JPS62187649A - Steering wheel - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To ensure positive transmission of impact energy to a bumper member by forming a hard insert which covers an impact absorbing member provided to a hub section, with a plurality of divided pieces in such a way that respective divided pieces can be bent or separated at their divided sections. CONSTITUTION:A steering wheel includes a hub section 1 connected with a steering shaft, and the hub section 1 is provided with an E/A member which is made of sheet metal while being designed to be buckled for absorbing impact energy, and is also provided with a metal sheet 41 extending to the base end of a spoke section 2. And a rod 5 covering both of the hub section 1 and the spoke section 2 is installed on the upper surface of the E/A member 4 and the metal sheet 41, and the pad 5 is composed of an insert 6 and a skin 7. In the aforementioned structure, the insert 6 is divided into four pieces: a main section 6 covering the hub section 1 and respective wings 62 covering three spoke sections 2. And respective divided pieces are struck into contact with each other by engaging respective recesses 63 with respective projections 64 while being fastened with screws 8.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a steering wheel, and more particularly to an improvement of a pad for further enhancing the impact absorption effect of an impact energy absorbing member (hereinafter referred to as an E/A member). be.

[Prior Art] Furthermore, it has been proposed to attach a member for absorbing impact energy, a so-called E/A member, to a steering wheel. For example, Utsukai Showa 58-13536
As shown in FIG. 6, the steering wheel disclosed in Publication No. 3 includes, for example, an E/A member 100 that absorbs impact energy by buckling in the hub portion, and is integrated with an inlet 201 and its insert 201. With the soft skin body 202 covered with a soft skin and the bellowing pad 200,
It is known that the E/A section 0100 is coated.

In recent years, from a design standpoint, there has been a demand for large pads that cover not only the hub but also the spokes, and these large pads are applied to steering wheels to which the above E/A components are attached. The result will be as shown in Figure 7. That is, as in the past, the E/A member 100 that absorbs impact energy by buckling is arranged in the hub part, and the pad 200 covering the hub part and spoke part is attached via the metal plate 101 attached to the E/A member 100. It will be a composition that will be repped.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the above-mentioned steering wheel, although the pad has excellent shape retention, there is a problem in that the insert has too high rigidity. Even if an impact is applied directly above the E/A member, a reaction force will occur due to the rigidity of the pad itself, and the impact energy may be received by the spokes of the insert, and the impact energy will be transferred to the E/A member. A possible problem is that the impact energy absorption effect is reduced accordingly. For this reason, when designing the strength for the E/'8 section, the rigidity of the pad must also be taken into consideration, which requires a large number of man-hours.

The present invention has been made in view of this problem, and is based on E/
It is an object of the present invention to provide a steering wheel in which the strength of the A member can be set to be almost equal to the rigidity of the pad, and the pad also has excellent shape retention.

[Means for Solving the Problems 1] The steering wheel of the present invention includes an operating section, a hub section that is continuous with the operating section and transmits the movement of the operating section to the steering shaft, and a hub section that is disposed on the hub section and that transmits impact energy. A pad that covers at least the 1j percussion energy absorbing member and the spoke part and is made up of a hard insert and a soft skin integrally covered with the insert. The steering wheel is characterized in that the insert is composed of a plurality of divided bodies, and the divided bodies are bent or separated at the divided parts.

The steering wheel of the present invention includes an operation section, a hub section,
It has an E/A member and a pad. Here, the operation part is a part that is operated by a human to change the direction of travel of the vehicle.
Generally, it is a ring-shaped member called a rim or a ring part. Its shape can be selected from various shapes such as a perfect circle or an ellipse.
The same one as before can be used. Moreover, the same material as conventional materials such as synthetic resin can be used.

The hub part is a part that transmits the movement of the operating part to the steering shaft, and is generally located at the center of the operating part. The operating portion and the hub portion are connected to each other by spoke portions extending radially from the hub portion. It is also possible to install a horn switch in this hub section.

The E/A member is a member for absorbing impact energy, and for example, a member that absorbs impact energy by buckling a sheet metal can be used.

The pad is composed of an insert and a skin body, and covers the E/A member and the spoke portion. Here, the insert maintains the shape of the pad, and is made of hard resin, sheet metal, etc., as in the past.

The greatest feature of the present invention is that this insert is composed of a plurality of divided bodies. That is, it is bent or separated at the dividing portions that partition the divided body.

In cases where the insert is first attached to an E/A member or the like and a skin body is later placed on the insert, a gap may be provided between adjacent divided bodies separated by the divided parts. However, when insert-molding a skin body by placing an insert in a mold, it is desirable that adjacent divided bodies are in contact with each other. This is because if there is a gap, the smoothness of the skin body may be impaired in that area. It is also preferable to provide the divided bodies with engaging portions that mechanically engage with each other. The engaging portions can be selected from a variety of options, such as having comb-shaped engaging portions that engage with each other, or having one convex portion fitted into one hole portion of the other. In this way, the smoothness of the pad surface can be maintained without increasing the rigidity of the pad as a whole, and the positioning is accurate due to the engagement of the engaging parts, and the horizontal direction of each divided body is It is also possible to prevent relative movement of

Also, these divided vj bodies are respectively E/A members or E/
It is desirable to attach it to a sheet metal etc. attached to member A. In this way, even if the pad is distorted by the split portion, the distortion is corrected by the E/A member, so that the shape retention of the pad is further improved.

The insert is generally covered with a skin over its entire surface. This skin body can be formed from soft resin such as soft polyvinyl chloride resin or polyurethane resin in the same way as in the past, and can be formed by insert molding integrally with the insert, or by covering the inside with a layer afterwards. can do.

[Operations and Effects of the Invention] In the steering wheel of the present invention, the pad insert is composed of a plurality of divided bodies.

This allows for bending or separation at the dividing part,
The rigidity of the pad can be made significantly smaller than that of other parts. Therefore, by forming the split portion, the impact energy is reliably transmitted to the E/A member without being received by the spokes of the insert, and the energy absorption effect of the E/△ member (buckling deformation in the case of sheet metal) is achieved. By! 7
The impact energy is absorbed. Further, there is almost no need to set the energy absorption setting value of the E/A member in consideration of the rigidity of the pad, and it is possible to reduce the number of man-hours required for design.

[Example] This will be explained in detail below using examples.

1 to 4 show a steering wheel according to an embodiment of the present invention. This steering wheel includes a hub portion 1 connected to a steering shaft, spoke portions 2 extending approximately in a T-shape around the hub portion 1, and an annular ring portion 3 serving as an operating portion connecting the tips of the spoke portions 2. It mainly consists of. As shown in FIG. 2, an E/A member 4 formed from a sheet metal and absorbing impact energy by buckling, and a sheet metal 41 extending to the base end of the spoke portion 2 are attached to the hub portion 1, as shown in FIG. There is. A pad 5 covering the hub portion 1 and spoke portions 2 is attached to the upper surface of the E/A member 4 and the metal plate 41.

The pad 5 is formed from a polypropylene resin insert 6 and a soft polyvinyl chloride resin skin 7 that covers the insert 6 and is insert-molded integrally with the insert 6.

As not shown schematically in FIG. 3, the insert 6 is divided into four parts: a raw part 61 that covers the hub part 1, and a wing part 62 that covers the three spoke parts 2. A concave portion 63 and a convex portion 64 as shown in FIG. 4 are formed, and are in contact with each other due to their engagement. Also, each divided body is E
/A It is attached to the member 4 and the metal plate 41 with screws 8.

In the steering wheel of this embodiment configured as described above, when an impact force is applied to the main portion 61, the insert 6 bends or separates at the divided portion, so that the wing portion 6
The impact energy is reliably transmitted to the E'/A member 4 without being affected by the rigidity of the E'/A member 2. The energy of the impact is absorbed by the buckling of the E/A member 4.

Furthermore, since the divided inserts 6 are respectively attached to the E/A member 4 and the sheet metal 41, the shape of the pad 5 is reliably maintained. Furthermore, since the divided inserts 6 are brought into contact by the engagement of the concave portions 63 and the convex portions 64, positioning of the pad during molding of the skin is easy, and since the surface is a continuous surface, it is possible to easily position the pad during molding of the skin. Defects that impair smoothness can be prevented.

In addition to the above-mentioned example, the engagement of the divided bodies may be performed in various ways, such as a configuration in which a hole 65 provided on one of the divided bodies of the insert fits into a convex portion 66 provided on the other divided body, as shown in FIG. It can be configured as follows.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 4 relate to a steering wheel according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a plan view of the main part thereof, and FIG. 2 is a main part shown in cross section taken along the line A-△ in FIG. 1. Cross section, 3rd
The figure is a schematic plan view of the pad, and FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the main part of the insert. FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of main parts showing another aspect of the divided portion of the insert. FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a main part of a conventional steering wheel, and FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of a conventional steering wheel corresponding to FIG. 1...Hub part 2...Spoke part 3...
Ring part (operation part) 4...E/A member (!i Shooting membrane absorbing member 5...Bud 6...Insert 7...Skin body
8... Screw 41... Sheet metal 63.64.
...Divided division patent applicant Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. agent Patent attorney Sadamuko Okawa Patent attorney Akio Maruyama Figure 4 Figure 6

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) An operating section, a hub section that is continuous with the operating section and transmits the movement of the operating section to the steering shaft, an impact energy absorbing member that is arranged in the hub section and absorbs impact energy, and at least the impact energy absorbing member. and a pad comprising a hard insert and a soft skin integrally covering the insert, the insert comprising a plurality of divided bodies. . A steering wheel characterized in that the divided body is bent or separated at a divided portion. (2) The steering wheel according to claim 1, wherein each of the divided bodies has engaging portions that mechanically engage with each other, and are brought into contact with each other by engagement of the engaging portions. (3) The steering wheel according to claim 1, wherein each of the divided bodies is attached to an impact energy absorbing member.