Vehicle hood apparatus

Abstract

A vehicle hood apparatus comprises a hood-retaining mechanism for, upon collision of a vehicle with an obstacle, lifting a rear end of a hood and retaining the hood at the lifted position. The hood-retaining mechanism includes a flexible link comprised of a lower link with one end pivotally connected to a body frame and an upper link with one end pivotally connected to the hood. Opposite ends of the lower and upper links are rotatably connected with each other through a hinged portion. The hinged portion is arranged to be positioned offset from longitudinal central axes of the lower and upper links toward the back of the vehicle. The upper and lower links have stoppers formed integrally therewith. By virtue of these stoppers, when the hood is lifted a predetermined amount and the flexible link is extended to apply to the hinged portion an operational force directed toward the back of the vehicle, the hinged portion may not be moved further toward the back of the vehicle, thus preventing the flexible link from folding. As a result, the hood can be retained stably at its predetermined-amount-lifted position.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.