US 2006/0066138 A1Published application

Automobile underbody structure

AssigneeMazda Motor Corporation

InventorsFumio Okana, Noritaka Sakiyama, Yukiichirou Shimada, Shigeyuki Mori

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

Disclosed is an underbody structure for an automobile, which comprises a pair of laterally-spaced floor frames 10 disposed to extend longitudinally in such a manner as to interpose a tunnel region 6 therebetween and joined to a bottom surface of a front floor portion 2. Each of the floor frames 10 has a rear end located in the vicinity of a rear kick-up portion 3 extending upward from a rear end of the front floor portion 2. The rear kick-up portion 3 and each rear end region of the floor frames 10 are connected to one another from the exterior side of the automobile through an end gusset 45 (47, 48). The end gusset 45 (47, 48) may be designed to define a closed section in cooperation with the rear kick-up portion 3, or to extend laterally outward so as to be connected to a front end region of a rear frame 17. The underbody structure of the present invention can prevent or suppress a rearward movement of each rear end of the floor frames during a head-on collision.

Claims15

Dependent claims

An underbody structure for an automobile, comprising:

a floor panel which includes a front floor portion connecting a pair of laterally-spaced side-sills to one another and having a tunnel region extending longitudinally along the lateral center thereof, a rear kick-up portion extending upward from a rear end of said front floor portion, and a rear floor portion extending from an upper end of said rear kick-up portion rearward and approximately linearly;
a pair of laterally-spaced floor frames disposed to extend longitudinally in such a manner as to interpose said tunnel region therebetween, and joined to a bottom surface of said front floor portion, each of said floor frames having an approximately reverse-hat shape in section, and a rear end extending up to the vicinity of said rear kick-up portion;
a pair of laterally-spaced front frames each having a rear end joined to a front end of a corresponding one of said floor frames;
and
an end gusset connecting each rear end region of said floor frames and said rear kick-up portion from the exterior side of the automobile.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.