JP6089300B2 - Vehicle door latch device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a door latch device disposed in a door of a vehicle, and more particularly to a vehicle door latch device that maintains a closed state even when a door outer panel is deformed due to a side collision or the like.

  A general vehicle door latch device includes a base member fixed in the door, and a meshing mechanism that meshes with a striker on the vehicle body side and can hold the door in a closed position. The base member is provided on an outer panel of the door. An outside lever that is coupled to an outside handle via an operating force transmission member such as a rod, and other various movable elements are installed.

  And since the connection part of the vehicle outer side edge part is connected with an outside handle via the operating force transmission member, the connection part protrudes rather than the base member toward the outer panel. Therefore, when the outer panel is deformed toward the vehicle interior due to a side collision or the like, the deformed outer panel comes into contact with the connecting portion, and a force in the rotational direction, that is, the release direction that opens the door acts on the outside lever. Then, there is a possibility that the meshing mechanism and the striker are disengaged from each other and the door opens unexpectedly.

  In addition, the vehicle door latch device described in Patent Document 1 includes a lift lever that can be rotated in the release direction so that the engagement between the engagement mechanism and the striker can be released, and when the outer panel is deformed due to a side collision or the like. The door is kept closed by preventing the lift lever from rotating in the release direction by, for example, inclining the lift lever in the direction of the rotation axis.

Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-55671

  However, the door latch device described in Patent Document 1 effectively rotates the lift lever in the release direction when a force in the rotation axis direction acts on the lift lever due to deformation of the outer panel toward the vehicle interior. However, when a force in the rotational direction is applied to the lift lever, the lift lever cannot be prevented from rotating.

  In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle door latch device capable of maintaining a closed state of a door even when the door is deformed.

According to the present invention, the above problem is solved as follows.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a base member fixed in a door, a meshing mechanism that meshes with a striker on a vehicle body side and can hold the door in a closed position, and an opening operation of an outside handle disposed on the outer panel of the door An outer lever that is rotatable in a release direction based on the release lever, a release lever that is movable in a direction to release the meshing mechanism by transmitting rotation of the outer lever in the release direction, A detection lever that is held at a detection position and is movable to a detection position displaced from the non-detection position toward the interior of the vehicle with deformation of the outer panel, and the outside lever is supported on the base member by a support shaft. When the detection lever is in the non-detection position, it rotates in the release direction around the support shaft based on the opening operation of the outside handle. The rotation can be transmitted to the release lever, and when the detection lever moves to the detection position, the rotation rotates around the connection portion with the release lever and the rotation is not transmitted to the release lever. And

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the detection lever includes a detection unit that can contact the outer panel at the end facing the outer panel when the outer panel is deformed to the vehicle inner side. To do.

  A third invention is characterized in that, in the first or second invention, the support shaft is movably supported in a long hole provided in the base member.

  According to a fourth invention, in any one of the first to third inventions, the detection lever is normally held at the non-detection position by the biasing force of the spring, and is detected from the non-detection position against the biasing force of the spring. It moves to a position.

  According to the present invention, when the outer panel of the door is deformed to the inside of the vehicle, the detection lever moves to the detection position along with the deformation of the outer panel, thereby displacing the rotation center of the outside lever and rotating the outside lever. Since the transmission to the release lever is impossible, the closed state of the door can be maintained even if a force in the release direction acts on the outside lever.

It is a front view of a door latch device to which the present invention is applied. Similarly, it is a rear view of a door latch device. It is the side view of the door latch apparatus seen from the III arrow direction in FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the principal part in a normal state. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing of the principal part when an outside handle is opened. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing of the principal part of the state which the outer panel of the door deform | transformed into the vehicle inner side. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing of the principal part in the state which the outer panel of the door deform | transformed further inside the vehicle.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the left side of FIG. 1 and the right side of FIG. 2 are referred to as “vehicle inside”, the right side of FIG. 1 and the left side of FIG. 2 are referred to as “vehicle outside”, and the front side of FIG. The rear side is referred to as “rear side”, and the rear side of the drawing in FIG. 1 and the front side of the drawing in FIG. 2 are referred to as “front side”.

  As shown in FIGS. 1-3, the door latch apparatus 1 which concerns on this invention is attached and used in the side door (henceforth abbreviated as a door) 2 supported so that opening and closing is possible at the side surface of a vehicle body. The base member 3, the meshing mechanism 5 that can be held in the closed state by meshing with the striker 4 that is installed on the base member 3 and fixed to the vehicle body, and various movable elements that are installed on the base member 3 to be described later. With.

  The door 2 is formed of an outer panel 2a on the vehicle outer side and an inner panel 2b on the vehicle inner side. The outer panel 2a is provided with an outside handle 6 that is opened when the door 2 is opened from the outside of the vehicle, and the inner panel 2b is an unillustrated inside handle that is opened when the door 2 is opened from the inside of the vehicle. A lock knob (not shown) is provided that is operated when the door latch device 1 is switched between the locked state and the unlocked state from the inside of the vehicle.

  The base member 3 is fixed to the rear end surface of the inner panel 2b in the door 2 by a bolt (not shown), and a box-shaped synthetic resin body 31 having an open rear surface, and the body 31 is closed together with the body 31. Fixed to the body 31 so as to cover a metal cover plate 32 fixed to the inner panel 2b, a metal base plate 33 fixed to the front surface of the body 31, and various movable elements installed on the front surface side of the body 31. And a synthetic resin casing 34. Note that the base plate 33 and / or the casing 34 can be omitted as necessary, and are not necessarily required. Therefore, in the present embodiment, a configuration in which a long hole 33a for supporting the support shaft 17 described later is provided in the base plate 33 and various movable elements are installed in the base plate 33 or the casing 34 will be described below. The shape of the body 31 or the cover plate 32 may be changed as appropriate, and the long hole 33a or various movable elements may be provided or installed in the body 31 or the cover plate 32. Further, FIG. 2 omits the casing 34 in order to clearly show various movable elements.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the meshing mechanism 5 is pivotally supported by a latch shaft 7 in the front-rear direction between a body 31 and a cover plate 32, and latches 8 that can mesh with the striker 4 on the vehicle body side, the body 31 and the cover plate 32. A ratchet 10 that is pivotally supported by a ratchet shaft 9 in the front-rear direction and engages with an outer peripheral edge of the latch 8 to prevent the latch 8 from rotating. The latch 8 is urged in the clockwise open direction in FIG. 1 by a spring (not shown), and the ratchet 10 is urged in the counterclockwise engagement direction in FIG. 1 by a spring (not shown). Yes.

  When the door 2 is closed, the striker 4 enters the left-right striker entry groove 32a provided in the cover plate 32 from the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. Thereby, the latch 8 is rotated from the open position (a position rotated approximately 90 degrees clockwise from the full latch position shown in FIG. 1) to the full latch position, and the ratchet 10 is engaged with the outer peripheral edge of the latch 8, The door 2 is held in a closed state by preventing the latch 8 from rotating in the open direction (clockwise in FIG. 1).

  As various movable elements, the outside lever 12 and the detection lever 13 supported by the support shaft 17 that is substantially parallel to the base plate 33 in the front-rear direction, that is, the surface of the outer panel 2a, and the release lever 14 that is coupled to the outside lever 12 are used. There are an open lever 15 that can rotate integrally with the ratchet 10, an inside lever (not shown) that is supported by the casing 34 and connected to the inside handle, and a lock lever 16 (see FIG. 3) that is connected to the lock knob.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the base plate 33 is fixed to the front surface of the body 31 and has an elongated hole 33 a in the vertical direction for supporting the support shaft 17 so as to rotate and move downward. The long hole 33a is formed in a circular arc shape having a connection point O that is a portion for connecting the outside lever 12 and the release lever 14 to each other.

  The detection lever 13 is supported by a pair of upper and lower guide portions 34a and 34a provided in the casing 34 so as to be movable in and out of the vehicle. The detection lever 13 is normally shown in FIG. 4 by the urging force of the spring 18 wound around the support shaft 17, for example. When the outer panel 2a is deformed toward the vehicle inner side due to a side collision or the like while being held at the non-detection position, the vehicle inner side (right side in FIG. 4) from the non-detection position against the biasing force of the spring 18 accompanying the deformation. It is possible to move to the detection position shown in FIG.

  A detection portion 13a that can contact the outer panel 2a deformed toward the inside of the vehicle is provided at the outer end of the detection lever 13 facing the outer panel 2a, and is also supported by a long hole 33a near the inner end of the vehicle. A holding groove 13b that can be engaged with the support shaft 17 from the inside of the vehicle is provided.

  The detection portion 13a of the detection lever 13 faces the outer panel 2a that is not deformed with a predetermined distance, and protrudes toward the outer panel 2a from an operation force transmission member connecting portion 12a (described later) of the outside lever 12. As a result, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, when the outer panel 2a is greatly deformed toward the inside of the vehicle, the outer panel 2a comes into contact with the detecting portion 13a before the operating force transmitting member connecting portion 12a of the outside lever 12. By pushing the detection lever 13 to the inside of the vehicle, the detection lever 13 can move to the detection position against the urging force of the spring 18 before the external force directly acts on the outside lever 12.

  In addition, the detection part 13a is formed in a convex arc shape toward the outer panel 2a. Accordingly, it is possible to cope with the deformation of the outer panel 2a from the diagonally upper side and the diagonally lower side as well as the deformation of the outer panel 2a from the diagonally lower side as well as the deformation of the outer panel 2a from the front. In response to this, it is possible to reliably move from the non-detection position to the detection position. In addition, when the detection unit 13a is spherical, it is possible to cope with deformation of the outer panel 2a from diagonally forward and diagonally rear.

  When the detection lever 13 is held at the non-detection position shown in FIG. 4, the holding groove 13 b is engaged with the support shaft 17 from the vehicle inner side by the urging force of the spring 18, thereby When the detection lever 13 is moved to the detection position shown in FIG. 6, it is possible to move the support shaft 17 downward by detaching from the support shaft 17. .

  The outside lever 12 is formed by a metal rod having a substantially central portion in the left-right direction supported by the base plate 33 by the support shaft 17 and an upper end portion connected to the outside handle 6 at the vehicle outer end portion. A vehicle outer side connection portion 12a to which the lower end portion of the operating force transmission member 11 is connected is formed, and a vehicle inner side connection portion 12b to be connected to the release lever 14 is formed at the vehicle inner side end portion.

  Further, when the detection lever 13 is in the non-detection position and the support shaft 17 is always held in the position, the outside lever 12 is in a state where it is held in the standby position shown in FIG. It can be rotated in the release direction (counterclockwise in FIG. 4) about the support shaft 17 against the urging force, the detection lever 13 moves to the detection position, and the support shaft 17 moves from the holding groove 13b. When it comes off, it becomes possible to rotate downward about the connection point O.

  The spring 18 is wound around the support shaft 17, and is hooked from the vehicle inner side to the latching piece 33 b and the detection lever 13 provided on the base plate 33 with one end imparting elastic force, and the other end is the outside lever. 4 is applied to the outside lever 12 in the clockwise direction in FIG. 4 and also applies the urging force for holding the detection lever 13 in the non-detection position. Note that the outside lever 12 is prevented from rotating clockwise from the standby position shown in FIG. 4 by a stopper or the like provided on the base plate 33 or the casing 34.

  The operating force transmission member 11 moves downward by a predetermined amount along with the opening operation of the outside handle 6, and transmits the movement to the vehicle outer side connection portion 12 a of the outside lever 12.

  The outside lever 12 is always in the state shown in FIG. 4 in which the detection lever 13 is in the non-detection position and the support shaft 17 is engaged with the holding groove 13b of the detection lever 13 and held at the normal position. When the outside handle 6 is opened and the operating force transmission member 11 moves downward, the rotation is released by rotating in the release direction (counterclockwise in FIG. 4) about the support shaft 17. When the detection lever 13 is moved to the detection position and the support shaft 17 is disengaged from the holding groove 13b of the detection lever 13, the release direction is affected by the deformation of the outer panel 2a. When a force that can be rotated in the direction is applied, the connection point O is rotated about the center, and the rotation is not transmitted to the release lever 14 as a release operation.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the lock lever 16 is pivotally supported on the casing 34 by the support shaft 19 and is connected to the lock knob via an operation force transmission member such as a Bowden cable. The unlock position shown in FIG. 1 and the lock position rotated by a predetermined angle clockwise from the unlock position can be moved.

  The release lever 14 is coupled to the outside lever 12 by inserting the vehicle interior coupling portion 12b of the outside lever 12 into the coupling hole 14a provided in the lower portion, and the lock lever 16 is moved to the unlocked position and the locked position. Interlocked with the unlock position (position shown in FIG. 3) and the vehicle interior connecting portion 12b as a fulcrum, it is possible to move from the unlock position to a lock position rotated by a predetermined angle in the clockwise direction. In some cases, the release operation of the outside handle 6 moves upward, and the open lever 15 is rotated from the position shown in FIG. 4 to the position shown in FIG. 5 by the movement to release the ratchet 10 from the latch 8. The door 2 can be opened by rotating in the direction.

Next, based on FIGS. 4 to 7, the operation of the door latch device 1 according to the present embodiment, in particular, the movement of various movable elements when the outer panel 2 a is deformed to the vehicle inner side during a side collision or the like will be described.
FIG. 4 shows a state in which the outer panel 2a is not deformed and the door latch device 1 is engaged (the door 2 is closed). The striker 4 is engaged with the latch 8, and the ratchet 10 is outside the latch 8. The detection lever 13 is held at the non-detection position, the support shaft 17 is always held at the position, and the outside lever 12 is at the standby position.

  In the state shown in FIG. 4, when the release lever 14 is in the unlocked position, when the outside handle 6 is opened and the operating force transmission member 11 moves downward, the outside lever 12 is moved to the urging force of the spring 18. On the other hand, it rotates at a predetermined angle in the release direction (counterclockwise in FIG. 4) about the support shaft 17 that is engaged with the holding groove 13b of the detection lever 13 and is always held at the position, and the rotation is released To the release lever 14. The release lever 14 moves upward to contact the open lever 15 from below and rotate it in the release direction (counterclockwise in FIG. 4). As a result, as shown in FIG. 5, the ratchet 10 rotates integrally with the open lever 15, disengages from the latch 8, and allows the latch 8 to rotate in the opening direction, thereby allowing the door 2 to open.

  As shown in FIG. 6, when the outer panel 2 a of the door 2 is greatly deformed to the vehicle interior due to a side collision or the like when the door 2 is closed, the outer panel 2 a contacts the detection portion 13 a of the detection lever 13. Then push the detection lever 13 into the vehicle. As a result, the detection lever 13 moves from the non-detection position to the detection position against the biasing force of the spring 18, and the support shaft 17 can be moved downwardly away from the holding groove 13b. Further, deformation of the outer panel 2a toward the vehicle interior proceeds, and a force that causes the vehicle outer end 12a of the outside lever 12 to be displaced downward acts or a force that causes the operation force transmission member 11 to be displaced downward is applied. In the case of the action, since the downward movement of the support shaft 17 is free, the outside lever 12 rotates downward with the rotation center displaced from the support shaft 17 to the connection point O. The rotation is released and is not transmitted to the release lever 14. Therefore, even if the outer panel 2 deformed to the inside of the vehicle comes into contact with the outside lever 12 and an external force in the rotational direction acts on the outside lever 12, the release operation is not transmitted to the release lever 14, so the door 2 can be reliably prevented from opening unexpectedly.

While the present invention has been described above with reference to the above embodiment, the following modifications and changes can be made to the present embodiment without departing from the spirit of the present invention.
(A) The support shaft 17 is fixed to the base member 3 (the body 31, the cover plate 32, the base plate 33, or the casing 34), and the elongated hole 33a is provided in the outside lever 12.

(B) The spring that biases the outside lever 12 to the standby position and the spring that biases the detection lever 13 to the non-detection position are separate springs.
(C) As a configuration for holding the detection lever 13 at the non-detection position, instead of holding the detection lever 13 by the urging force of the spring as in the above embodiment, the detection lever 13 is held at the non-detection position by synthetic resin or the like When the holding panel is formed and the outer panel 2a is deformed to the inside of the vehicle and a force toward the vehicle interior acts on the detection lever 13, the displacement of the detection lever 13 to the detection position is caused by breaking the holding unit. Is possible.
(D) The door is a sliding door or a back door of the vehicle.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Door latch apparatus 2 Door 2a Outer panel 2b Inner panel 3 Base member 4 Striker 5 Engagement mechanism 6 Outside handle 7 Latch shaft 8 Latch 9 Ratchet shaft 10 Ratchet 11 Operation force transmission member 12 Outside lever 12a Car outer side connection part 12b Car inner side connection Part 13 Detection lever 13a Detection part 13b Holding groove 14 Release lever 14a Connection hole 15 Open lever 16 Lock lever 17 Support shaft 18 Spring 19 Support shaft 31 Body 31 32 Cover plate 32a Strike entry groove 33 Base plate 33a Long hole 33b Stopping piece 34 Casing 34a Guide part

Claims (4)

A base member fixed in the door;
A meshing mechanism capable of meshing with a striker on the vehicle body side and holding the door in a closed position;
An outside lever that is rotatable in a release direction based on an opening operation of an outside handle disposed on the outer panel of the door;
A release lever that is movable in a direction to release the meshing of the meshing mechanism by transmitting rotation in the release direction of the outside lever;
A detection lever that is normally held at a non-detection position and is movable from the non-detection position to the detection position displaced in the vehicle with deformation of the outer panel;
The outside lever is supported by a support shaft on the base member, and when the detection lever is in the non-detection position, the outside lever rotates in the release direction around the support shaft based on the opening operation of the outside handle. Rotation can be transmitted to the release lever, and when the detection lever moves to a detection position, the rotation rotates around a connection portion with the release lever and the rotation is not transmitted to the release lever. Vehicle door latch device.   2. The vehicle door latch device according to claim 1, wherein the detection lever includes a detection portion that is capable of contacting the outer panel when the outer panel is deformed inward of the vehicle at an end portion facing the outer panel.   3. The vehicle door latch device according to claim 1, wherein the support shaft is movably supported in a long hole provided in the base member.   4. The detection lever according to claim 1, wherein the detection lever is normally held at a non-detection position by a biasing force of a spring and moves from the non-detection position to the detection position against the biasing force of the spring. The door latch device for vehicles described in 1.

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