JP3209382B2 - Car occupant protection equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an occupant protection system for a motor vehicle, and more particularly, to an occupant protection system for protecting a knee of an occupant by deforming the knee when the occupant comes into contact with an instrument panel to absorb impact. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an automobile, various safety measures such as a seat belt and an air bag are taken to protect an occupant during sudden braking or the like.
No. 24852 discloses that, as shown in FIG. 5 , the lower core B of the core of the instrument panel A having a height corresponding to the occupant's knee is formed of a hard core while being held in the instrument panel A. A bar C is disposed, and a knee protector D including a pair of knee protector members d (only one side is shown in the figure) is fixed to the holding bar C, and the occupant's knee hits the instrument panel A. A technique is disclosed in which the knee protector D is sometimes deformed in the direction of the arrow by the lower core B to absorb impact and protect the knee.

[0003]

By the way, various devices are mounted on an automobile for air conditioning in a vehicle compartment and the like. That is, these devices are blow units, cooler units, heater units, control units such as engines, and audio devices such as CD changers.
In that case, due to space limitations, these units are usually arranged side by side in the vehicle width direction on the dash lower panel in front of the instrument panel,
These units and the above-mentioned holding bar C and knee protector D are arranged close to each other. Therefore, assuming a situation where the dash lower panel is displaced rearward of the vehicle body for some reason, for example, a situation in which the cooler unit approaches the knee protector D and the amount of deformation of the knee protector D is limited. It is possible that it will happen.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an occupant protection system for an automobile in which the amount of deformation of the knee protector is not limited even when the knee protector and other on-vehicle equipment are arranged close to each other.

[0005]

That is, claim 1 of the present invention.
The invention described in (1) relates to an occupant protection system for an automobile in which a knee protector positioned at a position corresponding to an occupant's knee is provided on a rigid bar disposed in the instrument panel in a vehicle width direction.
In the device, the knee protector is attached to the rigid bar.
A pair of left and right dies each having a substantially U-shaped fixed front end.
-Consisting of protector members, after these members
When the end side is a knee receiving part that receives the load from the occupant side
In both cases, the bent portion between the knee receiving portion and the front end portion applies a load.
It is a deformation promoting part that deforms when received, and
On-board equipment is arranged on the front side of the body of the knee protector,
After restricting the device from retracting to the knee protector
The retraction restricting member is different from the front end of the knee protector member.
Between the knee protector members and the shape promotion section
It is bridged and fixed .

[0006]

According to the above invention, in front of the knee protector member.
Since the retreat restricting member of the in-vehicle device is provided between the end and the deformation promoting portion, even if the device tries to retreat,
Since the retraction is prevented, the amount of deformation of the knee protector is not limited.

[0007] Further , the retraction restricting member attached between the knee protector members prevents the device from retreating between the knee protector members, and prevents the knee protector from properly moving.
Both a positive amount of deformation is ensured, so that the load at which the instrument hits the retreat restricting member trying retraction is distributed to the right and left knee protector member, backward movement limiting can be performed more reliably.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG . 1, an instrument panel 1 disposed at the front of the passenger compartment is provided with an audio device 2 and a meter mounting portion 3 formed therein. And various other meters, and air outlets 4 and 4 for blowing air from the air conditioner into the vehicle interior.

[0010] instrument panel 1 above the opening 5 of the glove box fitting (see FIG. 2) is provided at a lower position of the front passenger seat, the lid 6 to the opening 5
A glove box 8 for storing various small items, which is composed of a housing 7 and a casing 7, is fitted into the glove box 8, and a lower portion of the glove box 8 is attached to the instrument panel 1 by a hinge 9 so as to be able to be pulled out. In this case, the mounting position of the glove box 8 is set to a height position substantially corresponding to the knee X of the occupant sitting in the passenger seat, and the casing 7 of the glove box 8 is made of thin plastic.

Meanwhile, the instrument panel 1, as shown in FIG. 2, the steering support member 10 of the pipe-shaped supporting a steering column (not shown) is disposed in the vehicle body width direction. In that case, the steering support member 1
Reference numeral 0 denotes side brackets 12, 12 having attachment portions 11 to the front pillar portions P at both ends as shown in FIG.
Are provided, and these side brackets 12, 12 are connected and fixed to front pillar portions P on the left and right sides of the vehicle body.
The steering support member 11 has a center member 13 provided at a central portion thereof attached to a tunnel portion (not shown) of a floor panel, and a pair of left and right knee protector members 14,
A knee protector 15 comprising 14 is attached.

[0012] The knee protector member 14 is a pressed product of sheet metal, as shown in FIG. 2, the vehicle body in the longitudinal direction, from the front end of the vehicle body front side of the vehicle body rear side extending to the knees of the vehicle occupant forward The front end is fixed to the steering support member 10 by an appropriate method such as welding or the like, and the rear end is formed as a knee receiving portion 16, and the front end is fixed to the rear end. The bent portion between them is a deformation promoting portion 17.

[0013] Furthermore, the above knee protector member 1
4 and 14 are attached to the steering support member 10 in a hanging state, and when the glove box 8 is stored in the instrument panel 1, the casing 7 in the glove box 8 includes left and right knee protectors. Between the members 14, 14, the deformation promoting portions 17, 17 of the knee protector members 14, 14 are inserted.
Are located on the outer side of the casing 7, and the left and right ends of the lid 6 in the glove box 8 are slightly obliquely below the knee receivers 16, 16 of the knee protector members 14, 14. Face to face, glove box 6
2, a positional relationship is set such that the lid 6 hits the knee receiving portion 16 when a large load is applied from the passenger seat side from the state of FIG.

In the knee protector 15, the retraction preventing member 1 made of a metal pipe extends over a portion of the knee protector members 14, 14 closer to the above-mentioned fixed side front end portion with the steering support member 10 than the deformation promoting portion 17.
8, the retraction preventing member 18 is fixed to the respective knee protector members 14, 14 by welding or the like.

[0015] In addition, the knee protector members 14, 14
In (2), a connecting member 19 made of a metal pipe is fixedly secured to the knee receiving portions 16 at the rear end. The connecting member 19 distributes the load applied from the glove box 8 to the knee protector members 14 and 14 when the knee protector members 14 and 14 are deformed as described below.

Further , an air adjusting evaporator 20 is arranged closer to the steering support member 10 and the knee protector 15 in front of the vehicle than the steering supporting member 10 and the knee protector 15.
1, the bracket 22 on the dash lower panel 21 side and the bracket 23 on the air adjustment evaporator 20 side are fixed by connecting them with bolts 24.

[0017] According to such a knee protector structure,
When a situation occurs in which the knee X of the occupant abuts the glove box 8 in the direction of the arrow in FIG.
The load causes the glove box 8 to move in the pushing direction about the hinge 9 in the pushing direction, and the lid 6 of the glove box 8 collides with the knee receiving portions 16, 16 of the knee protector members 14, 14. As a result, the deformation accelerating portions 17 and 17 are deformed, shock is absorbed, and the knee X
Will be protected. In this case, when the glove box 8 is pushed in, the casing 7 may come into contact with the air adjusting evaporator 20. However, since the casing 7 is made thin as described above, it is deformed by the contact. Therefore, the contact does not prevent the knee protector 15 from absorbing the impact.

Since the air adjusting evaporator 20 and the knee protector 15 are arranged close to each other as shown in FIG. 2, the dash lower panel 21 supporting the air adjusting evaporator 20 is moved rearward of the vehicle body for some reason. When the air adjusting evaporator 20 moves, the air adjusting evaporator 20 also retreats.
Part enters between the left and right knee protector members 14, 14, so that the knee protector members 14, 1 when the occupant's knee hits the glove box 8 as described above.
4 may be limited, and the corner 20X of the air adjusting evaporator 20 may hit the knee X. However, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, since the retraction preventing member 18 is fixed over the knee protector members 14, 14, the air adjusting evaporator 2
0 collides with the retraction preventing member 19, the above-mentioned approach does not occur, and when the knee X strikes the glove box 8, a proper deformation amount of the knee protector members 14, 14 is secured. In addition, it is possible to prevent the corner 20X from hitting the knee X.

Since the retraction preventing member 18 is stretched over the left and right knee protector members 14 as described above, the load when the air adjusting evaporator 20 which is going to retreat collides with the left and right knee protector members 14, 14. It can be distributed to the protector members 14 and 14 and received by the steering support member 10, the front pillar portion P and the floor panel. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate an obstacle (for example, deformation of the knee protector member 14) caused by applying a load only to the knee protector member 14 on one side.

Although the knee protector 15 has been described with respect to the passenger seat side, as shown in FIG. 4, a pair of left and right knee protector members 14 without the retraction preventing member 18 and the connecting member 19 are provided on the driver's seat side. , 14 are attached.

[0021]

As apparent from the above description, the present invention
According to Ming, the front end of the knee protector member and the deformation promotion
Since the retreat restricting member is provided between the vehicle-mounted device and the device, even if the device attempts to retreat, the retraction is prevented, so that the deformation amount of the knee protector is not limited. Thus, the protection of the occupant's knee becomes possible.

Further, the backward movement limiting member mounted between knee protector member, retracting entry device to between knee protector members is prevented, application of the knee protector
Both a positive amount of deformation is ensured, so that the load at which the instrument hits the retreat restricting member trying retraction is distributed to the right and left knee protector member, backward movement limiting can be performed more reliably.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an instrument panel of an automobile according to an embodiment of the present invention .

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of a knee protector mounting portion of the instrument panel.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the knee protector on the passenger compartment side.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a steering support member in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional knee protector.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Instrument panel 8 Glove box 10 Steering support member 14 Knee protector member 15 Knee protector 16 Knee receiving part 17 Deformation accelerating part 18 Retraction preventing member 20 Air adjusting evaporator X Knee

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B62D 21/045-21/05 B62D 25/08

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An occupant protection system for a motor vehicle having a knee protector located on a rigid bar disposed in a width direction of a vehicle body in an instrument panel, the knee protector being located in correspondence with a knee of an occupant.
The knee protector is in front of the rigid bar.
A pair of left and right knees each having a substantially U-shape with fixed ends.
Consists of protector members, the rear ends of these members
When the upper part is a knee receiver that receives the load from the occupant,
The bent portion between the knee receiving portion and the front end portion receives a load.
It is a deformation accelerating part that deforms when
Onboard equipment is located on the front side of the body of the knee protector.
Retraction that restricts the device from retreating to the knee protector
The regulating member is deformed with the front end of the knee protector member.
Between the knee protector members
An occupant protection device for an automobile, wherein the occupant protection device is handed over and fixed .