). It has a connecting plate 604 for connecting a part between the protruding ends of the walls 602 and 603 to each other, and a pair of mounting pieces 605 that bend and extend from a part of each upper end of the front and rear walls 602 and 603. Moreover, a coupling bracket 9 described later is coupled to the pair of mounting pieces 605, and a lower end side coupling portion 11 is formed at a lower end of the main wall 601.

The webbing take-up portion 4 accommodated in the center of the housing 6 has a take-up shaft 13, and the take-up shaft 13 is pivotally attached to the front and rear walls 602, 603 via a bearing member (not shown).

The webbing 3, which is supported by the winding shaft 13 so as to be able to be wound up and pulled out, is inserted into a shoulder anchor T1 (see FIG. 5) located in the pulling-out direction Z through an insertion opening 14 provided at the upper end as one end of the housing 6. Extend toward The winding shaft 13 has a winding spring 1 at its rear end (right side in FIG. 1).
4, and a lock mechanism 5 is mounted on the front end side, and these are covered with a rear cover 16 and a front cover 17.

The webbing take-up section 4 normally takes up the webbing 3 by the action of the take-up spring 14 so as to stop (lock) the webbing withdrawal rotation of the take-up shaft 13 at an appropriate time. That is, when the acceleration sensor (not shown) of the lock mechanism 5 is displaced when the vehicle suddenly decelerates, a lock instruction operation occurs, and a rotating claw (not shown) is integrated with the winding shaft 13 in conjunction with the lock instruction operation. A well-known configuration is employed in which the webbing 3 is prevented from being pulled out by engaging with a ratchet (not shown).

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a coupling bracket 9 is connected to a pair of mounting pieces 605 extending from upper ends of the front and rear walls 602 and 603 of the housing 6. The connecting bracket 9 is pulled out of the webbing 3 in the Z direction.
A central portion 902 extending in a direction perpendicular to the center portion, bent side portions 903 and 903 extending from side ends of the central portion 902, and both side end portions 904 extending from both bent side portions 903. The central portion 902 has a vertical plate shape with its center swelling downward, and has a predetermined gap t (see FIGS. 2 and 3) on the side of the main wall 601 which is the interior facing wall.
), A pair of connecting pieces 901 and 901 are formed to extend from two upper edges of the central portion 902, and these are riveted to a pair of mounting pieces 605. Both end portions 904 are in contact with a pair of fixing portions a and b on the inner panel 8 side of the center pillar 2 as an inner wall of the vehicle body, and are fixed to each other by bolts B.

As shown in FIG. 3, a pair of fixing portions a and b are provided on each fixing piece 18 welded to the left and right peripheral edges of the mounting hole 12 of the inner panel 8. Each fixing piece 18 is formed such that a weld nut n is welded to the outer surface of the vehicle, and a bolt B for tightening is welded to the weld nut n from the vehicle inner side (the lower side in FIG. 3).

The lower end side connecting portion 11 is fastened and supported by a fixing bracket 19 described later, and has an anchor hole 21 through which an anchor bolt 20 is inserted and a pair of engaging holes 2 formed near the anchor hole 21.
2 and a pair of downward ends 23 (see FIG. 4). The fixing bracket 19 is a sheet metal plate material, the upper side of which is disposed in the mounting hole 12, and the lower side thereof is the inner side 2 of the side sill 7.
4 and a through hole 25 is formed in the center of the lower side. The through-hole 25 is opposed to a weld nut 26 (see FIG. 2) on the back side of the side sill inner 24. An anchor bolt T5 is screwed into the through-hole 25 to fasten the anchor plate T4 on the waist belt side.

As shown in FIG. 4, the upper portion of the fixing bracket 19 forms the other end side fixing portion c of the inner wall of the vehicle body, and a weld nut 27 (see FIG. 2) into which the anchor bolt 20 is screwed.
It is composed of a pair of locking pieces 28 extending from the peripheral edge and locked in the pair of engaging holes 22 and a pair of bent receiving pieces 29 on which the pair of downward ends 23 are placed without displacement. The retractor 1 is held at a predetermined inclination angle θ (see FIG. 1) by the contact between the pair of bent receiving pieces 29 and the pair of locking ends 23, and the pulling force in the pull-out direction Z, which is the same direction, is reliably ensured. Weld nut 2 screwed with anchor bolt 20 on the other end side fixed part c side
Tell 7

It is assumed that the retractor 1 of the seat belt device S as described above is mounted on a vehicle. In this case, as shown in FIG. 1, a pair of engaging holes 22 are inserted into a pair of locking pieces 28 of the fixing bracket 19 forming the other end side fixing portion c, and a pair of engaging pieces 22 are fitted to the pair of bending receiving pieces 29. The toe 23 is brought into contact, and the anchor bolt 20 that has passed through the anchor hole 21 is temporarily fixed to the weld nut 27 thereon. Further, both end portions 904 of the connecting bracket 9 are brought into contact with the pair of fixing portions a and b on the inner panel 8 side, and are bolted to each other. Finally, the anchor bolt 20 is fully tightened to the weld nut 27, and thereby, The retractor 1 can be fastened and fixed to the inner panel 8 side at three points while maintaining the retractor 1 at the predetermined inclination angle θ. It should be noted that the anchor bolt T5 is screwed onto the anchor bolt 26 below the fixing bracket 19 so that the anchor plate T4
Can be tightened.

Such a retractor 1 has a center pillar 2
Is fixed to the pair of fixing portions a and b and the other end fixing portion c of the inner panel 8 at three points, so that the fixing strength to the inner panel 8 side can be sufficiently secured. For this reason, during normal running of the vehicle, the retractor 1 itself can be prevented from vibrating excessively even if it receives a vehicle body vibration, and generation of abnormal noise in the retractor 1 can be prevented.

Further, a central portion 902 of the coupling bracket 9 is opposed to the main wall 601 of the housing with a gap t therebetween. For this reason, even if the housing 6 receives an overload from the outside of the vehicle to the inside of the vehicle at the time of a side collision of the vehicle, and the housing 6 is displaced in the in-vehicle direction I, the housing 6 abuts on the central portion 902 of the coupling bracket 9 and the overload is released. Can be distributed to the pair of fixing portions a and b of the inner panel 8 from both ends. For this reason, excessive displacement of the housing 6 in the in-vehicle direction I can be restricted, and breakage of the trims G due to excessive protrusion of the upper end side of the housing 6 in the in-vehicle direction I can be prevented. In particular, when the upper end side of the housing 6 is displaced in the in-vehicle direction I at the time of a side collision of the vehicle, the pair of connecting pieces 901 and 901 can be plastically deformed by the gap t, so that the impact received by the coupling bracket 9 can be reduced. The damage of the connection bracket 9 can be prevented, and the reliability of the function of the connection bracket 9 can be improved. Further, the coupling bracket 9 coupled to the pair of fixing portions a and b of the inner panel 8 can function as a strength member of the mounting hole 12 of the inner panel 8, and the strength of the center pillar 2 can be increased.

The connecting bracket 9 of the retractor 1 shown in FIG.
3, but instead of this,
A coupling bracket 9a shown in FIG. The coupling bracket 9a includes a central portion 902a, a pair of bent side portions 903a, and both end portions 904a. Central part 902
a is formed by extending a pair of connecting pieces 901a, 901a from both sides thereof, which are the front and rear walls 602, 60 of the housing 6a.
3 is configured to abut and be joined from each side.
Further, the connecting bracket 9 of the retractor 1 in FIG. 1 is connected to the housing 6 via the pair of connecting pieces 901 and 901. Alternatively, a connecting bracket 9b shown in FIG. 6B may be used. good. The coupling bracket 9b has a central portion 902b, a pair of bent side portions 903b, and both end portions 9b.
04b. Here, the housing 6b has its main wall 6
01b is provided with a locking port 30.
A downward locking piece 31 extending downward from 2b is fitted inward from the outside to maintain the locked state.
Further, the connecting bracket 9 of the retractor 1 in FIG. 1 is formed in a rectangular shape in a direction perpendicular to the drawing direction Z of the webbing 3, but in some cases, as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. Bracket 9 maintaining the deviation angle α
c may be used.

Each of the modifications shown in FIGS. 6 (a) and 6 (b) can obtain the same operation and effect as the retractor 1 of FIG. In particular, in the case of FIG. 6B, the connecting bracket 9b and the main wall 601b are in contact with each other to eliminate the gap t (see FIG. 2).
Can be reduced, and the degree of freedom in mounting can be secured. Moreover, in this case, the housing 6b and the connecting bracket 9b can be separated from each other, so that the size of the baggage during transportation can be reduced, the transportation cost can be reduced, and the degree of freedom in assembling the housing 6b and the connecting bracket 9b can be increased. You can also have it. In addition, if the connecting bracket 9b side is positioned and attached first, the housing 6 locked to this
There is no need to separately provide a positioning means other than the locking port 30 on the side.

Further, each of the above-mentioned connecting brackets 9, 9a,
Although 9b is made of a band-shaped sheet metal, a connecting bracket (not shown) made of a wire may be used in some cases. In this case, the same operation and effect as those of the retractor 1 of FIG. 1 can be obtained.

Further, the retractor 1 shown in FIG.
The lower joint 11 is formed integrally with the retractor 1, but instead of the lower joint 11, a long bracket (not shown) in the form of a long piece separate from the main wall 601 is used. A configuration may be adopted in which connection with the other end side fixing portion c is performed, and in this case, the degree of freedom of attachment can be increased.

[0031]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, since the housing is connected to the pair of fixed portions and the fixed portion on the other end of the inner wall of the vehicle body at three points, the fixing strength can be sufficiently secured. Generation of strange noise of the retractor due to vehicle body vibration can be reliably prevented. In addition, the coupling bracket receives the housing that has received an overload heading into the vehicle at the time of a side collision of the vehicle, and distributes the overload to the pair of fixed portions of the inner wall of the vehicle body via the coupling bracket. Displacement can be regulated and trims can be prevented from being damaged.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a retractor to which a retractor coupling structure according to the present invention is applied, which is attached to a center pillar.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the retractor of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the retractor and the fixing bracket of FIG. 1;

5 is a schematic perspective view of a seat belt device using the retractor of FIG.

FIGS. 6A and 6B show modifications of the retractor of FIG. 1, in which FIG. 6A shows a first modification and FIG. 6B shows a second modification.

FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view of a conventional retractor.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Retractor 3 Webbing 4 Rewinding part 6 Housing 8 Inner panel 9 Connecting bracket 11 Other end side connecting part 19 Fixing bracket 601 Main wall 902 Central part 904 Both end parts a, b A pair of fixing parts c The other end side fixing part I Direction S Seat belt device Z Webbing withdrawal direction

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Koji Mizuno F-term (reference) 3D018 CA07 CA08 in Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, 3-33-8 Shiba 5-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A housing for accommodating a webbing so that it can be pulled out from one end side, and attached to the housing,
A coupling bracket that is formed to have a central portion facing the housing elongated in a direction intersecting the webbing withdrawal direction, and that couples both ends of the central portion to a pair of fixing portions provided on the inner wall of the vehicle body; A connecting portion provided at the other end and connected to a fixing portion provided on the inner wall of the vehicle body on the other end side.