JPH0684155B2 - Car steering support device - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a steering support device for an automobile, and more particularly to a steering support device for an automobile capable of reducing an impact force received by a driver during a vehicle collision.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, various energy absorbing structures have been proposed for alleviating an impact force that a driver receives from a steering shaft or a steering wheel at the time of a vehicle collision. For example, in the steering device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 56-157671, the steering shaft and the steering gear box are connected by a rubber coupling, and the vehicle body structure behind the vehicle body mounting position of the steering gear box is relatively strong. A weak portion is provided, and when a vehicle collides, buckling deformation occurs in the body structure around that portion, and the steering gear box is rotated in an axial direction substantially perpendicular to the axial direction of the steering shaft to secure the rubber coupling. I try to break it. The shock absorbing steering wheel disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 55-121770 has an energy absorber installed in the center of the wheel. However, each of these conventional configurations has a difficulty in manufacturing because the structure is complicated.

Therefore, a steering support device as shown in FIG. 7 is conceivable as a device that can realize the energy absorption structure with a simple structure. That is, in this device, a control rod 4 is provided on the vehicle front side of an upper support bracket 3 that supports the shaft 1 on the vehicle body 2 and that is provided at an axially intermediate portion of the steering shaft 1, and an upper end of the control rod 4 is provided. Is connected to the vehicle body and the lower end is connected to the steering shaft 1, and when the vehicle collides with the dash lower panel 6 due to the retreat of the engine 5 or the like.
Is deformed and the universal joint 7 at the front end of the steering shaft 1 is pushed rearward of the vehicle, the control arm 4 is oscillated and displaced, and the steering wheel 8 at the rear end of the steering shaft 1 rotates downward with the upper support bracket 3 as a fulcrum. The structure is such that the driver's head 9 is displaced.
The upper end portion 11 of the outer periphery of the steering wheel 8 which has a large elastic deformation amount is used to absorb the shocks without bumping into the central portion 10 of the steering wheel 8 for buffering. This steering support device is constructed by focusing on the fact that the rearward displacement amount of the dash lower panel 6 at the time of a vehicle collision is more remarkable in the lower portion than the upper portion of the panel 6 in consideration of the backward trajectory of the engine 5 and the like. It is a thing.

By adopting the steering support device described above, it is possible to absorb the impact energy and protect the driver with a simple structure, but to make the driver protection more reliable in the event of a vehicle collision. In particular, it is desirable to further increase the downward rotational displacement of the steering wheel.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an impact energy absorbing structure capable of sufficiently protecting a driver from an impact force at the time of a vehicle collision is provided with a simple structure. It is an object of the present invention to provide a steering support device for an automobile that can be realized by the following.

(Structure of the Invention) The steering support device for an automobile according to the present invention is provided with a means for reducing the swing radius of the control rod in the event of a vehicle collision, thereby increasing the downward rotational displacement of the steering wheel. It is a thing.
That is, a steering wheel is fixed to the rear end, a steering shaft having an axially intermediate portion supported by the vehicle body, a lower end connected to the front of the intermediate portion of the steering shaft supported by the vehicle body, and an upper end attached to the vehicle body. A steering support device for an automobile, comprising: a control rod connected to the control rod, wherein the control rod swings and displaces when in a vehicle collision to displace the position of the steering wheel downward. A restraint bracket that restrains the intermediate portion and bends the control rod at the intermediate portion of the rod at the time of a vehicle collision to reduce the swing radius of the rod is provided fixed to the vehicle body. is there.

The restraint of the middle portion of the control rod by the restraint bracket utilizes the difference between the displacement amount of the restraint bracket fixed portion of the vehicle body and the swing displacement amount of the control rod at the time of a vehicle collision to make the swing displacement of the rod. In this case, the rod is not limited to a particular shape as long as it can be bent to reduce the swing radius.

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

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a steering support device for an automobile according to the first embodiment. 7, those parts which are the same as those corresponding parts in FIG. 7 are designated by the same reference numerals, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The steering shaft 1 has a steering wheel 8 fixed to a rear upper end thereof, and a front lower end thereof is connected via a universal joint 7 to a rotation transmission rod 13 extending through a dash lower panel 6 and extending into a vehicle compartment 12. . The steering shaft 1 itself has a collapsible structure capable of contracting in the axial direction at the time of a collision and absorbing the shock, and this collapsible structure is known from, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 55-22309. Although illustration and detailed description are omitted, the steering shaft 1 is divided into upper and lower parts in a jacket 14 that rotatably supports the steering shaft 1, and one of the connecting parts of the two parts is divided into the other part. It has a double shaft structure that can rush inside, and both are connected by a shear pin that can be broken by impact. Also, jacket 14
It has a double shaft structure so that it can be contracted in the axial direction as the steering shaft 1 contracts. The steering shaft 1 having such a structure has an upper support bracket 3 attached to a jacket 14 at an intermediate portion thereof.
The upper support bracket 3 is fixed to a support bracket 15 provided on the vehicle body 2 with bolts 16. A lower support bracket 17 is fixed to the lower end of the jacket 14, and the lower support bracket 17
The lower end of the control rod 4 is connected to.
The upper end of the control rod 4 is connected to a support bracket 18 provided on the vehicle body 2 at the upper end of the dash lower panel 6.

FIG. 2 is a view showing the structure of the mounting portion of the control rod 4 as seen from the axial direction of the steering shaft 1 to the front. The control rod 4 is a horizontally extended portion 4a and is oblique at a right angle from this. Part 4b extending upward
Is formed into an L-shape by means of, and its horizontal portion 4a is connected to the lower support bracket 17 by a relatively long bolt 19 penetrating the inside thereof, and the upper end of the upwardly extending portion 4b is fixed to the vehicle body 2. It is attached to the support bracket 18 by bolts 20. 21 is control rod 4
Is a reinforcing plate. The support bracket 18 is attached to a position where displacement is comparatively small at the time of collision based on various experiments.

As shown in FIG. 1, a restraint bracket 22 is provided in the middle of the control rod 4 so as to abut from the vehicle front side. This restraint bracket 22 is fixed to a support plate 24 (see FIG. 3) which is located on the side of the control rod 4 and which is joined to a bracket 23 for a master cylinder fixed to the vehicle body 2 and which extends laterally, by means of bolts 25. Has been done. The master cylinder bracket 23 and the dash lower panel 6 are fixed to each other by bolt connection via a sleeve 26 that holds a predetermined distance therebetween.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the restraint bracket 22 as a single piece, and the contact portion with the control rod 4 is formed along the rod 4 in a semicircular arc shape.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

In FIG. 1, the engine 5 and the like are indicated by arrow A due to a vehicle collision.
When the dash lower panel 6 retreats in the direction and hits the dash lower panel 6, the dash lower panel 6 is also deformed accordingly and displaced rearward, but the displacement amount at this time is larger in the lower portion than in the upper portion of the dash lower panel 6. Dash lower panel 6
Is retracted to the position shown by the alternate long and short dash line in the figure, the universal joint 7
The impact force is transmitted to the steering shaft 1 via
During this time, the restraining bracket 22 is moved by the impact force transmitted from the dash lower panel 6 through the sleeve 26, the master cylinder mounting bracket 23, and the support plate 24.
It is displaced to the position shown by the one-dot chain line in the figure. With this,
The control rod 4 is also pushed rearward, but as described above, since the impact force has not yet been transmitted to the steering shaft 1 at this time, the lower end of the control rod 4 is fixed and the upper end of the control rod 4 is also supported. Since the bracket 18 is hardly retracted, the bracket 18 is in a fixed state. Therefore, the control rod 4 is bent at a portion where the restraint bracket 22 abuts (arrow B in the figure). As the engine 5 or the like retreats, the dash lower panel 6 in the figure. When the steering shaft 1 is contracted and displaced, and the support bracket 18 is displaced slightly rearward and upward, when the steering shaft 1 is contracted and displaced further from the position indicated by the one-dot chain line to the position indicated by the two-dot chain line in the figure. At this time, since the displacement amount of the support bracket 18 is smaller than the displacement amount of the front end of the steering shaft 1, the control rod 4 swings and displaces as shown by an arrow C.

The position of the lower end connecting portion of the control rod 4 in the state in which the control rod 4 is oscillated and displaced to the position indicated by the chain double-dashed line in the figure is the amount of displacement due to the oscillating movement above the axis of the steering shaft 1 before the collision. And, the size is displaced by bending, and the size is displaced. Therefore, the steering shaft 1 rotates about the upper support bracket 3 as a fulcrum, and the steering wheel 8 at the rear end of the shaft 1 rotates downward. At this time, the outer peripheral upper end 11 of the steering wheel 8 is displaced as shown by the arrow D, receives the driver's head 9 leaning forward in the event of a vehicle collision, and is elastically deformed to alleviate the impact force. The position of the outer peripheral upper end portion 11 of the steering wheel 8 is shown by a broken line when the control rod 4 is not bent when the control rod 4 swings.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing the main part of the steering support device for an automobile according to the second embodiment.

In this embodiment, a restraint bracket 22 'having a shape as shown in FIG. 6 is used and fixed to a support plate 24 so as to restrain a portion of the control rod 4 slightly above the first embodiment. Is. Restraint bracket 2
2'restrains the left and right sides of the control rod 4 and the vehicle front side in the same manner as the restraint bracket 22 in the first embodiment,
Furthermore, because it has a shape that also restrains the rear side of the vehicle,
The operation at the time of vehicle collision is different from that of the first embodiment. That is, the operation up to the arrow B'corresponding to the operation of bending the control rod 4 to the vehicle rear side (arrow B in FIG. 1) in the first embodiment is almost the same, but thereafter, in the first embodiment, the control is performed. Rod 4 is a restraint bracket
In contrast to the fact that the control rod 4 is released from the restraint by 22 and swings around the upper end of the rod 4 (arrow C in FIG. 1), the control rod 4 is still restrained in this embodiment and is restrained again by the restraint bracket 22 '. It is bent in the opposite direction (arrow C '). By doing so, the swing radius of the control rod 4 can be made smaller, and therefore, the downward rotational displacement amount of the steering wheel can also be made large.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above in detail, the steering support device for an automobile according to the present invention, when the vehicle collides,
A control rod is provided which swings so that the shaft is lifted upward in front of an axially intermediate portion of the shaft supported by the vehicle body, and the control rod is restrained to reduce the swing radius of the rod. Since the restraint bracket is provided, the steering wheel at the rear end of the steering shaft is pivotally displaced downward in the event of a vehicle collision, so that even if the driver's upper body leans forward, the head of the driver absorbs the impact due to elastic deformation. The upper end of the outer periphery of the steering wheel, which has a large capacity, can be received and buffered to sufficiently protect the driver. Moreover, this can be realized with an extremely simple structure.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an example of a vehicle steering support device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line II-II of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 shows a master cylinder bracket and a support plate of the support device. Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing a joined state of Fig. 4, Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing a restraint bracket of the supporting device as a single item, and Fig. 5 is a side view of a main part showing another example of the steering supporting device for an automobile according to the present invention. FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the restraint bracket of the supporting device as a single item, and FIG. 7 is a side view showing the action of the steering supporting device of the automobile, which constitutes a part of the present invention. 1 ... Steering shaft 2 ... Vehicle body 3 ... Upper support bracket 4 ... Control rod 8 ... Steering wheel 22,22 '... Restraint bracket

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A steering wheel is fixed to the rear end,
A vehicle collision is provided with a steering shaft having an axially intermediate portion supported by the vehicle body, and a control rod having a lower end connected to a front portion of the intermediate portion of the steering shaft supported by the vehicle body and an upper end connected to the vehicle body. A steering support device for an automobile, wherein the control rod is pivotally displaced to displace the position of the steering wheel downward, wherein an intermediate portion of the control rod is constrained to control the vehicle during a vehicle collision. A steering support device for an automobile, characterized in that a restraint bracket for bending the rod at the intermediate portion of the rod to reduce the swing radius of the rod is fixed to the vehicle body.