Front body structure
AssigneeToyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsTomoki Matuzawa, Seiji Yokota, Katsuhiko Emori, Junichi Harada
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A front body section of a vehicle which is provided with a front-side member and a crush box. The crush box includes a front section and a rear section, which are disposed in front of the front-side member so as to be axially aligned and connected thereto. An upper plate, a lower plate, an outer plate, and an inner plate, all of which form the front section, are prepared so as to provide a lower level of total plastic characteristic, when under load, than those plate members which form the rear section. The crush box thereby exhibits a total plastic characteristic, when under load, in two stages.
Claims17
A front body structure for use in a vehicle comprising:
- a front-side member disposed on a vehicle body;
- a crush box disposed in front of said front-side member, said crush box including first and second sections, said first section adapted to exhibit a plastic characteristic upon compressive deformation, said second member adapted to exhibit a plastic characteristic greater than that of said first section upon compressive deformation thereof, whereby said crush box exhibits a total plastic characteristic in a first and a second stage when under a compressive load;
- and
- an acceleration sensor mounted on said vehicle body and operatively associated with said crush box so that deformation of said crush box due to the compressive load of said second stage activates said sensor at a predetermined acceleration value.
A front body structure for use in a vehicle which is provided with an acceleration sensor, comprising:
- a front-side member, which is disposed on a vehicle body;
- and
- a crush box, which is provided in front of said front-side member so as to exhibit a total plastic characteristic, when under load, in two stages,
- said crush box being formed into an enclosed cross-sectional configuration, in which a front section of said crush box in a forward direction of said vehicle provides a lower level of total plastic characteristic, when under load, than a rear section thereof in a rearward direction of said vehicle, thereby allowing said crush box to exhibit said total plastic characteristic, when under load, in two stages, said front section having a cross-sectional area that is smaller than a cross-sectional area of said rear section,
- said crush box including four plate members in which two pairs of opposed plate members are welded together so as to have a substantially rectangular cross-section, and wherein step portions are formed at opposite locations on said opposed plate members from one of said two pairs, in order that said front section of said crush box from said step portions in the longitudinal direction of said vehicle has a smaller cross-sectional area than said rear section of said crush box from said step portions in the longitudinal direction of said vehicle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.