JPH10310011A - Foot protective device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To surely protect a foot from impact from a car body in a collision by providing a device springing up a heel part of the foot of an occupant which is put on the floor surface of a compartment in a collision. SOLUTION: A floor panel 1 constitutes a floor surface 1a of a compartment of an automobile and is provided with a tow board 2 rising in an oblique front direction from the tip and a dash board 3 extending upward from the upper end of the tow board 2. The tow board 2 and the dash board 3 constitute a front plate part of the compartment and a foot (a) of an occupant is put on a tow board surface 2a on the side of the compartment of the tow board 2. A heel part (b) of the foot (a) is put on a spring receiving member 5 at the front end of the floor panel 1. A dent 1b is formed at the front end of the floor panel 1 and a spring member 4 is stored. The cover plate shaped spring receiving member 5 covering the dent 1b is provided, the spring receiving member 5 is engaged at an engagement pawl 5a on the rear surfaces of the floor panel 1 and the tow board 2 and the spring member 4 is held to a compressed state. Thus, the foot is surely protected from impact from a car body in a collision.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a foot protection device for a vehicle that protects an occupant's foot in a collision.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a vehicle such as an automobile is provided with a toeboard surface which rises obliquely forward from a floor surface in a lower front part of a passenger compartment, and a passenger's foot is placed on a toeboard surface with its heel portion placed on the floor surface. So that it can be placed on There is also known a footrest in which a footrest is arranged on a toeboard surface in a forwardly inclined position so that a foot of an occupant can be placed on the footrest.

[0003] By the way, the vehicle body at the front of the passenger compartment may be deformed at the time of a head-on collision, and an impact may be exerted on the feet of the occupant via the floor surface or the toeboard surface. For this reason, padding for shock absorption is also known to be laid on the floor or toeboard surface.However, due to restrictions on space, cost, weight, etc., the padding cannot be made too thick. There was also a limit.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus capable of reliably protecting a foot against an impact from a vehicle body at the time of a collision.

[0005]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems,
The present invention is characterized by comprising means for flipping up the heel portion of the occupant's foot placed on the floor surface of the passenger compartment upon collision.

As described above, if the heel portion of the foot is flipped up, the foot floats from the floor surface or the toeboard surface, and the foot is protected against an impact from the floor surface or the toeboard surface.

Here, various means can be considered as the means. One of them is to provide a spring member for flipping up the heel portion of the occupant's foot, and a spring receiving member for engaging the vehicle body to hold the spring member in a compressed state, and to provide a spring receiving member to the vehicle body by an impact upon collision. To disengage. Further, an airbag may be provided which inflates at the time of collision to jump up the heel portion of the occupant's foot. Further, a footrest may be provided in an inclined posture in which the occupant's foot is placed in a forward ascending position, and an actuator for pushing up the rear portion of the footrest at the time of a collision may be provided so that the heel portion of the foot is jumped up by pushing up the rear portion of the footrest.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a floor panel constituting a floor surface 1a of a cabin of a vehicle such as an automobile, and a toe board 2 rising diagonally forward from a front end of the floor panel 1. A dashboard 3 extending upward from the upper end of the toe board 2 is provided, and the toe board 2 and the dashboard 3 constitute a front plate portion of a vehicle compartment. The foot a can be put on.

At this time, the heel portion b of the foot a is placed on the floor surface 1a at the front end of the floor panel 1. Therefore, a depression 1b is formed at the front end of the floor panel 1, and the spring member 4 is housed in the depression 1b. A cover plate-shaped spring receiving member 5 that covers the depression 1b is provided, and the spring receiving member 5 is attached to the floor panel 1 and the toe board 2 that are the vehicle body by engaging claws 5a on the back surface.
And the spring member 4 is held in a compressed state.

In this case, the portion of the floor surface 1a on which the heel portion b of the foot a is placed is constituted by the spring receiving member 5. At the time of a frontal collision, the toe board 2 is deformed rearward as shown in FIG. 1B, and the impact caused by this deformation breaks the engagement claws 5a, and the floor panel 1 of the spring receiving member 5 and the toe board 2
Is disengaged. Then, the spring member 4 is extended, and the heel portion b of the foot a is jumped up via the spring receiving member 5. In this state, the foot a floats from the floor surface 1a and the toe board surface 2a, thus protecting the foot a against impact from the floor panel 1 and the toe board 2.

In the first embodiment, a coil spring is used as the spring member 4, but an elastic body such as rubber may be used.

FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment, in which a recess 1c is formed in the floor panel 1 slightly before the accelerator or brake pedal 6, and a gas generator 7a is built in the recess 1c. The airbag 7 to be stored is
c is covered by a cover plate 8, and a portion of the floor surface 1 a on which the heel portion b of the foot a of the occupant who operates the pedal 6 is formed by the cover plate 7.

At the time of a collision, the gas generator 7a is activated by a signal from a collision sensor (not shown), and the airbag 7 pierces the cover plate 8 and swells onto the floor surface 1a, as shown in FIG.
As shown in (1), the heel portion b of the foot a is flipped up, and the foot a is lifted from the floor surface 1a and the pedal 6, and the foot a is protected from an impact as in the first embodiment.

In the second embodiment, the foot a for operating the pedal 6 is protected. However, the airbag is housed in the recess 1b in the first embodiment, and the foot for which the pedal is not operated is also used. Can be protected.

FIG. 3 shows a third embodiment. In this embodiment, a footrest 9 is arranged on the toeboard surface 2a in a forwardly inclined position so that the foot a of the occupant can be placed on the footrest 9. The footrest 9 is supported so as to be tiltable rearward with a pivot 9a at a front portion thereof serving as a fulcrum. Further, a cylinder-type actuator 10 is provided which is extended by ignition of a built-in explosive at the time of a collision.
The extension of zero causes the rear portion of the footrest 9 to be pushed up.

According to this, at the time of collision, the actuator 1
When the rear portion of the footrest 9 is pushed upward by 0, the heel portion b of the foot a is flipped up as shown in FIG. 3B, and the foot a is protected against impact from the floor panel 1. Further, when the footrest 9 is fixed to the toeboard 2, the rearward deformation of the toeboard 2 at the time of a collision causes the footrest 9 to rise from a forwardly inclined position, thereby reducing the angle between the occupant's foot a and the shin. However, in the third embodiment, since the footrest 9 is tilted in a direction approaching the horizontal posture by pushing up the rear portion, it is possible to prevent the angle between the foot a and the shin from decreasing.

In the third embodiment, the actuator 1
Although 0 is directly connected to the footrest 9, the rear of the footrest may be pushed up by an actuator via an interlocking mechanism such as a cam or a link.

[0018]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the foot can be reliably protected against the impact from the vehicle body in the event of a collision.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a cutaway side view showing a normal state of the first embodiment, and FIG. 1B is a cutaway side view showing a state at the time of collision.

FIG. 2A is a cutaway side view showing a normal state of the second embodiment, and FIG. 2B is a cutaway side view showing the state at the time of the collision;

3A is a cross-sectional side view showing a normal state of the third embodiment, and FIG. 3B is a cross-sectional side view showing a state at the time of collision.

[Explanation of symbols]

1a Floor surface 4 Spring member 5 Spring receiving member 7 Airbag 9 Footrest 10 Actuator

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A foot protection device for a vehicle, comprising: means for flipping up a heel portion of an occupant's foot placed on a floor surface of a vehicle compartment upon collision. And a spring receiving member for engaging the vehicle body to hold the spring member in a compressed state, wherein the spring member is configured to engage with the vehicle body to hold the spring member in a compressed state. The foot protection device for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the engagement of the receiving member with the vehicle body is released. 3. The foot protection device for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the means comprises an airbag which inflates at the time of a collision to jump up a heel portion of an occupant's foot. 4. The device according to claim 1, wherein the means comprises a footrest arranged in a forwardly inclined position on which the occupant's foot is placed, and an actuator for pushing up a rear portion of the footrest in the event of a collision. Foot protection device for vehicles.