JP2002053071A - Steering column supporting structure - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve bending rigidity of a vehicle body by making use of a steering column supporting structure as well as to improve supporting rigidity of a steering column. SOLUTION: A stay member upper end part 21 is fixed to the rear surface of an air box 4 at the central part in the width direction of a vehicle, a stay member lower end part 22 is fixed to a vehicle floor 1, and a stay member 2 is attached. A steering member right end part 52 of a steering member 5 for supporting the steering column 7 is fixed to a right pillar inner 6 through a right bracket 53, and a steering member left end part 51 is connected to the stay member 2 through a left bracket 54 and a bracket 55.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a structure for supporting a steering column.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, there has been known a structure in which a steering column is supported by a high-rigidity steering member which is laterally mounted in an instrument panel in a vehicle width direction. However, the structure in which such a high-rigidity member is laid horizontally over the entire width of the vehicle has a problem that weight and cost are increased. Thus, as a structure in which the steering member is laid only in front of the driver's seat as described above, a technique for reducing weight and cost is described in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 4-62252. That is, this publication discloses a technique in which one end of a steering member is connected to a side wall of a vehicle body, and the other end is connected to a support member erected on the floor, so that the total length of the steering member is reduced to about half of that in the related art. . Further, in the above publication,
There is disclosed a configuration in which a casing of a passenger airbag is cantilevered by an air conditioning unit.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, the support member has its lower end fixed to the floor of the vehicle body and is erected, and the steering member at the upper end of the support member is cantilevered. Since the support is provided in the state, it is difficult to obtain high support rigidity, and the steering vibration during idling is likely to be large, and the driver may feel insufficient rigidity during steering.
In addition, the conventional steering column support structure hardly contributes to the improvement of the rigidity of the vehicle body and does not contribute to the attachment of the air conditioning unit. Therefore, in the above-mentioned prior art, when the air conditioning unit is attached, the components of the air conditioning unit are attached to the dashboard, respectively, so that improvement in workability has been desired. In addition, this air conditioning unit has
The airbag casing for the passenger seat may be attached, but the airbag casing is supported only by the air conditioning unit supported by the dashboard. However, there has been a problem that the casing may move back and forth, and the deployed state of the airbag (referred to as a deployed mode) may become unstable. The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and mainly aims at improving the support rigidity of a steering column and improving the bending rigidity of a vehicle body using a steering column support structure. It is a second object of the present invention to further improve the workability of mounting the air conditioning unit and to stabilize the deployment mode of the airbag by improving the support rigidity of the casing of the passenger airbag device. .

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, a steering column support structure according to the present invention is provided such that a front end portion of a stay member is provided at an upper portion of a dashboard in a vehicle width direction at a center portion in a vehicle width direction. The rear end of the stay member is connected to the floor of the vehicle body and is connected to an air box that is provided to extend and forms an outside air intake passage to the air conditioning unit, and the steering member supports the steering column. One end is connected to the vehicle body side wall on the driver's seat side, and the other end of the steering member is connected to the stay member. In addition,
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the steering column support structure of the first aspect, a passenger seat member having one end coupled to the stay member and the other end coupled to a vehicle body side wall on the passenger seat side. And an air conditioning unit is attached to the passenger seat side member.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the steering column support structure according to the second aspect, an airbag for a passenger seat is attached to the passenger seat member.

[0005]

According to the present invention, the stay member is connected to the highly rigid air box and the vehicle body floor, and the steering member is connected to the stay member and the vehicle body side wall. Is firmly fixed. Therefore, the support rigidity of the steering column supported by the steering member can be improved, the vibration of the steering during idling can be suppressed, and the rigidity during steering can be improved. Furthermore, since the air box and the vehicle body floor are connected by the stay member, the rigidity of the vehicle body against bending load can be improved, and at the time of a frontal collision of the vehicle, the retreat of the air box is suppressed by the stay member, It is possible to suppress a decrease in indoor living space.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the passenger seat member is provided separately from the steering member, the passenger seat member can be formed in a shape convenient for mounting the air conditioning unit. Thus, the air conditioning unit can be mounted on the passenger seat member before the vehicle is mounted on the vehicle, and the vehicle can be mounted on the vehicle as a module structure in which all of these components are integrated. Therefore, the workability of mounting the air conditioning unit can be improved. In addition, by attaching the passenger seat member to the stay member and the vehicle body side wall on the passenger seat side by modularizing, the mounting position of the air conditioning unit on the vehicle body is determined, so that the work of mounting the air conditioning unit on the vehicle body becomes easy. . In addition, by providing the passenger seat member separately from the steering member, the passenger seat member can be configured to be lighter than the steering member, and the steering member can be mounted horizontally over the entire width in the vehicle width direction. According to the third aspect of the present invention, the weight and the cost can be reduced as compared with the case where the airbag for the passenger seat is also supported by the passenger seat member. The module can be subassembled with the member, and the mounting workability can be improved. Further, as compared with the structure in which the passenger airbag is supported by the air conditioning unit, the support strength is improved, and the deployment mode can be stabilized more than before.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a steering column support structure according to an embodiment of the present invention. First,
The configuration will be described. In FIG. 1, 1 is a vehicle floor, 2 is a stay member, and 4 is an air box. The stay member 2 is formed by appropriately crushing a metal pipe-shaped member at an appropriate position, and a stay member lower end portion 22 is bolted to the vehicle floor 1 so as to stand from the vehicle floor 1. The stay member upper end 21 is bolted to the rear surface of the air box 4. A bracket 55 is fixed to an intermediate portion of the stay member 2. The air box 4 forms a flow path for taking in outside air to the air conditioning unit 100, which will be described later. The air box 4 has a box cross-sectional shape that is laid horizontally over substantially the entire width of the vehicle, and has high rigidity.

[0008] 5 is a steering member in the form of a metal pipe,
Reference numeral 6 denotes a vehicle body right side pillar inner as a vehicle body side wall, and reference numeral 7 denotes a steering column. The steering member 5 is
A right bracket 53 is fixed to the right end 52 of the steering member, and a left bracket 54 is fixed to the left end 51 of the steering member. And the right bracket 5
3 is bolted to the right pillar inner 56, and the left bracket 54 is bolted to a bracket 55 as a stay member. A support bracket 13 is fixed to the rear surface of the intermediate portion of the steering member 5, and a support bracket 16 is fixed to the front surface of the intermediate portion. Reference numeral 12 denotes a connection bracket, the front end of which is bolted to the rear surface of the air box 4 and the rear end of which is bolted to the upper end of the support bracket 16 to connect the two. On the other hand, to the steering column 7, an upper support bracket 14 is fixed above the middle part, and a lower support bracket 15 is fixed below the middle part. And the upper support bracket 14
Are bolted to the support bracket 13, and the lower support bracket 15 is bolted to the lower end of the support bracket 16 to support the steering column 7.

Between the stay member 2 and the left side wall of the vehicle body (not shown), the left end 31 of the passenger seat member is bolted to the left side pillar inner of the vehicle body as the side wall of the vehicle (not shown), and the right end 32 of the passenger seat member is fixed. The passenger seat member 3 is attached to a bracket 55 fixed to an intermediate portion of the stay member 2 by bolting together with the left bracket 54. The passenger seat member 3 supports a passenger airbag 8 and an air conditioning unit 100. This air conditioning unit 1
00 includes a heater unit 9, a cooler unit 10, and a blower unit 11, and each of the units 9, 10, 11 constituting the air conditioning unit 100 has a rear portion and an upper portion bolt-mounted to the passenger seat member 3, respectively, and , A front part and a lower part are bolted to the dashboard 101. The passenger seat airbag 8 is
The legs 17 are bolted to the passenger seat member 3.

Next, the operation of the embodiment will be described. First, the stay member 2 and the connection bracket 12 are attached to the vehicle body, and then the steering member 5 is attached. Alternatively, after these 2, 5, and 12 are assembled and integrated outside the vehicle, they may be attached to the vehicle body. in this case,
The left bracket 54 is bolted to the bracket 55, and the upper end of the support bracket 16 is bolted to the rear end of the connection bracket 12. Next, the stay member upper end portion 21 is bolted to the rear surface of the air box 4, and the stay member lower end portion 22 is bolted to the vehicle floor 1. Then, the front end of the connection bracket 12 is bolted to the rear surface of the air box 4, and the right bracket 53 fixed to the right end 52 of the steering member is bolted to the right pillar inner 6. The upper support bracket 14 fixed to the steering column 7 is used as the support bracket 13, and the lower support bracket 15 is used as the support bracket 1.
The bolts are fixed to the lower ends of the 6 respectively.

Next, the passenger seat member 3 in which the air conditioning unit 100 and the passenger seat airbag 8 are sub-assembled is attached. To attach the passenger seat member 3, the left end 31 of the passenger seat member is bolted to a left pillar inner (not shown), and the right end 32 of the passenger seat member is bolted to the bracket 55 fixed to the stay member 2 together with the left bracket 54. . Next, the air conditioning unit 100 attached to the passenger seat member 3 is attached to the dashboard 101. At this time, since the units 9, 10, and 11 are positioned with respect to the passenger seat member 3 when they are sub-assembled into the passenger seat member 3, the respective units 9, 10, and 11 are mounted after the passenger seat member 3 is attached. Positioning of 9, 10, 11 with respect to the dashboard 101 is performed, and attachment to the dashboard 101 becomes easy. This completes the installation.

As described above, in the steering column support structure of the present invention, the steering column 7 has both ends fixed to the rear surface of the air box 4 and the stay member 2 fixed to the vehicle floor 1 and the right pillar inner 6. By being supported by the steering member 5 thus set, high support rigidity is obtained. As a result, the steering vibration during idling can be suppressed and the rigidity during steering can be increased. Further, since the rear surface of the air box 4 and the vehicle floor 1 are connected by the stay member 2, the bending rigidity in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle can be increased. In addition, the left pillar inner, the right pillar inner 6, and the stay Since the steering member 5 and the passenger seat member 3 are firmly laid in the vehicle lateral direction between the members 2, bending rigidity in the vehicle lateral direction can be increased.

Further, by forming the passenger seat member 3 separately from the steering member 5, the passenger seat member 3 is formed thinner than when the steering member 5 is laid horizontally over the entire width, and the weight and cost are reduced. Can be reduced. Furthermore, even if the positions of the centers of gravity of the units 9, 10, 11 constituting the air conditioning unit 100 are shifted in the front-rear direction,
The air-conditioning unit 100 can be formed in a shape that is convenient for suspending the air-conditioning unit 100, for example, the air-conditioning unit 100 can be bent in accordance with the center of gravity of the corner unit. In addition, the air conditioning unit 100
Can be subassembled to the passenger seat member 3 and assembled to the vehicle.
The mounting workability can be improved as compared with the case where each of the units 9, 10, and 11 constituting 00 is individually mounted.

Further, by attaching the passenger seat airbag 8 to the passenger seat member 3 having high support rigidity, the casing of the passenger seat airbag 8 is stably supported. In this case, the development can be performed stably.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a steering column support structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vehicle floor 2 Stay member 3 Passenger seat member 4 Air box 5 Steering member 6 Right pillar inner 7 Steering column 8 Passenger seat airbag 9 Heater unit 10 Cooler unit 11 Blower unit 12 Connection bracket 13 Support bracket 21 Stay member upper end 22 Stay member Lower end part 31 Left end part of passenger seat member 32 Right end part of passenger seat member 51 Steering member left end part 52 Steering member right end part 100 Air conditioning unit 101 Dashboard

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Tetsuya Kudo 10-1 Amanuma, Hiratsuka-shi, Kanagawa F-term in Nissan Shatai Co., Ltd. (Reference) 3D003 AA01 AA11 CA05 DA09 3D030 DC16 DC17 3D054 AA03 AA14 BB13

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A front end of a stay member is connected to an air box provided at an upper portion of a dashboard and extending in a vehicle width direction to form an outside air intake passage to an air conditioning unit at a central portion in a width direction of the vehicle. The rear end of the stay member is connected to the floor of the vehicle body, and one end of a steering member supporting the steering column is connected to the vehicle body side wall on the driver's seat side.
A steering column support structure, wherein the other end of the steering member is connected to the stay member. 2. The steering column support structure according to claim 1, further comprising: a passenger seat member having one end connected to the stay member and the other end connected to a vehicle body side wall on a passenger seat side. A steering column support structure, wherein an air conditioning unit is attached to the passenger side member. 3. The steering column support structure according to claim 2, wherein a passenger airbag is attached to the passenger seat member.