JPH10129271A - Center pillar structure of sash-less door-type vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve appearance while securing vehicle body strength around the lower part of a center pillar of a sash-less door-type vehicle. SOLUTION: A retainer 3 is joined to the outer surface of a center pillar 1. A weather strip 6 on which a front side seal part 7, a rear side seal part 8 and a bellows-shaped connecting part 9 for connecting both seal parts 7, 8 are integrally formed is attached to the retainer 3. A molding 19 is fixed to the vehicle body outer side of the connecting part 9. The width in the vehicle body longitudinal direction of the center pillar 1 is formed into a taper shape so as to be gradually widened from the upper part to the lower part. The retainer 3, the weather strip 6 and the molding 19 are formed into a taper shape corresponding to the center pillar 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a center pillar structure for a sashless door type vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a sashless door type vehicle provided with a center pillar, a weather strip is attached to an outer surface of the center pillar via a retainer, and a front side door and a rear side edge of the weather strip are attached to a front side door. In general, a structure is adopted in which the front door glass and the rear glass of the rear side door are brought into close contact with each other.

[0003] The center pillar has a mountain-shaped closed cross section in which the front side and the rear side of the outer panel are slanted. For example, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 3-52175, the center pillar is provided outside the vehicle body. A retainer formed by bending a metal plate is attached. This retainer has an anchor-like engaging portion at the center and fitting portions on both sides. The weather strip has a front seal portion that covers the front side surface of the center pillar, a rear seal portion that covers the rear side surface, and a connecting portion that connects the two seal portions. By fitting the bases of the seal portions to the fitting portions of the retainer, the connecting portion located at the center in the width direction is fixed while covering the engaging portion. Further, a molding is arranged outside the vehicle body of the connecting portion. This molding is locked in the mounting hole of the retainer by a clip portion integrally formed on the back surface. The conventional center pillar is formed as thin as possible and has a constant width along the up-down direction in order to improve the appearance.

[0004]

In order to improve the safety against a side collision of an automobile, it is necessary to increase the strength of the vehicle body near the lower part of the center pillar, that is, in the vicinity of the intersection with the door waist. It is desired that the width of the pillar in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle be set wide.

[0005] However, if the center pillar is made wide while maintaining a constant width over the entire vertical direction, there arises a problem that the external appearance deteriorates. In particular, since the mall existing between the front and rear door glasses inevitably becomes thicker as the width of the center pillar is increased, the design restrictions are large and the appearance is poor.

[0006]

Accordingly, in the present invention,
The exterior appearance of the center pillar has been improved while increasing the body strength at the lower part of the center pillar. That is, the center pillar structure of the sashless door type vehicle according to the present invention connects the front seal portion closely contacting the rear edge of the front door glass, the rear seal portion closely contacting the front edge of the rear door glass, and both seal portions. In a center pillar structure of a sashless door type vehicle in which a weather strip formed integrally with a connecting portion is attached to an outer surface of the center pillar and a molding is attached to the outside of the vehicle body of the connecting portion, the center pillar is The weather strip is formed so that the width in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body is increased in a downward direction, and the width of the connecting portion is gradually increased from an upper end to a lower end. Is formed in a tapered shape corresponding to the connecting portion.

By increasing the width of the lower part of the center pillar in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, the strength of the vehicle body near the door waist, which is important in the event of a side collision, is ensured.
The upper part of the mall, which is conspicuous in appearance, has a narrow width.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the connecting portion is formed in a bellows shape which can expand and contract in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, and is attached to the center pillar in a state where the lower end portion is widened.

In this configuration, the weather strip is formed by extrusion having a constant cross-sectional shape. Then, in the attached state, the lower portion becomes a widened shape. Therefore, the manufacture of the weather strip becomes simple.
In addition, since the connecting portion has a bellows shape, the width of the weather strip can be freely deformed in accordance with the width of the center pillar.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the weather strip is formed by variable extrusion so that the width of the connecting portion gradually changes.
In this device, a weather strip formed into a predetermined taper shape is attached to the center pillar in that shape.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 5 show an embodiment of a center pillar structure of a sashless door type vehicle according to the present invention.

In FIGS. 2 and 3, reference numeral 1 denotes a center pillar. The center pillar 1 is formed by joining an outer panel 1A and an inner panel 1B, and has a mountain-shaped closed cross section in which a front side surface 1a and a rear side surface 1b of the outer panel 1A are inclined. The upper end of the center pillar 1 is connected to a roof side rail 2 as shown in FIG. The center pillar 1 is gradually thicker toward the lower side, and accordingly, the width of the center pillar 1 in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body is tapered such that the width increases toward the lower side. Thus, the strength of the vehicle body at the lower portion of the center pillar 1 which is important for the side collision can be improved. The thickness of the upper end of the center pillar 1 is not particularly different from the conventional one.

A retainer 3 formed by bending a band-shaped metal plate is welded to the outer surface of the center pillar 1 having a mountain shape. The retainer 3 has, on both sides, fitting portions 4 each having a substantially C-shaped cross section, and an anchor shape projecting outside the vehicle cabin at the center between the pair of fitting portions 4. Are formed. This retainer 3
Corresponds to the change in the width of the center pillar 1 described above,
As a whole, it is formed in a tapered shape in which the width in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body increases as it goes downward. However, the cross-sectional shape of the pair of fitting portions 4 is kept substantially constant, and the width of the center engaging portion 5 mainly changes as is apparent from FIGS. . In addition, locking holes (not shown) are formed on the top surface of the engaging portion 5 at three positions, that is, the upper end, the lower end, and the center of the retainer 3.

The rubber weather strip 6 attached to the center pillar 1 is, as shown in FIGS.
The center pillar 1 has a hollow front-side seal portion 7 that covers the front side surface 1a and a hollow rear-side seal portion 8 that covers the rear side surface 1b. It is formed integrally and continuously by the connecting portion 9 having a shape. The front-side and rear-side seal portions 7 and 8 have a substantially symmetrical shape, each having a relatively thick base portion 15 and a side wall portion 17 continuous with the base portion 15 in a substantially L-shape. A seal contact portion 16 having a substantially arc-shaped cross section is formed outside the seal contact portion 16. Each base 15 is fitted into the fitting portion 4 of the retainer 3, and the projections 15 a on both sides of each base 15 are engaged with the curved portions on both sides of the fitting 4, thereby firmly holding the base 15. It is supposed to be. In this mounting state, the engaging portion 5 of the retainer 3 is a concave groove-shaped portion surrounded by the side walls 17 of the front and rear seal portions 7 and 8 and the connecting portion 9. Is engaged. The rear edge of the front door glass (not shown) and the front edge of the rear door glass are in close contact with the seal contact portion 16, respectively, and are thereby sealed.

As shown in FIG. 1, the weatherstrip 6 has a tapered shape corresponding to the shape of the center pillar 1 such that the width of the weatherstrip 6 in the vehicle front-rear direction is generally increased downward. The upper end of the narrowest weather strip 6 is connected to the front and rear roof side weather strips 10 and 11 which are individually extruded and formed in a substantially T-shape via a molded part 13. Also,
A lower molded portion 14 formed by molding is integrally connected to a lower end portion of the widest weather strip 6. In addition, through-holes 18 are formed at the upper end, the lower end, and the center of the connecting portion 9 in correspondence with the above-described locking holes on the retainer 3 side.

Here, as shown in FIG. 4, the weather strip 6 is extruded into a fixed cross section.
As described above, the weather strip 6 has the bellows-like shape in which the central connecting portion 9 can expand and contract. And
By gradually extending the connecting portion 9 in the vehicle longitudinal direction from the upper end to the lower end of the weather strip 6,
After making the weather strip 6 have a predetermined taper shape,
The upper and lower ends thereof are respectively provided with the above-mentioned molding part 1.
3 and the lower molded part 14 are connected.

Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, even if the outer shape of the weatherstrip 6 changes to a tapered shape,
The shape of the pair of seal portions 7, 8 is constant, and only the central connecting portion 9 is gradually expanded and contracted as shown in FIG. The change in the width of the engaging portion 5 of the retainer 3 corresponds to the expansion and contraction deformation of the connecting portion 9.

A molding 19 made of synthetic resin is attached to the outer side surface of the weather strip 6 so as to cover the entire connecting portion 9. As shown in FIG. 1, the molding 19 has a tapered shape having a narrow upper end and a wide lower end corresponding to the center pillar 1. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, clip portions 20 each having an arrowhead cross section are integrally formed on the mounting surface side of the molding 19 at positions corresponding to the through holes 18 of the connecting portion 9. The molding 19 is fixed by being locked in the locking hole on the retainer 3 side through the through hole 18. Also, on both sides of the mounting surface of the molding 19, projection pieces 21 protruding toward the retainer 3 are respectively provided.
Are provided continuously in the longitudinal direction of the molding 19. The protruding pieces 21 enter grooves 9a formed at the boundaries between the front and rear seal portions 7, 8 and the bellows-shaped connecting portion 9, respectively, and the positions of both side edges of the connecting portion 9, in other words, each The position of the tip of the side wall 17 of the seals 7, 8 is regulated. Further, both ends of the molding 19 extending outward from the protruding pieces 21 are curved toward the interior of the vehicle compartment, and are in contact with the outer surface of the weather strip 6.
Therefore, the bellows-like connecting portion 9 does not protrude from the molding 19 and is not exposed to the outside.

In the configuration of the above embodiment, the width of the center pillar 1 is tapered so as to gradually increase from the upper end on the roof side toward the bottom, and corresponds to the shape of the center pillar 1. By making the molding 19 tapered, it is possible to improve the appearance of the entire center pillar 1 while securing the vehicle body strength at the lower part of the center pillar 1.

In the above embodiment, since the connecting portion 9 of the weather strip 6 is formed in a bellows shape which can be extended and contracted, the weather strip 6 can be extruded into a constant cross-sectional shape. Therefore, the molding is simple and low cost, and the loss of material during molding is reduced.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

In this embodiment, the center pillar 1
Weather strip 6 'attached to the retainer 3
However, it is formed by so-called variable extrusion molding in which the cross-sectional shape changes continuously. That is, in the weather strip 6 ', the hollow front-side seal portion 7 and the rear-side seal portion 8 and the connecting portion 9' connecting them are integrated as in the above-described embodiment. The central connecting portion 9 ′ has a flat plate shape that is smoothly continuous with the seal contact portion 16 of each of the seal portions 7 and 8. And it is variable extrusion molded so that the width of the connecting portion 9 'changes continuously. Note that the cross-sectional shape of each of the seal portions 7 and 8 does not change.

In this configuration, the shape of the weather strip 6 'becomes stable, and the holding by the retainer 3 becomes more reliable.

[0025]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, only the lower part of the center pillar is widened, and the upper part of the molding is made thinner. The appearance can be improved while ensuring sufficient.

According to the second aspect, the connecting portion of the weather strip is formed in a bellows shape which can be extended and contracted, so that the weather strip can be extruded into a constant cross section. Therefore, the operation of manufacturing the weather strip is simplified.

Further, according to the third aspect, the shape of the weather strip becomes stable, and the holding by the retainer becomes more reliable.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of a center pillar structure of a sashless door type vehicle according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a state at the time of extrusion molding of the weather strip.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a state when a weather strip is attached.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a weather strip showing another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Center pillar 6 ... Weather strip 7 ... Front side seal part 8 ... Rear side seal part 9 ... Connecting part 19 ... Mall

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A weather strip in which a front side seal portion closely contacting a rear edge of a front door glass, a rear side seal portion closely contacting a front edge of a rear door glass, and a connecting portion connecting the both seal portions are integrally formed. However, the center pillar structure of a sashless door type vehicle in which a molding is attached to the outer surface of the center pillar and the molding is attached to the outside of the vehicle body of the connecting portion, the center pillar is widened as the width in the vehicle front-rear direction becomes downward. The weather strip is formed such that the width of the connecting portion gradually increases from the upper end portion toward the lower end portion, and the molding is formed in a taper shape corresponding to the connecting portion. The center pillar structure of a sashless door type car characterized by the following. 2. The sashless door type according to claim 1, wherein the connecting portion is formed in a bellows shape which can be extended and contracted in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, and is attached to the center pillar with its lower end portion widened. The center pillar structure of the car. 3. The center pillar structure for a sashless door type vehicle according to claim 1, wherein said weather strip is formed by variable extrusion so that a width of said connecting portion is gradually changed.