JP7429091B2 - vehicle structure - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to vehicle structures such as automobiles, and more particularly to vehicle structures related to headlamps.

An example of a vehicle structure is a structure described in Patent Document 1.
In the structure described in this document, a headlamp disposed at the front of the vehicle is provided with a convex bracket portion that protrudes from the headlamp toward the rear of the vehicle, and the tip of the convex bracket portion (rear end) is connected to the fender panel. Further, the convex bracket portion is provided with a fragile portion.
According to such a configuration, when the vehicle collides with a pedestrian and the pedestrian falls into the headlamp from above, the convex bracket portion breaks at the position of the weakened portion. This produces a shock absorbing effect, making it possible to reduce the shock received by pedestrians.

However, in the prior art, there is still room for improvement as described below.

In other words, when a vehicle collides with a pedestrian and the pedestrian falls onto the headlamp, in order to properly protect the pedestrian, it is necessary to It is necessary to generate a certain amount of thrust force so that the pedestrian falls onto the headlamp without causing a large retreat. Further, when a pedestrian falls onto the headlamp in this way, it is necessary to configure the headlamp so that the fixed state of the headlamp is appropriately released and excellent shock absorbing properties are exhibited.
On the other hand, the convex bracket part of the headlamp in the above-mentioned prior art is able to maintain its position at the vulnerable part even when a load is input to the headlamp from the front side of the vehicle due to the vehicle colliding with a pedestrian. There is a high possibility that it will break, and there is a risk that the headlight will move backwards significantly. In this case, it is impossible to cause a pedestrian to fall onto the headlamp, and it is difficult to obtain appropriate shock absorption performance for protecting the pedestrian. Furthermore, even if a pedestrian were to fall onto the headlamp, the convex bracket part of the headlamp would have already broken at the weak point before that, so the impact absorption performance due to this breakage would not be obtained. There will be no. Therefore, it is becoming more difficult to obtain shock absorption performance for protecting pedestrians.

JP2006-27488A

The present invention has been devised under the above-mentioned circumstances, and has an object to improve pedestrian protection performance when a vehicle collides with a pedestrian by a simple means than before. The objective is to provide a vehicle structure that enables this.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention takes the following technical measures.

The vehicle structure provided by the present invention has a convex bracket portion that protrudes from the headlamp main body toward the rear of the vehicle, and the convex bracket portion is provided on a fender panel in the vehicle longitudinal direction and vehicle width direction. The headlamps are stacked and connected in the vertical thickness direction to the mounting shelf having a width in the direction, and the headlamps are stacked and connected in the vertical thickness direction to the mounting shelf of the fender panel. and a fender bracket part for supporting and fixing the fender panel, the convex bracket part of the headlamp being connected to the fender bracket part. The rear end of the convex bracket part and the front end of the support plate part are located on the front side of the vehicle, and the positions of the rear end of the convex bracket part and the front end of the support plate part in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle are substantially the same , and the headlamp has a , which have an upwardly erected shape that protrudes from the front and rear housing parts that constitute the headlamp main body, are overlapped with each other in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, and are used to assemble the front and rear housing parts to each other. A pair of convex portions are provided, and the pair of convex portions are located on the front side of the vehicle close to the fender bracket portion without being fixedly connected to the fender bracket portion. The present invention is characterized in that when the headlamp retreats toward the rear of the vehicle due to load input, it can come into contact with the fender bracket .

According to such a configuration, the following effects can be obtained.
In other words, when a pedestrian falls onto the headlamp and a downward load acts on the headlamp, as will be understood from the explanation with reference to FIG. It is possible to actively generate a force that lowers the convex bracket part of the headlamp relative to the support plate part of the bracket part (unlike the present invention, the rear end of the convex bracket part and the support plate part It is difficult to produce such an effect in a configuration in which the front end of the plate portion overlaps with a large width in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, or is separated by a large distance.) In the present invention, based on the above-mentioned force, it is possible to reliably break the convex bracket portion of the headlamp at the base portion, etc., thereby absorbing the impact and alleviating the impact received by the pedestrian.
On the other hand, in the present invention, unlike the prior art, there is no need to provide a fragile portion in the convex bracket portion of the headlamp, so when a vehicle collides with a pedestrian, a load is applied to the headlamp from the front side of the vehicle. When this happens, there is no risk that the convex bracket part will break at the fragile part and the headlamp will become unfixed. Therefore, by generating a certain amount of tension in the headlamp in response to the load, it is possible to cause the pedestrian to fall onto the headlamp and obtain the above-mentioned impact absorption effect.
For this reason, according to the present invention, pedestrian protection performance can be made superior to that of the prior art.
Furthermore, since the strength of the headlamp against load input from the front side of the vehicle can be increased, it is possible to improve the mounting stability and reliability of the headlamp in normal conditions.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of embodiments of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is an external perspective view of a main part showing an example of a vehicle structure according to the present invention. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II in FIG. 1. FIG. FIG. 3 is an exploded schematic perspective view of the main parts of the region shown in FIG. 2 and surrounding parts related thereto. 3 is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line VV in FIG. 2. FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of a main part of the portion shown in FIG. 2; FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of essential parts of the convex portion shown in FIG. 6; FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the portion shown in FIG. 2;

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

A vehicle structure A shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 includes a headlamp 1, a fender panel 2 (front fender panel), and a fender bracket part 3.
The headlamps 1 are provided in a pair on the left and right sides at the front of the vehicle 9, but in the following description, for convenience, the vehicle structure A related to the right headlamp 1 will be described. The vehicle structure related to the left headlamp 1 is bilaterally symmetrical to the right vehicle structure A, and its description will be omitted.

The fender panel 2 is a panel located above the front wheel 90 and in the vicinity thereof, and on the outer side of the engine hood 91 in the vehicle width direction. At the side edge 20 of the upper part of the fender panel 2 on the inward side in the vehicle width direction (engine hood 91 side), a mounting shelf 22 is provided via a hanging wall 21 (FIGS. 4 and 5). (see also). As will be described later, this mounting shelf section 22 is a section for fixing the front part of the fender panel 2 using the fender bracket section 3, and has an appropriate width in the vehicle longitudinal direction and vehicle width direction. It has a substantially horizontal plate shape and is located on the vehicle rear side of the headlamp 1.

The fender bracket part 3 is a member for fixing and supporting the fender panel 2. As clearly shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the lower end part 30 of the fender bracket part 3 is used as a vehicle body frame member. The apron member 4 is indirectly joined to the apron member 4 via the auxiliary member 40, or directly joined to the apron member 4 of. A substantially horizontal plate-shaped support plate part 31 is formed on the upper part of the fender bracket part 3. The support plate 31 is connected to the mounting shelf 22 using bolts and nuts 8, 8a, for example, in a state where it is stacked on the lower surface side of the rear region of the mounting shelf 22. This provides fixed support for the front portion of the fender panel 2. Note that the means for connecting the support plate section 31 and the mounting shelf section 22 is not limited to the bolts and nuts 8, 8a, and may be other fastening means such as clip pins, or welding. .

The headlamp 1 has a headlamp main body 10 in which front and rear housing parts 10a and 10b made of resin, for example, are combined, and the headlamp main body 10 is placed on a front bumper part 92. placed in the state. The front housing part 10a is a part that functions as a lamp lens, and the rear housing part 10b is a housing in which a bulb (not shown), a reflector, a circuit board for lighting drive control of the bulb, etc. are incorporated. corresponds to the section.
The headlamp 1 is provided with a convex bracket portion 11 and a pair of convex portions 12a, 12b for assembling housing portions 10a, 10b.

The convex bracket portion 11 is integrally formed with the rear housing portion 10b so as to protrude toward the rear of the vehicle from the top surface of the headlamp body portion 10 (more specifically, the rear housing portion 10b). There is. The convex bracket portion 11 includes an upright portion 11a that stands up from the upper surface of the housing portion 10b toward the upper rear of the vehicle, and a plate-like portion 11b that extends from the upper end of the upright portion 11a toward the rear of the vehicle at a substantially horizontal angle. have. This plate-shaped portion 11b is connected to the mounting shelf 22 using, for example, a clip pin 8b, in a state where it is stacked on the upper surface side of the front side region of the mounting shelf 22. This provides fixed support for the headlamp 1. The connection is not limited to the clip pin 8b, but may be made using other fastening members such as bolts and nuts.

Here, the plate-like part 11b of the convex bracket part 11 is located on the vehicle front side of the support plate part 31, and there is a mounting shelf between the convex bracket part 11 and the support plate part 31. 22, but ignoring this step, the convex bracket part 11 is located on the vehicle front side of the support plate part 31), the rear end 11e of the convex bracket part 11 (the plate The positions of the rear end of the shaped portion 11b and the front end 31e of the support plate portion 31 in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle are set to substantially match. In this embodiment, the mutual dimension la between the rear end 11e and the front end 31e is a minute dimension.

As shown in FIG. 7, the convex parts 12a and 12b of the headlamp 1 are provided with pins 13a and holes 13b that fit into each other when the front and rear housing parts 10a and 10b are assembled. This serves to align the rear housing parts 10a, 10b. However, in this embodiment, these convex portions 12a and 12b are located close to the fender bracket portion 3 on the front side of the vehicle, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 6. More specifically, a region of the fender bracket part 3 closer to the support plate part 31 is formed as an inclined part 32 that stands obliquely. , 12b are arranged close together and located on the front side of the vehicle. With this configuration, as will be described later, it is possible to more reliably prevent the headlamp 1 from moving back significantly.

Next, the operation of the vehicle structure A described above will be explained.

First, the convex bracket portion 11 of the headlamp 1 is not provided with a fragile portion, and it is possible to provide the convex bracket portion 11 with appropriate strength. Therefore, when the vehicle 9 collides with a pedestrian (not shown) and a load is applied to the headlamp 1 from the front side of the vehicle, the convex bracket portion 11 will not easily break and the headlamp 1 will not move back significantly. You can do it like this. As a result, it becomes possible to make the pedestrian fall onto the headlamp 1. Further, when the headlamp 1 moves backward, the convex parts 12a and 12b of the headlamp 1 move backward as shown by the arrow Na in FIG. 6, and as a result, come into contact with the fender bracket part 3. Therefore, due to this contact, further retreat of the headlamp 1 is suppressed, and a large retreat of the headlamp 1 is more reliably prevented.

Next, when the pedestrian falls onto the headlamp 1, an effect as shown in FIG. 8 occurs. That is, in the same figure, when a downward load W is applied due to a pedestrian falling down, the mounting shelf 22 has a boundary Pa between the rear end 11e of the convex bracket part 11 and the front end 31e of the support plate part 31, which lowers. It bends and deforms into a valley-folded state. Then, due to this bending deformation, a moment is generated in the convex bracket part 11 that causes the convex bracket part 11 to fall down, and as a result, the proximal end of the convex bracket part 11 breaks. do. The metal fender bracket part 3 including the support plate part 31 has higher rigidity than the resin convex bracket part 11 and does not move down with the convex bracket part 11. It is possible to appropriately generate the moment described above and break the convex bracket portion 11 accurately.

Note that, unlike this embodiment, when the rear end 11e of the convex bracket part 11 and the front end 31e of the support plate part 31 are largely separated and the width La described above is large, the boundary of the mounting shelf part 22 The portion Pa absorbs the load W, making it difficult to break the convex bracket portion 11. In addition, when the convex bracket part 11 and the support plate part 31 overlap with each other by a large width, the above-described bending deformation of the mounting shelf part 22 is difficult to occur, and the convex bracket part 11 is It becomes difficult to break it. According to this embodiment, it is possible to appropriately avoid such a situation.

Due to the above-described series of actions, according to the vehicle structure A of the present embodiment, when the vehicle 9 collides with a pedestrian, the headlamp 1 does not retreat significantly, so that the pedestrian falls onto the headlamp 1. By tilting the headlamp and collapsing, the convex bracket portion 11 of the headlamp 1 can be accurately broken. As a result, it becomes possible to appropriately alleviate the impact that pedestrians receive and to protect pedestrians. Further, in normal times, sufficient mounting strength of the headlamp 1, especially strength against loads from the front side of the vehicle, can be ensured, so that the reliability of mounting the headlamp 1 can be improved.

The present invention is not limited to the content of the embodiments described above. The specific configuration of each part of the vehicle structure according to the present invention can be modified in various ways within the intended scope of the present invention.

In the embodiment described above, the convex bracket part 11 is stacked on the upper side of the mounting shelf part 22 of the fender panel 2, and the support plate part 31 is stacked on the lower side, but the present invention is not limited to this. Not done. For example, it is also possible to set the positional relationship upside down.
In the present invention, the convex bracket part 11 and the support plate part 31 have a positional relationship such that the convex bracket part 11 is on the front side of the vehicle and the support plate part 31 is on the rear side of the vehicle, and the rear end of the convex bracket part 11 11e and the front end 31e of the support plate portion 31 in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle may be in a relationship that substantially coincides with each other. The specific shapes and sizes of the convex bracket portion 11, the support plate portion 31, and the mounting shelf portion 22 are not limited. The convex bracket portion 11 may have any shape as long as it protrudes from the headlamp body portion 10 toward the rear of the vehicle (including diagonally upward to the rear of the vehicle).
The specific type and configuration of the headlamp 1 is not limited. The fender bracket portion 3 may be attached to a vehicle body member different from the apron member 4 and the auxiliary member 40 joined thereto.

A Vehicle structure 1 Headlamp 10 Headlamp body 11 Convex bracket portion 11e Rear end (of the convex bracket)
2 Fender panel 22 Mounting shelf (of fender panel)
3 Fender bracket part 31 Support plate part (of the fender bracket part)
31e Front end (of support plate part)

Claims (1)

It has a convex bracket that protrudes from the headlamp body toward the rear of the vehicle, and this convex bracket is attached to a mounting shelf that is provided on the fender panel and has a width in the vehicle longitudinal direction and vehicle width direction. On the other hand, headlamps that are stacked and connected in the upper and lower thickness direction,
a fender bracket part for supporting and fixing the fender panel, the fender bracket having a support plate part connected to the mounting shelf part of the fender panel in a vertically overlapping manner;
A vehicle structure comprising:
The convex bracket part of the headlamp is located on the vehicle front side of the support plate part of the fender bracket part, and the rear end of the convex bracket part and the front end of the support plate part are located in the vehicle longitudinal direction. The positions in are almost the same ,
The headlamp has an upwardly erected shape that protrudes from front and rear housing parts that constitute the headlamp main body, and which are overlapped with each other in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, and which cover the front and rear housing parts. A pair of convex portions used for assembling each other are provided,
The pair of protrusions are not fixedly connected to the fender bracket and are located close to the fender bracket on the front side of the vehicle, so that the headlamp is not fixedly connected to the fender bracket. A vehicle structure characterized in that the vehicle structure is configured such that the fender bracket portion can come into contact with the fender bracket portion when the vehicle is retreated toward the rear of the vehicle .

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