JPH08192770A - Installing structure of steering column support member - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To easily adjust positional dislocation of a brace member and a bracket, and increase an absorbing quantity of external force by arranging a hole, a notch or a bending part in either one or both of a pair of first support parts and a pair of second support parts. CONSTITUTION: This is fixed to a vertical part 12a of a cowl inner panel 12 by welding the respective edges of a pair of first support parts 21c and 21c. A brace member 22 has a pair of second support parts 22c and 22c arranged by bending both ends of a second standing-up part 22b having a second screw hole 22a, and is fixed to respective upper surfaces of an upper member 16a and a steeing support 17 by welding the respective edges of a pair of second support parts 22c and 22c. External force is applied to a vehicle, and when the cowl inner panel 12 is deformed, since a bracket 21 pushes the brace member 22, concentrative stress is applied to a bending part 22d and a hole 22e arranged in the brace member 22, and energy by external force is absorbed by being deformed with its place as the center.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a support member mounting structure for supporting a steering column of a vehicle. More specifically, the present invention relates to a mounting structure for mounting a steering column support member, which is installed between both side walls of a vehicle body under a windshield, to a front inner wall of the vehicle interior under the windshield.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A steering column support member supports a steering column and suppresses vibrations transmitted from the wheels through the steering column while the vehicle is traveling to prevent vibration of an instrument panel and its vicinity. is there. To mount this type of steering column support member, a cowl brace is fixed to the steering column support member by welding, while a cowl bracket having a step is formed on the cowl inner panel by welding. Screw holes are provided in the cowl brace and the cowl bracket in advance, and the steering column support member is attached to the cowl inner panel by inserting fastening bolts into the screw holes and tightening the fastening bolts (for example, actual opening 57-177873). ). Further, the screw hole of the cowl brace or the screw hole of the cowl bracket is provided so as to be enlarged in the traveling direction of the vehicle and the vertical direction thereof,
This allows the fastening bolts to be inserted and tightened even if the centers of the screw holes are slightly deviated during mounting.

However, in the above-mentioned structure, when the cowl brace and the cowl bracket do not match in the width direction of the vehicle body, there is no appropriate adjusting method, and one or both of the cowl brace and the cowl bracket are forced by tightening the fastening bolt. There was a problem of transforming into. In order to solve these problems, the present applicant has proposed that a lower brace member having a horizontal portion having a first screw hole, a bracket having a rising portion having a second screw hole, and a horizontal portion and a rising portion. We proposed a mounting structure for a vehicle steering column support member that includes an upper brace member that is arranged in close contact with both of them (Actual Fair No. 5-20622). In this mounting structure, the upper brace member corresponding to the first screw hole and the second screw hole is provided with screw holes having different hole diameters from the first screw hole and the second screw hole, respectively. Even if the centers of the screw hole of the brace member and the screw hole of the bracket are deviated in any of the widthwise directions of the vehicle body, the positional deviation can be easily adjusted.

[0004]

On the other hand, due to the recent progress in processing technology, the adjustment when mounting the steering column support member on the inner wall has been reduced, while the above-mentioned conventional example when an external force is applied to the vehicle is In the former example, the step portion of the cowl brace is deformed to reduce the influence on the steering column support member, and in the latter example, the upper brace member is located above the horizontal portion of the lower brace member so that the first screw hole and the hole diameter are different from each other. By sliding by the amount of positional deviation of the screw holes of different upper brace members, the load when an external force is applied to the vehicle is absorbed.

However, it is sufficient that the load when an external force is applied to the vehicle can be absorbed only by the deformation of the stepped portion or the displacement of the screw hole, but when a load larger than that is applied, the steering wheel is operated. There was a risk that the wheels would move. The object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily adjust the positional deviation even when the centers of the screw hole of the brace member and the screw hole of the bracket are deviated in any direction of the vehicle, and to apply an external force to the vehicle. In this case, it is an object of the present invention to provide a mounting structure for a steering column support member that can increase the amount of absorption of the external force as compared with the conventional product.

[0006]

A configuration of the present invention for achieving the above object will be described with reference to FIG. 1 corresponding to an embodiment. The present invention relates to a steering column support member for mounting a steering column support member 14 installed between both inner side walls 13 of the vehicle interior 11 below the windshield to a front inner side wall 12a of the vehicle interior 11 below the windshield. This is an improvement of the mounting structure. The characteristic configuration is that the first upright position in which the pair of first support portions 21c, 21c fixed to the front inner wall 12a and the pair of first support portions 21c, 21c are connected to each other and the first screw hole 21a is formed. The bracket 21 having the portion 21b, the pair of second support portions 22c and 22c fixed to the steering column support member 14 and the pair of second support portions 22c and 22c are connected to each other, and the first screw hole 21a and the hole diameter are different. The second screw hole 22a is formed and the first upright portion 21 is formed.
b, a brace member 22 having a second upright portion 22b provided so as to face b, and first and second screw holes 21a,
A pair of first support portions 21c, 21c and a pair of second support portions 22c, 22c, which are fastened by inserting the brace member 22 and the bracket 21, are provided.
Holes 22e, cuts or bent portions 22d are provided in either one or both of 22c.

[0007]

The supporting member 14 is installed between the inner sidewalls 13 of the vehicle compartment 11 so that the second upright portion 22b of the brace member 22 is in close contact with the first upright portion 21b of the bracket 21. The fastening bolt 24 is inserted into the second screw hole 22a and screwed into the nut 21d. When a force is applied to the cowl inner panel 12 due to a frontal collision or the like and the cowl inner panel 12 is deformed, the bracket 21 pushes the brace member 22, and the hole 2 provided in the brace member 22 is pressed.
2e, a concentrated stress is applied to the cut or bent portion 22d, and the portion is deformed around that portion.

[0008]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, a cowl inner panel 12 is provided below the windshield in the front vehicle body width direction of the vehicle compartment 11. A steering column support member 14 is installed substantially parallel to the cowl inner panel 12 and between both inner side walls 13 (only one side is shown in FIG. 1) in the vehicle width direction. The support member 14 is configured by a hollow cylindrical body portion 15 and a hollow enlarging portion 16 having a larger cross-sectional area than the hollow cylindrical body portion 15 firmly bonded to each other at the central portion. As shown in FIG. 2, the hollow enlarging portion 16 is formed by welding the upper member 16a and the lower member 16b at each end by welding to enhance the cross-sectional rigidity. This hollow bulge 1
A steering support 17 is fixed to the lower member 16b of 6 by welding, and a steering column 18 is attached to the steering support 17. The steering column 18 holds a steering shaft 19 rotatably.

A cowl bracket 21 is fixed to the vertical portion 12a of the cowl inner panel 12 by welding. The bracket 21 has a first upright portion 21 having a first screw hole 21a.
A pair of first support portions 21 provided by bending both ends of b
c, 21c, and fixed to the vertical portion 12a of the cowl inner panel 12 by welding the respective edges of the pair of first support portions 21c, 21c. This first upright portion 2
On the back surface of 1b, the nut 21 is placed facing the first screw hole 21a.
d is fixed by welding.

Brace members 22 are fixed to the upper members 16a of the hollow expanded portions 16 and the upper surfaces of the steering support 17 by welding. The brace member 22 has the second screw hole 2
It has a pair of second support portions 22c, 22c provided by bending both ends of the second upright portion 22b having 2a, and by welding the respective edges of the pair of second support portions 22c, 22c to the upper portion. The member 16a and the steering support 17 are fixed to the upper surfaces thereof. Steering column support member 14
The second upright portion 22b is arranged to face the first upright portion 21b of the bracket 21 in a state where the second upright portion 22b is installed between both inner side walls 13 in the vehicle body width direction, and the second screw hole 22a corresponds to the first screw hole 21a. It is adapted. Second screw hole 22a
Has a hole diameter larger than the diameter of the first screw hole 21a, and can absorb the amount of deviation at the time of mounting. Further, the pair of second support portions 22b, 22b are each provided with a hole 22e substantially at the center via a bent portion 22d.

In order to attach the steering column support member 14 thus constructed to the cowl inner panel 12, the support member 14 is arranged so that the second upright portion 22a of the brace member 22 is in close contact with the first upright portion 21b of the bracket 21.
Is installed between both inner side walls 13 of the vehicle compartment 11. Here, even if the position of the second screw hole 22a of the second upright portion 22b is displaced with respect to the center of the first screw hole in the vehicle width direction or the vertical direction (W and H directions in FIG. 1), Since the diameter of the screw hole 22a is large and the first screw hole 21a is located inside the second screw hole 22a, the fastening bolt 24 can be inserted into the second screw hole 22a through the washer 23 and screwed into the nut 21d. .
In this case, when a deviation occurs in the traveling direction of the vehicle (L direction in FIG. 1), as shown in FIG. 4, the spacer 26 having the notch 26a corresponding to the screw diameter of the fastening bolt 24 is
As shown by the solid arrows in FIG. 1, the first and second upright portions 21
It can also be sandwiched by inserting it between b and 22b and screwing the fastening bolt 24.

When an external force is applied to such a vehicle and the cowl inner panel 12 is deformed, concentrated stress is applied to the bent portion 22d and the hole 22e provided in the brace member 22 so that the bracket 21 pushes the brace member 22. As shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 5, the portion around the point is deformed to absorb the energy due to the external force. Moreover, since the upper surface of the brace member 22 is open, this deformation is facilitated.

In the above embodiment, the nut is fixed to the first screw hole to make the second screw hole larger than the first screw hole. However, the first screw hole is made larger to make the nut independent. Good. Further, although the hole and the bent portion are provided in the above-mentioned embodiment, it may be a notch that causes a concentrated stress or a groove-shaped member having a locally thin plate thickness. Further, in the above embodiment, the brace member is provided with the bent portion and the hole, but the bracket may be provided with the hole, the notch or the bent portion. Hole 21 in FIG.
The bracket 21 which provided e, 21e in each 1st support part is shown. When an external force is applied to the vehicle using the bracket 21 and the cowl inner panel 12 is deformed, the vertical portion 12 a pushes the bracket 21 so that the bracket 21 is pressed.
Concentrated stress is applied to the respective holes 21e, 21e provided in the bracket 21, and the entire bracket 21 is deformed to absorb the energy due to the external force, as shown by the two-dot broken line in FIG. Furthermore, holes, notches or bent portions may be provided in both the brace member and the bracket, and when they are provided in both of them, the amount of energy absorbed by an external force can be further increased.

[0014]

As described above, according to the present invention, the bracket having the first upright portion having the first screw hole formed on the inner wall of the front portion is fixed to the steering column support member.
Since the brace member having the second upright portion provided so as to face the first upright portion is fixed and the hole diameter of the second screw hole is different from the hole diameter of the first screw hole, the width of the vehicle Adjustment can be performed even if the centers of the screw holes of the brace member and the screw holes of the bracket are deviated in the vertical direction or in the vertical direction. Further, when a deviation occurs in the traveling direction of the vehicle, it can be adjusted by interposing a spacer. As a result, even if the centers of the screw hole of the brace member and the screw hole of the bracket deviate in any direction of the vehicle, this positional deviation can be easily adjusted.

Further, since the pair of second support portions are provided with the holes through the bent portions, even if the cowl inner panel is deformed and the bracket pushes the brace member, concentrated stress is applied to the bent portions and the holes, and the portions are By deforming the entire brace member in the center, the amount of absorption of the external force can be increased. Further, since the second upright portion is fixed to the upper surface of each of the upper member and the steering support through the pair of second supporting portions, the upper surface of the brace member is released, and the bracket and the steering column supporting member are supported by the one-piece brace member. Since the brace members are connected to each other, the deformation space of the brace members is increased, so that the brace member can be easily deformed due to the concentrated stress in the bent portion or the like.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a mounting structure of a steering column supporting member according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the brace member.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the spacer.

FIG. 5 is a view seen from the direction B in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a view corresponding to FIG. 5 showing another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Cabin 12a Vertical part (front inner wall) 13 Body width direction inner wall 14 Steering column support member 21 Bracket 21a 1st screw hole 21b 1st standing part 21c 1st support part 21d Nut 22 Brace member 22a 2nd screw hole 22b 2nd upright part 22c 2nd support part 22d Bent part 22e Hole 24 Fastening bolt

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A steering column support member (14) provided between both inner side walls (13) in the vehicle width direction of a vehicle compartment (11) below the windshield is provided with a front portion of the vehicle compartment (11) below the windshield. In a mounting structure for a vehicle steering column support member mounted on an inner wall (12a), a pair of first support parts (21) fixed to the front inner wall (12a).
c, 21c) and a pair of first support portions (21c, 21c) are connected to each other, and a bracket (21) having a first upright portion (21b) in which a first screw hole (21a) is formed; A pair of second support portions (22c, 22c) fixed to the column support member (14) and the pair of second support portions (22c, 22c).
c) A second screw having a hole diameter different from that of the first screw hole (21a) by connecting
A brace member (22) having a screw hole (22a) and a second upright portion (22b) provided so as to face the first upright portion (21b), and the first and second screw holes. (21a, 22a) is inserted and tightened, and a brace member (22) and a fastening bolt (24) for connecting the bracket (21) are provided, the pair of first support portions (21c, 21c) and the pair of Holes (21e, 22e) in either or both of the second support portions (22c, 22c) of
A structure for mounting a steering column support member, wherein a notch or a bent portion (22d) is provided.