JP6014872B2 - Nybolsta - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a knee bolster that can prevent damage to harnesses while reducing the burden on the legs of an occupant during a collision.

Conventionally, a knee bolster having a function of receiving a driver's knee at the time of a collision and restraining the movement is provided in front of a driver's seat or a passenger seat of a vehicle. For example, in Patent Document 1, a knee bolster having a bracket portion that can be bent from the instrument panel reinforcement toward the occupant's knee is provided in order to absorb an impact on the occupant's knee during a collision.

However, depending on the body shape and seating position of the occupant, if the bracket part that protrudes obliquely downward in the occupant direction receives a shock from the knee at the time of collision and is bent forward from the instrument panel reinforcement, the bracket part and a functional component such as a brake booster There is a risk that the harnesses disposed between the two may be short-circuited and the harnesses may be short-circuited. In addition, when the harness is a rigid member, the burden on the knee at the time of the collision is large (detailed description will be described later).

JP-A-8-164811

The present invention was created in view of the above circumstances, and can reduce the burden on the occupant's knee during a collision. It is another object of the present invention to provide a knee bolster having a configuration capable of preventing a harness from being short-circuited by a load from functional parts such as a passenger's knee and a brake booster.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a knee bolster having a buckleable bracket portion provided in an instrument panel reinforcement and projecting toward a knee position of an occupant in a vehicle in which functional parts are disposed in the instrument panel. To do.
In the present knee bolster, the bracket portion is disposed above the peripheral wirings, and the front portion of the vehicle has a shape protruding to the functional component side from the instrument panel reinforcement.

The present invention assumes a vehicle in which hard functional parts are disposed in an instrument panel. The functional parts here are, for example, a brake booster disposed in the instrument panel on the driver's seat, an air conditioner unit disposed in the instrument panel on the passenger's seat, and the like. In this knee bolster, the bracket portion has a shape that protrudes more toward the functional parts such as the brake booster than the instrument panel reinforcement. For this reason, even if the brake booster or the like enters the vehicle at the time of a collision, the collision energy can be absorbed by the bracket portion coming into contact with the brake booster or the like. Even if the bracket part of this knee bolster is deformed by the load between the brake booster etc. and the occupant's knee at this time, the peak of the load applied to the occupant's knee is suppressed because the bracket part abuts the brake booster etc. Can do.

Further, in the knee bolster of the present invention, a seat that promotes buckling on the lower surface of the bracket portion so as to receive a load from the functional component and the occupant's knee at the time of collision so as to protrude downward from the bracket portion. It is preferable that a buckling promoting portion is formed, and that the buckling promoting portion protrudes further toward the vehicle rear side than the instrument panel reinforcement .

According to this knee bolster, it is possible to bend the buckling promoting part on the lower surface of the bracket part so that it protrudes downward in the event of a collision, meaning that the harnesses around the bracket part (wiring such as wire harnesses in general) Can be prevented from being damaged and short-circuited.

According to the knee bolster of the present invention, it is possible to reduce the burden on the occupant's knee at the time of the collision, and further prevent the harnesses from being pinched by the input from the occupant's knee at the time of the collision and the like. Can do.

An example of a state before and after the collision of the embodiment of the knee bolster of the present invention is shown in a schematic side view. (A) is before the collision, and (b) is a schematic side view of the vicinity of the knee bolster after the collision. It is a substantially side enlarged view of only the periphery of the buckling promoting part before the collision, (a) is a side enlarged view of the buckling promoting part shown in FIG. 1, and (b) is a modification of (a). It is a substantially bottom view of the bracket part and its buckling promotion part before a collision, (a) shows buckling promotion part 1b 'and notch 2b' of FIG.2 (b), (b) and ( c) is a modification of (a). An example of a state before and after the collision of a conventional knee bolster is shown in a schematic side view. (A) is before the collision, and (b) is a schematic side view of the vicinity of the knee bolster after the collision.

Schematic configuration example of a conventional knee bolster First, as a premise for explaining a knee bolster according to an embodiment of the present invention, a general configuration of a conventional knee bolster will be described by way of example.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic side view of an example of the state of the conventional knee bolster 13 before and after the collision. In FIG. 4, the upper side of the page indicates the upper side of the vehicle, and the left side of the page indicates the front side of the vehicle. Moreover, the paper surface direction of FIG. 4 has shown the width direction of the vehicle. FIG. 4A is a schematic side view of the vicinity of the knee bolster 13 before the collision. In this example, the brake booster 4 is disposed in the instrument panel. The knee bolster 13 is generally composed of a bracket portion 11 and a foam material 12. The bracket portion 11 constitutes an outer shell of the knee bolster 13, and the foam portion 12 is covered with the bracket portion 11. The foam material 12 is formed of a styrene material or a hard urethane material.

The bracket 11 of the knee bolster 13 extends in the width direction of the vehicle (not shown), and is fixed to the vehicle body by being connected to the instrument panel reinforcement 5. Moreover, the bracket part 11 is located on the vehicle rear side from the instrument panel reinforcement 5 as a whole, and is opposed to the brake booster 4 by a certain distance. A harness 6 is disposed between the bracket portion 11 and the brake booster 4. The vehicle rear side of the bracket portion 11 is a space in the vehicle interior, and the occupant's knees 7 are usually located a predetermined distance apart before the collision.

FIG. 4B shows a schematic side view of the vicinity of the knee bolster 13 after the collision. At the time of collision, the brake booster 4 and the knee bolster 13 enter the rear side of the vehicle, and the occupant's knee 7 comes into contact with the inner surface of the bracket portion 11. At this time, the harnesses 6 may be sandwiched between the brake booster 4 and the knee bolster 13, and the harnesses may be short-circuited by a load from the occupant's knee. Further, since the knee bolster 13 contacts the harness 6 at the time of collision, there is a limit to the deformation stroke of the knee bolster 13, and the shock absorbing performance is also lowered. Therefore, the knee bolster 13 may increase the injury value of the occupant's knee 7 during a collision.

Specific example of the knee bolster of the present invention Next, an embodiment of the knee bolster 3 of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 shows a schematic side view of the state before and after the collision of the knee bolster 3 as in the case of FIG. Also in FIG. 1, the upper side of the paper indicates the upper side of the vehicle, and the left side of the page indicates the front of the vehicle. FIG. 1A is a schematic side view of the vicinity of the knee bolster 3 before the collision. Also in this embodiment, the brake booster 4 is disposed in the instrument panel, and the knee bolster 3 is generally composed of the bracket portion 1 and the foam material 2. The bracket portion 1 constitutes the outer shell of the knee bolster 3, and the foam portion 2 covers the bracket portion 1. The foam material 2 is formed of a styrene material or a hard urethane material.

The bracket portion 1 of the knee bolster 3 extends in the width direction of the vehicle (not shown), and is fixed to the vehicle body by being connected to the instrument panel reinforcement 5. Unlike the conventional bracket portion 11 of FIG. 4, the bracket portion 1 extends to the vehicle front side. In FIG. 1, the alternate long and short dash line X indicates the vertical direction of the instrument panel reinforcement 5, and it can be seen that the vehicle front side portion 1 a of the bracket portion 1 protrudes from the alternate long and short dash line X. That is, it can be seen that the knee bolster 3 has an extended portion 3a that is shaded as compared with the conventional knee bolster 13 of FIG. Therefore, the distance between the bracket portion 1 and the brake booster 4 is closer than the example of the conventional knee bolster 13 in FIG. 4 due to the presence of the extended portion 3a.

In addition, a buckling promoting portion 1 b is provided on the lower surface of the bracket portion 3. The buckling promoting portion 1b is a portion that buckles so as to protrude downward from the bracket portion 3 when a clamping force from the vehicle longitudinal direction acts. Although FIG. 1A shows that the buckling promoting portion 1b protrudes downward even in the state before the collision, the buckling promoting portion 1b may be flat as long as it is located behind the harnesses 6. good. Moreover, the harnesses 6 are disposed below the bracket portion. In addition, the vehicle rear side of the bracket part 1 is a space in the vehicle interior, and the point where the occupant's knee 7 is usually located a predetermined distance before the collision is the same as in the case of FIG.

Next, FIG. 1B shows a schematic side view of the vicinity of the knee bolster 3 after the collision. In the event of a collision, the brake booster 4 enters the rear side of the vehicle, and the occupant moves forward due to the inertial force after the collision, so that the occupant's knee 7 comes into contact with the inner surface of the bracket portion 1. As described above, since the bracket portion 1 protrudes closer to the brake booster 4 than the instrument panel reinforcement 5, the bracket portion 1 contacts the brake booster 4 earlier than the bracket portion 1 contacts the harness 6 at the time of collision. This point is even more prominent when the bracket portion 1 before the collision as shown in FIG. 1A is disposed above the harnesses 6. Therefore, the harnesses 6 around the bracket portion 1 are suppressed from being short-circuited between the bracket portion 1 and the brake booster 4.

Further, when there is an input from the occupant's knee 7 even after the bracket portion 1 abuts against the brake booster 4, the bracket portion 1 is deformed by the load from the brake booster 4 and the occupant's knee 7, and the buckling promoting portion. It protrudes sequentially so that 1b is convex downward. In FIG. 1 (b), the protrusion advances and the buckling promoting portion 1 b protrudes below the harnesses 6 behind the harnesses 6. It is also possible to avoid that the knee 7 of the occupant directly contacts the harnesses 6 while the impact load is sufficiently absorbed by the deformation of the bracket portion 1. Therefore, the burden on the passenger's knee 7 can be greatly reduced.

If FIG. 2 is referred, it is the substantially enlarged view which showed the side view only of the periphery of the buckling promotion part 1b mentioned above before a collision. Fig.2 (a) is a side surface enlarged view of the buckling promotion part 1b shown in FIG. 1, FIG.2 (b) is a modification of (a). In FIG. 2, as in FIG. 1, the top of the paper indicates the top of the vehicle, and the left of the paper indicates the front of the vehicle.
The buckling promoting portion 1b shown in FIG. 2A has a shape protruding downward as described above, but its position is located behind and above the harnesses 6. Since the buckling promoting portion 1b is formed by being bent with the lowermost portion serving as an inflection point, when a holding force in the front-rear direction acts on the bracket portion 1, stress is concentrated at the inflection point to promote buckling. As a result, as shown in FIG. 1 (b), the buckling promoting portion 1b extends downward.

FIG. 2B is a modification of FIG. 2A, in which the bracket portion 1 is cut in the width direction at the buckling promoting portion 1b '. The foamed material 2 enclosed in the bracket portion 1 is provided with a notch 2b 'in the buckling promoting portion 1b'. A bottom view of the vicinity of the buckling promoting portion 1b 'and the notch 2b' is shown in FIG. FIG. 3 shows the front of the vehicle on the paper surface, and the left side of the vehicle on the left side of the vehicle, and the alternate long and short dash line X indicates the position of the instrument panel reinforcement 5 as in FIG. As can be seen from FIG. 3 (a), the buckling promoting portion 1b 'is provided with a notch in the bracket portion 1 across the width direction, and the notch 2b' of the foam material 2 is viewed through the notch. In the case of the buckling promoting portion 1b ', the rigidity of this portion is lowered, so that it is easy to buckle and extends downward as shown in FIG. Hereinafter, a modified example in which buckling is promoted by decreasing the rigidity will be described.

FIG. 3B shows a buckling promoting portion 1b ″ as a modification of the buckling promoting portion 1b ′ of FIG. 3A. As can be seen from this figure, the buckling promoting portion 1b ″ is shown in FIG. The bracket portion 1 is configured by providing notches on the left and right ends. In this case, the foam material 2b ″ positioned in the buckling promoting portion 1b ″ may not be particularly treated, and more effectively, a notch upward as shown in FIG. 2B may be provided.

FIG. 3C shows a buckling promoting portion 1b ′ ″ as a modification of the buckling promoting portions 1b ′ and 1b ″ of FIGS. 3A and 3B. The buckling promoting portion 1b ′ ″ is formed by providing a plurality of through holes in the bracket portion 1. In this case, the foam material 2b ′ ″ positioned in the buckling promoting portion 1b ′ ″ is particularly It may not be processed, and more effectively, an upper notch as shown in FIG. 2B may be provided.

The embodiment and concept of the knee bolster in the present invention have been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and other embodiments may be used without departing from the spirit and teaching described in the claims and the description. Those skilled in the art will understand that variations and improvements can be obtained.

For example, in the present knee bolster 3 of FIGS. 1 to 3, the explanation is made on the assumption that the knee bolster on the driver's seat side of the vehicle in which the brake booster 4 is provided in the instrument panel, but the knee bolster of the present invention is limited to this. Instead, the present invention can be applied to a knee bolster in a vehicle in which a functional part is provided in an instrument panel having a certain degree of rigidity. For example, the present invention can also be applied to a knee bolster or the like located behind an air conditioner unit provided in an instrument panel in front of a passenger seat.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 11 Bracket part 1a, 11a Part 1b, 11b Buckling promotion part 2, 12
Foam materials 3, 13 Knee bolster 3a Extension parts 4, 14 Brake booster
5 Instrument panel reinforcement
6 Harness 7 Knee

Claims (1)

In a vehicle in which functional parts are disposed in an instrument panel, a knee bolster having a buckleable bracket portion provided in an instrument panel reinforcement and projecting toward a knee position of an occupant,
The bracket portion is disposed above the surrounding wiring, and the vehicle front side portion has a shape protruding to the functional component side from the instrument panel reinforcement,
Forming a buckling promoting portion on the lower surface of the bracket portion for receiving a load from the functional component and a knee of an occupant at the time of a collision to promote buckling so as to protrude downward from the bracket portion; By projecting the buckling promoting portion to the vehicle rear side from the instrument panel reinforcement,
A knee bolster characterized by suppressing the peak of the load applied to the occupant's knee by the bracket portion coming into contact with the functional component early at the time of a collision and preventing the wirings from being sandwiched .