JP2001310766A - Structure for vehicle front part - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To effectively use a downward shift of a bonnet due to application of a downward load from an obstacle so as to displace the upper part of a front fender downward. SOLUTION: A boundary edge part 2a of the front fender 2 to the bonnet 1 is fixed to a wheel apron upper part 3a via a connecting part 10. The connecting part 10 is provided with a first vertical wall part 11 extending downward from the boundary edge part 2a, a horizontal wall part 12 extending from the first vertical wall part 11 inward in the vehicle width direction and having a recess part 12a recessed upward, a second vertical wall part 13 extending downward from the vehicle width directional inside edge part of the horizontal wall part 12, and a mounting part 4 extending from the second vertical wall part 13 to be fixed in the wheel apron upper part 3a. The bonnet 1 is provided with a flange part 23 connecting the edge parts of a bonnet main body 21 and a reinforcement 22 together, and the flange part 23 extends downward to face a recess part 23a. The bonnet 1 is deflected downward when a downward great load is applied from the obstacle S, and consequently, the flange part 23 serving as a pressing part presses the recess part 12a downward and the upper part of the front fender 2 is displaced downward.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle front structure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a vehicle, an upper portion of a front fender is fixed to an upper portion of a pair of left and right wheel aprons disposed in front of a vehicle cabin so as to be at a predetermined height. By fixing at the predetermined height position, the height between the upper part of the front fender (more specifically, the inner edge in the vehicle width direction) and the hood (side edge) disposed between the front fenders is adjusted. Be matched.

[0003] By the way, when it is assumed that an obstacle falls over the hood and the front fender, in order to reduce the impact on the obstacle, the front fender ( (The inner end in the vehicle width direction) is easily displaced downward. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-180350 discloses that a vertical wall portion extending downward from a vehicle width direction inner side edge portion of a front fender is bent and set in a “<” shape to receive a predetermined downward or more load. There has been proposed a structure in which a vertical wall portion is easily crushed and deformed when it is pressed. It has also been proposed that the degree of bending in the shape of a dogleg is made different in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body so that the front fender is more easily displaced downward at the front part of the vehicle body than at the rear part of the vehicle body.

In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-180350, a vertical wall portion extending downward from an upper portion of a front fender is provided, and the vertical wall portion is fixed to an upper portion of a wheel apron. The inner edge of the vehicle in the vehicle width direction has an overhang shape extending substantially inwardly in the vehicle width direction to be considerably larger than the vertical wall portion. One that has been proposed to be transformed into is proposed.

[0005]

However, in any of the above publications, the downward deformation using only the load directly acting on the upper part of the front fender among the downward loads received from the obstacles. However, there is room for improvement in that the load from the obstacle is effectively used.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and has as its object to reduce the downward movement of a hood located immediately adjacent to a front fender when receiving a downward load from an obstacle. An object of the present invention is to provide a structure of a front portion of a vehicle in which an upper portion of a front fender can be more reliably displaced downward by effectively utilizing displacement.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention adopts the following solution. That is, as described in claim 1 of the claims, a vehicle front portion in which an upper portion of the front fender is fixed to an upper portion of the wheel apron via a connecting portion extending from a boundary edge with respect to the bonnet. A first vertical wall extending downward from the boundary edge between the boundary edge and a fixing portion with respect to an upper portion of the wheel apron; and a vehicle extending from a lower end of the first vertical wall portion. A lateral wall portion formed with a concave portion extending inward in the width direction and concaved upward, and a second vertical wall portion extending downward from a vehicle width direction inner side end portion of the lateral wall portion; A convex pressing portion facing the concave portion from above is formed on a side edge portion of the bonnet, and the concave portion is pressed by the pressing portion when the bonnet receives a predetermined downward load. By doing so, While forming portion is deformed over the front fender is displaced downward, it is so. Preferred embodiments on the premise of the above solution are as described in claim 2 and the following claims.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the concave portion is formed in the lateral wall portion forming the intermediate portion of the connecting portion, so that the connecting portion can be deformed when a large downward load is applied. That is, the downward displacement of the upper portion of the front fender can be effectively performed. Also, when an obstacle comes into contact with the bonnet located near the upper part of the front fender, the concave portion is pressed downward through the pressing part, that is, the downward load acting on the hood lowers the upper part of the front fender downward. It is effectively used as a load for displacing an object, and is more preferable in terms of alleviating an impact on an obstacle. According to the invention described in claim 2, by forming the concave portion and the pressing portion over substantially the entire length of the front fender in the vehicle longitudinal direction, the effect corresponding to claim 1 can be more effectively exerted. .

According to the third aspect of the present invention, a specific mode of fixing the upper portion of the front fender to the upper portion of the wheel apron via the connecting portion is provided. According to the invention described in claim 4, the pressing portion can be formed by effectively utilizing the side edge of the bonnet.

According to the invention described in claim 5, the rigidity of the pressing portion can be sufficiently ensured, and the effect corresponding to claim 1 can be effectively exhibited. According to the invention described in claim 6, a vertical gap is secured between the concave portion and the pressing portion, so that the function of securely closing the bonnet can be secured. Further, when an obstacle comes into contact with the bonnet, the setting of the gap is compensated, and the pressing action of the bonnet downward on the upper portion of the front fender can be reliably obtained at an early timing.

[0011]

FIG. 1 shows a front portion of a vehicle to which the present invention is applied. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a hood (a lid member at a front portion of a vehicle body) which is opened and closed in a vertical direction. Reference numeral 2 denotes a pair of left and right front fenders. The details of the mounting portion of the front fender 2 are shown in FIG.
In FIG. 2, reference numeral 3 denotes a wheel apron. As is known, the wheel apron 3 constitutes left and right side walls of an engine room (which may be a trunk room when the engine is disposed behind the vehicle compartment) formed in the front of the vehicle compartment. Upper part 3a of wheel apron 3
Has a closed cross-section structure extending in the vehicle front-rear direction in the embodiment.

The upper part of the front fender 2 is fixed to the upper part 3a of the wheel apron 3 via a connecting part 10 integrally formed with the front fender 2. This connecting part 10
First, in the upper part of the front fender 2, a boundary edge (side edge) serving as a parting line on the appearance of the hood 1 is indicated by reference numeral 2a. Connecting part 10
Is a first vertical wall portion 11 extending downward from the boundary edge portion 2a.
A horizontal wall portion 12 extending from the lower end portion of the first vertical wall portion 11 inward in the vehicle width direction; a second vertical wall portion 13 extending downward from the vehicle width direction inner side of the horizontal wall portion 12; And a mounting portion 14 extending from the lower end of the wall portion 13 to the inside in the vehicle width direction.

The vertical wall portions 11 and 13 extend substantially straight downward. The lateral wall portion 12 has a concave portion 1 that is concave upward.
2a is formed, and in the embodiment, the horizontal wall portion 12 is formed so as to have a substantially semicircular shape as a whole. This recess 12
a, that is, each end of the horizontal wall portion 12 in the vehicle width direction is
1 and 12 are smoothly connected in an arc shape. The mounting portion 14 is fixed to the upper portion 3a of the wheel apron 3 (in the embodiment, fixed by welding).

The parts 11 to 1 constituting the connecting part 10 (
4) extends over substantially the entire length of the front fender 1 in the front-rear direction. And the attachment part 14 also comprises a rain rail. Note that the outer ends of the first vertical wall portion 11 and the horizontal wall portion 12 in the vehicle width direction (particularly, substantially the center position of the concave portion 12a in the vehicle width direction) are located on the upper portion of the wheel apron 3a.
It is set so as to be positioned more outwardly in the vehicle width direction and to reliably avoid interference with the upper portion of the wheel apron 3a at the time of downward deformation described later.

The bonnet 1 is mainly composed of a bonnet main body 21 constituting the appearance of the bonnet 1 and a bonnet 21.
And a reinforcement 22 disposed on the inner surface side of the second member. At least the side edges of the bonnet body 21 and the reinforcement 22 are joined to each other (welded in the embodiment). A side edge portion of the bonnet 1, that is, a joint portion between the bonnet body 21 and the reinforcement 22 is formed as a flange portion 23, and is bent so as to extend substantially straight downward. We are facing 12a. That is, the flange portion 23 constitutes a pressing portion, and when the bonnet 1 is closed, the flange portion 23
(Lower end) is set to have a predetermined gap L with respect to the concave portion 12a.

The height of the bonnet body 1 near the side edge which is near the boundary 2a of the front fender 2 is set so as to be higher than the height of the boundary 2a of the front fender 2 by a predetermined amount. The height of this predetermined amount is substantially equal to the size of the gap L. More specifically, the bonnet 1 (particularly, the bonnet main body 21 constituting the appearance) is
A short inclined portion 24 whose height position substantially coincides with the height position of the boundary edge portion 2a, and which gradually increases from the upper end 23a of the flange portion 23 toward the inside in the vehicle width direction.
Is formed, and extends substantially horizontally from the upper end 24a of the inclined portion 24 toward the inside in the vehicle width direction. It should be noted that the same structure as the right side of the vehicle body shown in FIG.
It is also configured on the left side of the vehicle as a substantially symmetrical shape.

Now, the hood 1 and the front fender 2
Consider the case where the obstacle S abuts over the upper part of the vehicle. By applying a load of a predetermined amount or more downward from the obstacle, the bonnet 1 is pressed and displaced downward (unlike the front fender 2, the bonnet 1 is easily displaced downward). Due to the downward displacement of the bonnet 1, the flange portion 23 presses the concave portion 12a downward, whereby the connecting portion 10 is deformed as shown by the dashed line in FIG. 2, and the upper portion of the front fender 2 is displaced downward. You. Thereby, the impact on the obstacle S is reduced. In particular, the upper end 24a of the inclined portion 24 of the hood 1
Is located at a position higher than the boundary edge 2a that is a corner of the front fender 2, so that the obstacle S is
The displacement of the bonnet 1 is started before strongly contacting the boundary edge 2a, thereby preventing the obstacle S from strongly contacting the boundary edge 2a.

Although the embodiment has been described above, the front fender 2 is not limited to a metal plate, but may be formed of a synthetic resin. Similarly, the bonnet 1 (bonnet main body, reinforcement 22) is not limited to a metal plate, but can be formed of a synthetic resin. The purpose of the present invention is not limited to what is explicitly specified, but also implicitly includes providing what is substantially preferred or expressed as an advantage.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a front portion of a vehicle to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line X2-X2 in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: Bonnet 2: Front fender 2a: Inner edge in the vehicle width direction (boundary edge) 3: Wheel apron 3a: Upper part of wheel apron 10: Connecting part 11: First vertical wall part 12: Horizontal wall part 12a: Concave part 13 : Second vertical wall portion 14: mounting portion 21: bonnet body 22: reinforcement 23: flange portion (pressing portion) 23a: upper end of flange portion 24: inclined portion 24a: upper end of inclined portion S: obstacle L: gap

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle front structure in which an upper portion of a front fender is fixed to an upper portion of a wheel apron via a connecting portion extending from a boundary edge with respect to a bonnet, wherein the connecting portion is provided at the boundary. A first vertical wall portion extending downward from the boundary edge portion between the edge portion and the fixing portion with respect to the upper portion of the wheel apron, and extending inward in the vehicle width direction from a lower end portion of the first vertical wall portion and upward. A lateral wall portion formed with a concave portion which is concave toward the front side, and a second vertical wall portion extending downward from a vehicle width direction inner side end portion of the lateral wall portion, and a side edge portion of the bonnet, A convex pressing portion facing the concave portion from above is formed, and when the bonnet receives a downward load equal to or more than a predetermined value, the connecting portion is deformed by pressing the concave portion by the pressing portion. While the front fender Vehicle front structure upper is displaced downward, characterized in that. 2. The structure of a vehicle front part according to claim 1, wherein each of the concave part and the pressing part is formed to extend substantially over the entire length of the front fender in the vehicle longitudinal direction. 3. The connecting portion according to claim 1, wherein the connecting portion has a mounting portion extending inward in the vehicle width direction from a lower end portion of the second vertical wall portion, wherein the mounting portion is an upper wall portion above a wheel apron. A vehicle front structure fixed to the vehicle. 4. The vehicle front structure according to claim 1, wherein the pressing portion is formed by a flange portion extending downward from a side edge of the bonnet. 5. The bonnet according to claim 4, wherein the bonnet has a bonnet main body and a bonnet reinforcement, and the bonnet main body and the reinforcement are joined at at least side edges. The structure of the front part of the vehicle, wherein the flange portion to be formed is constituted by a joint portion between the bonnet body and the bonnet reinforcement. 6. The front fender according to claim 1, wherein the lower end of the pressing portion is set at a position higher than the recess by a predetermined gap when the hood is closed. A structure near the boundary of the front fender is set to be higher than the height of the boundary of the front fender corresponding to the gap.