JPH0826139A - Lower part structure of front pillar of automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize the effective dispersion and absorption of the collision energy by falling inward a side sill front end part through a front pillar lower part in the side collision of an automobile, preventing the crash, etc., of a toe board, and improving the strength of a lower door hinge fitting part. CONSTITUTION:A box-shaped reinforcement part 23 having a swollen part 23a at the lower part of a pillar inner lower 22 is provided, a doubler part 52 having a lower corner gusset part 51 and provided with a pillar inner face part 53 and a toe board joining surface part 54 is provided, a gusset 5 having an upper corner gusset part 55 on the doubler part is joined and fixed, and the box-shaped reinforcement part 23 improves the strength of the lower part of a front pillar 2 including a fitting part of a lower door hinge. The falling-in of the side sill 1 and the front pillar 2, and the crashing, etc., of the toe board 4 is prevented by the upper and lower corner gusset parts 51, 52 and the doubler part 52 therebetween, realizing the effective dispersion and absorption of the collision energy.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a structure of a lower portion of a front pillar of an automobile, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a structure capable of effectively receiving the collision energy at the time of a side collision in the entire lower portion of the front pillar. It is a thing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an automobile, a lower portion of a front pillar, that is, a portion rising from a front end of a side sill to a front pillar is generally constructed as shown in FIG.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the side sill 1 is composed of a side sill outer 11, a side sill inner 12, and a separator center 13, and a pillar outer lower 21 of the front pillar 2 is integrally formed at the front end of the side sill outer 11. The pillar inner lower 22 of the front pillar 2 is fixedly joined to the upper edge of the front end of the side sill 1, and the pillar inner lower 22 and the pillar outer lower 2 are attached.
1 together with the lower part of the front pillar 2 having a closed cross section,
The toe board 4 that rises upward from the front end of the front floor 3 whose side end is fixed to the side sill inner 12.
In general, the side end portion of the side sill is fixed to the front end portion of the side sill inner 12 to the front edge portion of the pillar inner lower member 22. In FIG. 3, 21a is a doubler for reinforcing the pillar outer lower 21, and 4a is a left and right wheel house portion formed near both left and right sides of the toe board 4.

There are various types of reinforcing means for reinforcing the joint between the front end of the side sill inner 12 and the toe board 4, the corners of the pillar inner lower 22 and the toe board 4, and the like. 57-14028
No. 1, JP-A-2-237875, and U.S. Pat.
Published in Japanese Patent No. 125887.

[0005]

When a side collision of an automobile occurs,
The entire door is pushed inward, and the collision energy is absorbed by the entire portion of the front pillar below the window shoulder portion. Especially, regarding the door hinge attachment portion of the front door, the door hinge portion is deformed or broken. Therefore, the collision energy is absorbed.

However, in the general conventional structure shown in FIG. 4, when the side collision occurs, the front corner of the front pillar 2 falls or twists inward, and the toe board 4
Crush deformation of the wheel house portion 4a near the side end portion is significant, and effective collision energy absorption cannot be performed. or,
As for the door hinge portion of the front door, since a steering support beam is attached near the attachment portion of the upper door hinge 6a so as to connect the left and right front pillars, the collision load input to the upper door hinge attachment portion is the steering wheel. Although it is received by the support beam and dispersed and absorbed by the front pillar on the other side, the attachment portion of the lower door hinge 6b cannot receive the input load, and it is difficult to effectively disperse and absorb collision energy. Have challenges.

Further, in the above-mentioned conventional structure in which the reinforcing means is provided at the corners of the lower part of the front pillar and the toeboard, it cannot be said that the structure is sufficient to disperse and absorb the collision energy. However, if the reinforcement structure is made large, the reinforcing structure becomes large and it is difficult to assemble it, and the amount of protrusion into the vehicle compartment becomes large, which causes a problem that the comfortability is impaired.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above conventional problems.

[0009]

According to the present invention, as described above, in the lower portion of the front pillar composed of the pillar outer lower member and the pillar inner lower member, the lower end portion of the pillar inner lower member has the bulging portion that fits into the cross section of the pillar outer lower member. A box-shaped reinforce part is provided, and a lower corner gusset part that extends over the corner part of the side sill front end part, the front floor and the corner part of the toe board is provided, and the pillar inner part that is joined to the inner side of the box-shaped reinforce part is above it. A substantially L-shaped doubler portion including a surface portion and a toe board joining surface portion joined to the toe board is continuously formed, and a substantially box extending over an upper portion of the box-shaped reinforce portion and a corner portion of the toe board is formed on an upper portion of the doubler portion. Shape the gusset with the upper corner gusset of the cross section into the side sill, front floor and box-shaped rim. It is characterized in that the fixed and joined from the vehicle interior side on the inner side and the toe board of over scan portion.

[0010]

As described above, the lower portion of the front pillar has a structure in which the bulging portion of the box-shaped reinforcement is fitted in the closed cross section composed of the pillar outer lower portion and the pillar inner surface portion of the gusset, and the box-shaped reinforcement portion is reinforced. The lower portion of the front pillar including the lower door hinge mounting portion is significantly reinforced by performing the function of the separator for the vehicle. Also, the lower corner gusset portion and the upper corner gusset portion of the gusset prevent inward falling and twisting from the front end portion of the side sill to the lower portion of the front pillar at the time of a side collision,
Moreover, the upper and lower corner gusset portions and the doubler portion between them prevent crush deformation of the front floor and the wheel house portion of the toe board, and in particular, the collision load input from the lower door hinge is firmly received by the upper corner gusset portion. Therefore, it is possible to effectively disperse and absorb collision energy.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a side sill having a closed cross section composed of a side sill outer 11, a side sill inner 12, and a plate-shaped separator center 13, and a pillar outer lower that rises upward at the front end of the side sill outer 11. 21, the pillar outer lower member 21, the pillar inner lower member 22, and a pillar inner surface portion 53 of the gusset 5, which will be described later, form a lower portion of the front pillar 2. If necessary, a doubler 21a is joined to the inside of the pillar outer lower member 21 as required.

A box-shaped reinforcement 23 having a bulging portion 23a which bulges in a box-shape toward the outer side of the vehicle body is integrally or integrally provided at the lower portion of the pillar inner lower 22. The lower end portion of the box-shaped reinforcement member 23 is fixed to the upper edge of the front end portion of the side sill 1, and when the pillar inner lower member 22 including the box-shaped reinforcement member 23 is joined to the pillar outer lower member 21, the bulging portion 23a of the box-shaped reinforcement member 23 is 21 is configured to fit within the cross section. The upper portion of the bulging portion 23a is located near the mounting portion of the lower door hinge 6b of the front door, and the bulging portion 23a reinforces the mounting portion of the lower door hinge 6b and its lower portion. There is. In addition, the upper door hinge 6 of the front door
As is well known in the art, a steering support beam (not shown) for mounting and supporting the steering device is mounted between the left and right front pillars 2, 2 at a position near the mounting portion of a.

Side sill inner 1 of left and right side sill 1
2, the left and right edge portions of the front floor 3 are fixed to the front edge of the front floor 3, and the left and right edge portions of the toe board 4 rising upward from the front edge of the front floor 3 are the front ends of the pillar inner lowers 22 of the left and right front pillars 2 as usual. It is fixed to the edge.
Reference numeral 4a denotes a wheel house portion which is bulged rearward in the vicinity of both left and right sides of the toe board 4. A duct portion 7 is provided along the upper edge of the toe board 4 in the vehicle width direction.

Reference numeral 5 is a gusset, and the gusset 5 has a corner portion in a range from a front end portion of the side sill 1 to a lower end portion of the front pillar 2 and a range from a front end portion of the front floor 3 to a lower portion of the toe board 4. The gusset 5 will be reinforced, and the detailed structure of the gusset 5 will be described below.

The gusset 5 includes the front end portion of the side sill inner 12, the front end portion of the front floor 3, and the toe board 4.
Pillar inner surface portion that has a lower corner gusset portion 51 that straddles a corner portion between the rising portion and the lower portion of the pillar-shaped inner reinforcement portion 23 that is provided at the lower end portion of the pillar inner lower portion 22 and that closes the inner side of the box-shaped reinforcement portion 23. There is a substantially L-shaped doubler portion 52 consisting of 53 and a toe board joining surface portion 54 that is joined and fixed mainly to the wheel house portion 4a of the toe board 4, and a box-shaped reinforce portion 23 of the box-shaped reinforce portion 23 is provided above the doubler portion 52. The upper corner gusset portion 55 having a box-shaped cross section is integrally formed so as to extend over the inner side of the upper portion of the bulging portion 23a (in the vicinity of the lower door hinge mounting portion) and the corner portion of the wheel house portion 4a of the toe board 4. It A work hole 53a is appropriately provided in the pillar inner surface portion 53, and a footrest portion 56 serving as an occupant's footrest is integrally formed from the vicinity of the vehicle body center side end portion of the upper corner gusset portion 55 to the toe board joint surface portion 54 therebelow. ing.

The peripheral flange portion of the gusset 5 is arranged from the vehicle interior side to the side sill inner 12, the inner flange of the box-shaped reinforcement 23, the front floor 3,
It is attached to the wheel house portion 4a of the toe board 4 by spot welding or the like. Then, the pillar inner surface portion 53 of the gusset 5 is joined to the inner side of the box-shaped reinforce portion 23, so that the pillar-shaped outer force portion 2 and the pillar inner surface portion 53 are provided inside the box-shaped reinforce portion 2.
3 is sandwiched between the front pillar lower part of the closed cross section, the box-shaped reinforcement 23 functions as a separator for reinforcing the closed cross section, and the strength of the front pillar lower part including the mounting part of the lower door hinge 6b is Remarkably improved.
Further, the corner portions of the front end portion of the side sill 1 and the vicinity of the lower part of the front floor 3 and the toe board 4 are firmly connected by the lower corner gusset portion 51, and the front end portion of the side sill 1 is prevented from falling inward due to a side collision load, Further, the corner portion of the front pillar 2 near the mounting portion of the lower door hinge 6b and the wheel house portion 4a are firmly connected to each other by the upper corner gusset portion 55, and the collision load input from the lower door hinge 6b is applied to the upper corner gusset portion. 55 is firmly received, and the lower portion of the front pillar 2 is reinforced by the box-shaped reinforcement 23 and the pillar inner surface 53 of the gusset 5 as described above, and the pillar inner surface 53 and the toe board joint surface. The doubler portion 52 including 54 is located below the lower door hinge mounting portion of the front pillar 2. By joining and reinforcing the corner portion between the portion and the wheel house portion 4a, twisting inward of the lower end portion of the front pillar 2 and collapsing deformation of the wheel house portion 4a due to a collision load are prevented. The collision load is widely dispersed and absorbed by the toe board 4 and the front floor 3, and the collision load input from the mounting portion of the upper door hinge 6a is received by the steering support beam as described above and is dispersed and absorbed by the front pillar on the other side. In combination with this, the collision energy is effectively absorbed in the entire lower portion of the front pillar 2.

Further, as described above, the box-shaped reinforce portion 23 is provided at the lower portion of the pillar inner lower member 22, and the inner side of the box-shaped reinforce portion 23 is provided with the gusset 5 for reinforcing the corner portion attached. Pillar inner surface 53 of gusset 5
Has a structure in which the lower part of the front pillar that is strongly reinforced is obtained, the number of parts is small, and assembly is extremely easy. Furthermore, by fixing the gusset 5, which is one part, from the vehicle interior side, The toe board 4, the side sill 1, the front floor 3, the side sill 1, and the front pillar 2 are effectively and firmly connected to each other, so a compact and lightweight space saving space is obtained, which is an effective reinforcement structure against side collisions. Is something that can be done.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the present invention, which is different from the embodiment of FIG. 1 in that the separator center 13 of the side sill 1 is formed in a convex shape toward the side sill outer 11 side. 1 has the same configuration as in FIG.
The same reference numerals as in FIG. 1 denote the same parts as in FIG.

In the embodiment of FIG. 3, the same effect as that of the embodiment of FIG. 1 can be obtained, and in addition, the structure in which the separator center 13 is projected to the outside allows absorption of collision energy at the time of side collision. The effect that it can be performed earlier can be obtained.

In the embodiments of FIGS. 1 to 3, the gusset 5 is integrally formed by one sheet metal.
One sheet metal is integrally formed into a shape having a lower corner gusset portion 51 and a doubler portion 52 above the lower corner gusset portion, and a hat-shaped cross-section reinforcement formed as a separate component is overlapped and fixed on the upper portion of the doubler portion 52. A gusset structure in which an upper corner gusset portion 55 having a closed cross section is formed may be used, and in this case, the corner portion near the lower door hinge mounting portion has a doubler portion 52 as well as the lower corner portion.
The upper corner gusset portion 55 receives the input load and is further reinforced by the joining, and the side collision energy is more effectively absorbed.

In the illustrated embodiment, the pillar inner lower 22
Box-shaped reinforcement 2 configured as a separate part at the lower end of the
Although the example in which 3 is integrally fixed is shown, the pillar inner lower member 22 is extended so as to be directly fixed to the upper edge portion of the front end of the side sill 1, and the bulging portion 23a is formed in the downward extending portion of the pillar inner lower member 22. By doing so, the box-shaped reinforce portion 23 may be integrally configured with the pillar inner lower 22. By doing so, the number of constituent parts can be reduced.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, with an extremely simple structure, sufficient reinforcement is performed from the lower door hinge attachment portion of the lower portion of the front pillar to the connection portion with the side sill, and side impact load is applied. The front end of the side sill and the lower part of the front pillar can be prevented from collapsing or twisting, and the front floor and toeboard parts can be prevented from collapsing and deforming, and can effectively disperse and absorb collision energy. Combined with the fact that it does not take up much space inside the vehicle, it can bring about a great effect in practical use.

[Brief description of drawings]

1A and 1B show an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1A is a perspective view of a connecting portion between a front end portion of a side sill and a lower portion of a front pillar as seen from the inside of a vehicle compartment, and FIG. 1B is an exploded perspective view of FIG. It is a figure.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of each part of FIG.
Is a sectional view taken along line A-A, (B) is a sectional view taken along line BB, and (C) is taken along line C-.
C sectional view, (D) is a DD sectional view, and (E) is an EE sectional view.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the present invention, in which (A) is a perspective view of the connecting portion between the front end portion of the side sill and the lower portion of the front pillar as viewed from the rear of the vehicle compartment, and (B) shows (A). It is an exploded perspective view.

FIG. 4 is a view showing an example of a conventional structure, in which (A) is a perspective view of a connecting portion between a front end portion of a side sill and a lower portion of a front pillar as seen from the inside of a vehicle compartment, and (B) is an exploded perspective view of (A). is there.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Side Sill 2 Front Pillar 3 Front Floor 4 Toe Board 4a Wheel House Section 5 Gusset 6a Upper Door Hinge 6b Lower Door Hinge 11 Side Sill Outer 12 Side Sill Inner 13 Separator Center 21 Pillar Outer Lower 22 Pillar Inner Lower 23 Box-shaped Reinforce Section 23a Lower Swelling Section Corner gusset portion 52 Doubler portion 53 Pillar inner surface portion 54 Toe board joint surface portion 55 Upper corner gusset portion 56 Footrest portion

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A box-shaped reinforce part having a bulging part that fits into a cross section of the pillar outer lower part is provided at a lower end part of the pillar inner lower part consisting of a pillar outer lower part and a pillar inner lower part, and a lower part of the pillar inner lower part is provided at the lower end part. A side sill front end portion and a lower corner gusset portion that straddles the corner portion of the front floor and toe board and has a pillar inner surface portion that closes the inner side of the box-shaped reinforce portion above and a toe board joint surface portion that is joined to the toe board A gusset in which an L-shaped doubler portion is continuously formed, and an upper corner gusset portion having a substantially box-shaped cross section is provided at an upper portion of the doubler portion and extends over an upper portion of the box-shaped reinforce portion and a corner portion of the toe board. On the side sill inner, the front floor, the inner side of the box-shaped reinforcement, and the toe board. The structure of the lower part of the front pillar of an automobile, which is joined and fixed from the inside of the vehicle. 2. The front pillar lower portion structure according to claim 1, wherein the upper portion of the box-shaped reinforce portion is near a lower door hinge attachment portion of upper and lower door hinges of a front door attached to the front pillar. A lower front pillar structure for an automobile, characterized in that it is configured to be located.