US 7,090,274 B1Granted

Vehicle storage structure

AssigneeNissan Technical Center North America, Inc.

InventorsMoonis F. Khan, Randy Johnson, Sharad Kulkarni, Betina Hougesen

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Abstract

A vehicle body structure includes a storage box installed in a location within the vehicle that is originally arranged and configured to receive a rear passenger's seat. The storage box has an upper opening and a cargo cavity that extends downwardly from the upper opening below an upper surface of the vehicle floor. A storage cover overlies the upper opening of the storage box. The storage cover has first and second lids. The first lid is arranged to move between a closed position covering a forward area of the cargo cavity and an open position exposing the forward area of the cargo cavity to the side access opening. The second lid is arranged to move between a closed position covering a rearward area of the cargo cavity and an open position exposing the rearward area of the cargo cavity to the rear access opening.

Claims10

Dependent claims

A vehicle body structure comprising:

a vehicle side body including a side access opening and a rear access opening;
a vehicle floor fixedly coupled to the vehicle side body with the vehicle floor including an cargo surface;
a row of first seats fixedly coupled to the vehicle floor at a first longitudinal location within the vehicle side body;
a row of second seats fixedly coupled to the vehicle floor at a second longitudinal location within the vehicle side body;
a third seat receiving recess formed in the vehicle floor that is configured to receive a row of third seats;
a cargo space between the third seat receiving recess and the rear access opening;
a storage box installed in the third seat receiving recess, the storage box including a plurality of walls defining an upper opening and a cargo cavity extending downwardly from the upper opening below the cargo surface of the vehicle floor, the storage box being configured to encompass substantially an entire area of the vehicle floor from the second seats to the cargo space and laterally between the vehicle side body;
and
a storage cover overlying the upper opening of the storage box.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.