JP4529325B2 - Vehicle occupant protection device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a vehicle occupant protection device, and more particularly to an occupant leg protection device for protecting an occupant's leg from hitting an interior panel or the like in front of a seat at the time of a collision of an automobile or the like.
[0002]
[Prior art]
As an occupant protection device for protecting an occupant's legs from hitting an interior panel such as an instrument panel in front of the seat when a high-speed moving body such as an automobile collides, the interior of the interior panel (the space behind the interior panel) ), A knee bag (an airbag for protecting leg portions) housed in the case, a gas generator for inflating the knee bag, and a normal (a high-speed moving body such as the automobile) And a cover that covers the knee bag (when no crash situation is encountered).
[0003]
In such an occupant leg protection device, the knee bag is normally folded and disposed inside the interior panel, and the cover is attached to cover the folded body of the knee bag.
[0004]
And at the time of a collision, this gas generator carries out gas ejection operation | movement, this ejection gas is supplied to a knee bag, and this knee bag expand | swells rapidly. At this time, as the knee bag is inflated, the cover is opened, whereby the knee bag is allowed to bulge out of the interior panel and is inflated and deployed between the interior panel and the legs of the occupant, The occupant's legs are protected from hitting the interior panel.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The present invention relates to a vehicle occupant protection device in which a case containing a knee bag is provided in an interior panel, and the vehicle occupant is capable of extremely sufficiently resisting a pressing force applied from an occupant leg through an inflated knee bag. An object is to provide a protective device.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
A vehicle occupant protection device according to the present invention includes a knee bag storage case disposed in an interior panel in front of a vehicle seat, a passenger bag protection knee bag stored in the case, and a member covering the front of the case When, in the vehicle occupant protection device including a gas generator for inflating the knee bag includes a first support member and the second support member for supporting the casing to the vehicle body strength member, the The first support member extends from the case substantially horizontally to the front of the vehicle, and is connected to a first vehicle body strength member on the vehicle front side of the case. The second support member is It extends obliquely upward from the vehicle forward direction from the case, and is connected to the second vehicle body strength member above the case .
[0007]
In the vehicle occupant protection device of the present invention, since the case is supported by the vehicle body strength member, even if the occupant hits the inflated knee bag and the knee bag strongly presses the case, this pressing force is applied to the vehicle body strength. It comes to be opposed to the member, and the knee bag is received very firmly.
[0008]
In the present invention, it is preferable that the first support member extends substantially in front of the vehicle and is connected to the vehicle body strength member. When configured in this manner, the direction of the pressing force applied toward the front of the vehicle with respect to the knee bag matches the extending direction of the support member, so that the knee bag can be firmly received.
[0010]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Reference examples and embodiments will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 (a) is a longitudinal sectional view showing an occupant leg protecting apparatus according to a reference example, and FIG. 1 (b) is a sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 1 (a).
[0011]
A case 12 is installed in an interior panel (for example, an instrument panel or a lower panel) 10 in front of a car seat. A knee bag 14 is folded and stored in the case 12, and is fastened to the case 12 by a fastening member 16. An inflator (gas generator) 18 for inflating the knee bag 14 is installed in the case 12. The case 12 has an opening that opens along the interior panel 10, and the opening is covered with a lid 20. The lid 20 is fastened to the case 12 by a fastening member 22 such as a rivet. The lid 20 is provided with a tear line 24.
[0012]
One end of a support member 30 is connected to the case 12 by welding, riveting or the like, and the other end of the support member 30 is connected and fixed to a dash panel 32 as a vehicle body strength member of an automobile.
[0013]
In this reference example , an L-shaped (may be T-shaped) mounting seat 34 is fixed to the dash panel 32, and the other end of the support member 30 is fixed to the mounting seat 34 by a bolt 36. The mounting seat 34 is provided with a recess, and the support member 30 is engaged with the recess. Then, as shown in FIG. 1 (b), the end surface of the support member 30 abuts on the step surface 34a at the end of the recess, whereby the stress from the support member 30 toward the dash panel 32 is received by the step surface 34a. Has been.
[0014]
When the automobile collides, the inflator 18 ejects gas, and the knee bag 14 expands. The tear line 24 is cleaved by the inflating knee bag 14, and the lid 20 is opened. Then, as indicated by a two-dot chain line 14 ′, the knee bag 14 develops along the front surface of the case 12 and the interior panel 10 around it. The occupant legs hit the knee bag 14 to protect the occupant legs.
[0015]
When the occupant leg hits the knee bag 14, the knee bag 14 tries to move backward and tries to push down the case 12. However, since the case 12 is supported by the dash panel 32 as the vehicle body strength member by the support member 30, the knee bag 14 is prevented from moving backward.
[0016]
Figure 2 (a) is a longitudinal sectional view showing a vehicle occupant protection device according to the implementation of the embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 (b) is a sectional view taken along the same part (a) shows line B-B.
[0017]
In this embodiment, the case 12 is supported by the dash panel 32 via a support member 40 that extends substantially horizontally in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, and is attached to a vehicle body strength member (lean force) 50 via a support member 52. It is supported. The vehicle body strength member 50 is a pipe-like member extending in the width direction of the vehicle body, and is disposed above the case 12 and slightly in front of the vehicle body. The upper end of the support member 52 is fixed to the vehicle body strength member 50, and the lower end is fixed to the mounting seat 54 on the side surface of the case 12. The mounting seat 54 is formed of a protruding piece protruding in an ear shape from the side surface of the case 12, and the lower end of the support member 52 is bolted.
[0018]
In this embodiment, the support member 40 has a pipe shape, and one end thereof (an end portion on the vehicle front side) is fixed to the dash panel 32 via the mounting seat 42. The mounting seat 42 is an annular member, and is fixed to the dash panel 32 by welding or the like so that the axial center line direction of the ring is substantially perpendicular to the dash panel 32 (vehicle longitudinal direction). The one end of the support member 40 is fitted into the mounting seat 42 and is fixed by a bolt 44.
[0019]
Also in the vehicle occupant protection device configured as described above, when the automobile collides, the inflator 18 injects gas and the knee bag 14 expands. The tear line 24 (not shown in FIG. 2) is cleaved by the inflating knee bag 14, and the lid 20 is opened. Then, the knee bag 14 develops along the front surface of the case 12 and the interior panel 10 around it. The occupant legs hit the knee bag 14 to protect the occupant legs.
[0020]
When the occupant leg hits the knee bag 14, the knee bag 14 tries to move backward and tries to push down the case 12. However, since the case 12 is supported by the vehicle body strength members 32 and 50 by the support members 40 and 52, the knee bag 14 is prevented from moving backward. In particular, in this embodiment, since the support member 52 extends obliquely upward from the case 12 toward the vehicle body strength member 50, even when the legs of the occupant push up the knee bag 14 obliquely upward, this pushing is performed. The pressure is counteracted by the support member 52, and the case 12 is prevented from moving backward.
[0021]
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing another structure for attaching the support member to the dash panel. In this embodiment, a stud bolt 60 is erected on the dash panel 32. One end of the support member 62 (the end on the vehicle front side) is an L-shaped portion 64, and a stud bolt 60 is passed through a hole provided in the L-shaped portion 64 and a nut 66 is tightened. The one end of the support member 62 is fixed to the dash panel 32.
[0022]
FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a support member having an impact absorbing portion.
[0023]
In FIG. 4A, the support member 70 is provided with an opening 72 as an impact absorbing portion. In the support member 74 of FIG. 4B, a bead 76 is provided as an impact absorbing portion so as to have a substantially Ω-shaped cross section. In FIG. 4C, a notch 80 is provided on the side edge of the support member 78 as an impact absorbing portion.
[0024]
In any of the support members 70, 74, and 78, when a predetermined stress or more is applied in the longitudinal direction, the support members 70, 74, and 78 are deformed so as to buckle in the vicinity of the impact absorbing portion, and the impact is absorbed. The support member capable of absorbing the shock is not limited to the illustrated one, and various shock absorbing mechanisms that can be adopted by those skilled in the art can be applied to the support member.
[0025]
Each of the above embodiments is an example of the present invention, and the present invention can take various forms other than those illustrated .
[0026]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, the case is directly supported by the vehicle body strength member, and even when a large pressing force is applied to the case from the inflated knee bag, the vehicle occupant protection can be firmly received by the case. An apparatus is provided.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view and a principal sectional view showing an occupant leg protecting apparatus according to a reference example .
2 is a longitudinal sectional view and a cross sectional view showing the occupant leg protection apparatus according to the implementation of the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing another structure for attaching the support member to the dash panel.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a support member provided with various types of shock absorbers.

Claims (1)

A knee bag storage case disposed inside the interior panel in front of the vehicle seat;
A knee bag for protecting occupant legs stored in the case;
A member covering the front surface of the case;
A gas generator for inflating the knee bag;
In a vehicle occupant protection device comprising:
A first support member and a second support member for supporting the case on the vehicle body strength member;
The first support member extends substantially horizontally from the case to the front of the vehicle, and is connected to a first vehicle body strength member on the vehicle front side of the case,
The vehicle occupant protection device, wherein the second support member extends obliquely upward from the case in the vehicle forward direction and is connected to a second vehicle body strength member above the case. .

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