JP2003002136A - Towing hook installation structure for automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a towing hook installation structure by which a bumper stay is securely collapsingly deformed in the axial direction against a collision load. SOLUTION: When a collision load works on the towing hook 8 in the axial direction, the bumper stay 4 receives the load with its front end wall 4b and starts to collapse-deform. The rear end of the hook stay 7 moves backward relative to the rear end wall 4c of the bumper stay 4 to act as a collapse- deformation guide, surely collapsingly deforming the bumper stay 4 in the axial direction to perform effective energy absorption.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automobile tow hook mounting structure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a tow hook mounting structure of an automobile,
For example, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 4-39911, a substantially box-shaped bumper stay is attached to an end of a side member which is a main skeletal member at a front portion or a rear portion of a vehicle body, and a bumper stay outside the vehicle is attached. Attach a bumper reinforcement with a closed cross section to the end wall,
It is known that a hook stay is disposed so as to penetrate through the bumper reinforcement, a tow hook is attached to the hook stay, and the hook end is arranged to project from the bumper fence to the outside.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned conventional structure, one end of the hook stay is fixed to the side wall of the bumper reinforcement outside the vehicle, and the other end is fixed to the side member. When a collision input acts on the tow hook during a rear light collision, the collision input is directly transmitted to the side member, and the bumper reinforcement and the bumper stay are not deformed by being crushed and deformed. It cannot contribute to energy absorption.

On the other hand, in addition to such a structure, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-296742,
It has been proposed that the fixed side end of the hook stay (the end opposite to the side where the tow hook is attached) is fixed to the end wall of the bumper stay on the vehicle exterior side. Since the stay receives, even if the bumper stay is crushed and deformed and energy absorption can be expected,
Since the fixing point of the hook stay exists on the vehicle outer side end wall of the bumper stay, the bumper stay may be deformed in the up-down direction or the left-right direction without being deformed and the effective deformation of the bumper stay. There is no denying that it is difficult to apply.

Therefore, the present invention provides a tow hook mounting structure for an automobile capable of reliably crushing and deforming the bumper stay in the front-rear direction in response to a collision input in the front-rear direction to efficiently absorb energy. is there.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a bumper stay is formed in a substantially box-like shape at a vehicle exterior end of a side member that is disposed in the front or rear portion of the vehicle body in the vehicle longitudinal direction. In a structure in which a hook stay is arranged in the front-rear direction across the vehicle outer end wall of the bumper stay and a mounting wall facing the bumper stay, and a tow hook can be attached to the hook stay. , One end of the hook stay is fixed to an end wall of the bumper stay outside the vehicle, and the other end is pierced through a mounting wall of the bumper stay so as to be movable in the front-rear direction with respect to the mounting wall. There is.

According to the invention of claim 2, a load transmitting portion for transmitting the traction load acting on the traction hook to the mounting wall of the bumper stay is provided at the other end of the bumper stay according to claim 1. Is characterized by.

According to the invention of claim 3, claims 1 and 2 are provided.
The bumper reinforcement is characterized in that a tow hook is penetrated in the front-rear direction and a bumper reinforcement capable of being crushed and deformed in the front-rear direction with respect to the front-rear direction input is attached to an end wall on the vehicle outer side of the bumper stay.

The invention of claim 4 is characterized in that an energy absorbing member is disposed inside the bumper reinforcement of claim 3 coaxially with the tow hook.

[0010]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when a collision input is applied in the axial direction to the hook stay to which the tow hook or the index hook can be attached due to a light collision in the front-rear direction of the vehicle, the collision input is applied to the bumper. The end wall of the stay outside the vehicle receives the bumper stay and starts to deform. At this time, the other end of the hook stay moves forward and backward in the input axis direction with respect to the mounting wall of the bumper stay, and the hook The stay functions as a crush deformation guide for the bumper stay.

Therefore, the bumper stay can be crushed and deformed in the front-rear direction without falling in the up-down direction or the left-right direction, and efficient energy absorption can be performed.

According to the invention of claim 2, claim 1
In addition to the effect of the invention described above, the pulling load acting on the pulling hook is not only received by the end wall of the bumper stay on the vehicle outer side, but also the load is applied to the mounting wall of the bumper stay via the load transmitting portion at the other end of the hook stay. Therefore, it is possible to increase the drag force of the bumper stay by dispersing the towing load, avoid local deformation due to stress concentration of the bumper stay, and reduce the plate thickness as much as possible to contribute to weight reduction. be able to.

According to the third aspect of the invention, in addition to the effects of the first and second aspects of the invention, the bumper reinforcement can also be deformed in the front-back direction when the collision progresses.

According to the invention of claim 4, claim 3
In addition to the effect of the invention described above, workability is improved by being guided by the energy absorbing member when the index hook is attached, and the energy absorbing member inside the bumper reinforcement is compressed and deformed around the towing hook, and these bumper rains are deformed. Since energy is absorbed by the force and the energy absorbing member, the amount of energy absorbed can be significantly increased.

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail by taking a tow hook arranged at a front portion of an automobile as an example.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes side members arranged in the front-rear direction on both sides in the vehicle width direction of a front compartment (not shown). The side member 1 constitutes a main skeleton member of the front compartment, and It is a main member for energy absorption during a frontal collision of a vehicle, and is formed in a closed cross section so that energy can be absorbed by buckling deformation in the front-rear direction with respect to a frontal collision input.

An end wall 2 is fixed to a front end of the side member 1 which is an outer side end of the vehicle to close a closed cross section.
A stay insertion hole 3 for inserting a rear end of a hook stay, which will be described later, is formed substantially at the center thereof.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a bumper stay attached to the front end of the side member 1. The bumper stay 4 has a peripheral wall 4a composed of upper, lower, left and right side walls, and a front end wall 4b which is an end wall on the outer side of the vehicle. Rear end wall 4c which is a mounting wall
It is shaped like a square box with and.

The peripheral wall 4a has a peripheral edge flange 4d at its rear end, and the bumper stay 4 has a peripheral edge flange 4d on the peripheral wall 4a.
The rear end wall 4c and the rear end wall 4c are abutted against the end wall 2 of the side member 1, and the bolt 5,
It is fastened and fixed to the end wall 2 by a nut 6, and is arranged substantially coaxially with the side member 1.

At a substantially central position of the bumper stay 4, a hook stay 7 is arranged in the front-rear direction across the front end wall 4b and the rear end wall 4c.

A mounting hole 9 for inserting a screw shaft 8a projecting from the rear end center portion of the pulling hook 8 is formed in a substantially central portion of the front end wall 4b, and a substantially central portion of the rear end wall 4c. A stay insertion hole 10 is formed through which the rear end of the hook stay 7 is inserted.

On the other hand, the hook stay 7 is formed in a tubular shape so that the screw shaft 8a can be screwed therein, and its front end is concentrically welded and fixed to the rear surface of the front end wall 4b of the bumper stay 4 with the mounting hole 9. And the rear end of the stay insertion holes 10, 3
Is inserted through the rear end wall 4c of the bumper stay 4 and the end wall 2 of the side member 1 so as to be movable in the front-rear direction.

In this embodiment, the bumper reinforcement 12 of the front bumper 11 is attached to the front end wall 4b of the bumper stay 4.

The bumper reinforcement 12 has a front side wall 13 and a rear side wall 14, which are connected to each other, and a lower wall 15 which is formed into a rectangular closed cross section extending in the vehicle width direction. It is configured to be crushable and deformable in the front-back direction.

The rear side wall 14 has a mounting hole 16 formed concentrically with the mounting hole 9 at a portion corresponding to the bumper stay 4, and the front side wall 13 has a relatively large size on the coaxial line of the mounting hole 16. A fenestration 17 is formed.

In the bumper reinforcement 12, a block-shaped energy absorbing member 18 made of an elastic material such as synthetic resin is inserted into the bumper reinforcement 12 through the window opening 17, and the energy absorbing member 18 and the bumper stay 4 are inserted. Bumper reinforcement 12 with front end wall 4b
The energy absorbing member 18 with the rear side wall 14 sandwiched therebetween.
The bracket portion 18a provided at the rear end is fixed to the front end wall 4b by bolts 20 and nuts 21 together.

A hook insertion hole 19 is formed at the center of the energy absorbing member 18, and the tow hook 8 is attached to the hook stay 7 through the hook insertion hole 19 of the energy absorbing member 18.

Specifically, the pulling hook 8 is inserted into the hook insertion hole 19 of the energy absorbing member 18, and
The screw shaft 8a at the rear end is screwed into the hook stay 7, the rear end surface of the tow hook 8 is locked to the periphery of the mounting hole 16 of the rear side wall 14 of the bumper reinforcement 12, and the bolt 24 is attached to the rear end of the hook stay 7. Are screwed together.

The bolt 24 is a so-called seated bolt integrally provided with a flange 25. The flange 25 is formed to have a size that extends over the peripheral edge portion of the stay insertion hole 10 of the rear end wall 4c of the bumper stay 4, and the flange is formed. 25 is abuttingly engaged with the rear end wall 4c. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the bolt 24 transfers the pulling load acting on the pulling hook 8 to the rear end wall 4c of the bumper stay 4. It also has the function of a transmission unit.

As described above, since the flange 25 of the bolt 24 is brought into contact with the rear end wall 4c of the bumper stay 4,
The stay insertion hole 3 of the end wall 2 of the side member 1 is formed to have a larger diameter than the flange 25.

Further, as described above, the bumper reinforcement 12 is fixed to the front end wall 4b of the bumper stay 4 together with the energy absorbing member 18, and the tow hook 8 is passed through the hook insertion hole 19 of the energy absorbing member 18 to hook. In order to attach to the stay 7, the bumper stay 4 is attached to the end wall 2 of the side member 1 in a state where the bumper reinforcement 12 and the energy absorbing member 18 are sub-assembled.

Reference numeral 22 denotes a bumper fascia mounted to cover the bumper reinforcement 12, and the tow hook 8
A relatively small fenestration 23 is provided in the portion corresponding to
The hook portion 8b at the tip of the towing hook 8 is arranged so as to project outward from the window opening 23.

The fenestration 23 is closed by the blind lid 26 when the tow hook 8 is not used.

According to the structure of the above embodiment, when a collision input is applied in the axial direction to the hook stay 7 to which the tow hook 8 or the index hook 8 can be attached due to a front light collision of the vehicle, this collision input is applied to the bumper stay 4. The bumper stay 4 is crushed and deformed by the front end wall 4b of the bumper stay 7, and at this time, the rear end of the hook stay 7 acts on the rear end wall 4c of the bumper stay 7 and the end wall 2 of the side member 1. The hook stay 7 functions as a crush deformation guide of the bumper stay 4 by moving backward in the input axis direction through the stay insertion holes 10 and 3.

Therefore, the bumper stay 4 can be securely deformed by being collapsed in the front-rear direction without falling in the up-down direction or the left-right direction, and efficient energy absorption can be performed.

As the collision progresses, the bumper reinforcement 12 can also be deformed by being crushed in the front-back direction, and the energy absorbing member 18 is compressed and deformed around the attachment hole 16 of the traction hook 8 or the rear side wall 14 of the bumper reinforcement 12. Since the bumper reinforcement 12 and the energy absorbing member 18 absorb energy, the amount of energy absorbed can be significantly increased (see FIG. 3). Although FIG. 3 shows the case where the index hook 8 is used, it is needless to say that the bumper stay 4 and the bumper reinforcement 12 can be deformed in the same manner even when the index hook 8 is not used.

As a result, efficient energy absorption can be performed at the time of a light front collision, and deformation of the side member 1 can be prevented from spreading, so that only the front bumper 11 and the bumper stay 4 are damaged. it can.

Further, in the present embodiment, when the index hook 8 is used, the flange 25 of the bolt 24 to which the tow hook 8 is fixed abuts on the rear end wall 4c of the bumper stay 4 to transmit the tow load. Since it constitutes the load transmission part,
The tow load acting on the tow hook 8 is applied to the bumper stay 4
The front end wall 4b of the bumper stay 4 receives the load, and the rear end wall 4c of the bumper stay 4 also receives the load via the flange 25 at the rear end of the hook stay 7.

Therefore, the drag force of the bumper stay 4 can be increased by dispersing the traction load, and local deformation due to stress concentration of the bumper stay 4 can be avoided, and the plate thickness can be made as thin as possible to reduce the weight. It can also contribute to realization. Also,
The workability is improved by being guided by the energy absorbing member 18 when the index hook 8 is attached.

In the first embodiment, the portion where the flange 25 of the bolt 24 abuts and engages, that is, the peripheral edge of the stay insertion hole 10 of the rear end wall 4c of the bumper stay 4 has the plate thickness of the rear end wall 4c. Although it remains as it is, if the thick portion 4e is formed on the peripheral edge portion as in the second embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the peripheral edge portion of the stay insertion hole 10 can be reinforced and deformation during pulling can be prevented. it can.

Further, although the hook stay 7 is formed in a cylindrical shape in the first embodiment, the hook stay 7 is formed solid as in the third embodiment shown in FIG. It is also possible to form a screw hole 7a from the screw hole and to fix the screw shaft 8a of the tow hook 8 into the screw hole 7a by screwing.

In the case of the third embodiment, the hook stay 7
If the screw shaft 7b is formed at the center of the rear end and the nut 34 having the same flange 35 as the bolt 24 of the first embodiment is screwed to the screw shaft 7b, the flange 35 will be located behind the bumper stay 4. The nut 34 is brought into contact with the end wall 4c and engaged.
Can be used as a traction load transmission unit.

Furthermore, in the first embodiment, the bumper reinforcement 12 is fastened together with the energy absorbing member 18 to the front end wall 4b of the bumper stay 4, but like the fourth embodiment shown in FIG. The front end wall 4b of the bumper stay 4 is fastened and fixed with a bolt 20 and a nut 21, and the energy absorbing member 18 is provided with a flange fitting groove 18b on the outer periphery of the front end thereof, and the flange fitting hole 18b is provided in front of the bumper reinforcement 12. You may make it attach and attach to the inward flange 13a of the window opening 17 provided in the side wall 13.

FIG. 7 shows a fifth embodiment of the present invention, which is applied to a vehicle of a specification which does not use the bumper reinforcement 12 and the energy absorbing member 18 in the first embodiment. Even in the fifth embodiment, in the case of a light front collision of the vehicle, the bumper stay 4 can be reliably crushed and deformed in the front-rear direction for the same reason as described above, and efficient energy absorption can be performed. it can.

In each of the above-described embodiments, the tow hook arranged at the front part of the vehicle body has been described as an example. However, when applied to the tow hook arranged at the rear part of the vehicle body, the same effect as described above can be obtained. Of course.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic exploded perspective view showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional explanatory view of the same embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional explanatory view explaining an operation of the same embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory cross-sectional view showing the main parts of the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory cross-sectional view showing the main parts of the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a sectional explanatory view showing a main part in a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory sectional view showing a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 side member 2 End wall (outer end of car) 4 Bumper stay 4b Front end wall (end wall outside the vehicle) 4c Rear end wall (mounting wall) 7 Hook stay 8 tow hook 12 Bumper reinforcement 18 Energy absorbing member 24 bolt load transmission part 25 Flange load transmission section

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] July 18, 2001 (2001.7.1)
8)

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] Explanation of code

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Explanation of reference numerals] 1 side member 2 end wall (outer end of vehicle) 4 bumper stay 4b front end wall (end wall on outer side of vehicle) 4c rear end wall (mounting wall) 7 hook stay 8 traction hook 12 bumper reinforcement 18 Energy absorbing member 24 Bolt (load transmitting part) 25 Flange (load transmitting part)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A substantially box-shaped bumper stay is attached substantially coaxially to the vehicle exterior end of a side member disposed in the front or rear of the vehicle body in the vehicle front-rear direction. In a structure in which a hook stay is arranged in the front-rear direction across the end wall and a mounting wall facing the end wall, and a tow hook can be attached to the hook stay, one end of the hook stay is an end of the bumper stay outside the vehicle. A tow hook mounting structure for an automobile, characterized in that while being fixed to a wall, the other end is pierced through a mounting wall of a bumper stay so as to be movable in the front-rear direction with respect to the mounting wall. 2. A tow hook for an automobile according to claim 1, further comprising a load transmitting portion for transmitting a tow load acting on the tow hook to a mounting wall of the bumper stay at the other end of the hook stay. Mounting structure. 3. A bumper reinforcement which is crushable and deformable in the front-rear direction with respect to the front-rear direction input by attaching a towing hook in the front-rear direction to the end wall on the vehicle outer side of the bumper stay. The structure for attaching a tow hook of a vehicle according to items 1 and 2. 4. An automobile tow hook mounting structure according to claim 3, wherein an energy absorbing member is disposed inside the bumper reinforcement coaxially with the tow hook.