Vehicle body structure
AssigneeNissan Motor Co., Ltd.
InventorsMasashi Konishi, Hidekazu Saitou
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle body structure includes a cross member extending across a lateral direction of a vehicle, wherein the cross member is coupled to a vehicle body component and a reinforcing member installed to the cross member wherein the reinforcing member is spaced apart from a coupling portion of the cross member and the vehicle body component. A method to reinforce a cross member of a vehicle body includes installing at least one reinforcing member along the cross member and locating at least one edge of the at least one reinforcing member a selected distance from at least one coupling portion between the cross member and a vehicle body component.
Claims17
A vehicle body structure, comprising:
- a cross member extending across a lateral direction of a vehicle, wherein the cross member is coupled to a vehicle body component;
- and
- a reinforcing member installed to the cross member,
- wherein a first coupling portion between the reinforcing member and the cross member is spaced apart from a second coupling portion between the cross member and the vehicle body component,
- wherein the reinforcing member comprises:
- a front surface portion corresponding to a front surface of the cross member;
- a rear surface portion corresponding to a rear surface of the cross member;
- and
- an upper surface portion connecting the front and rear surface portions and corresponding to an upper surface of the cross member,
- wherein an opening is provided at the rear surface portion of the reinforcing member and is provided to expose a ridge portion of the cross member extending along the lateral direction between the rear and upper surfaces of the cross member.
A method to reinforce a cross member of a vehicle body, the method comprising:
- installing at least one reinforcing member along the cross member;
- and
- locating at least one edge of the at least one reinforcing member a selected distance from at least one coupling portion between the reinforcing member and a vehicle body component,
- wherein the reinforcing member comprises:
- a front surface portion corresponding to a front surface of the cross member;
- a rear surface portion corresponding to a rear surface of the cross member;
- and
- an upper surface portion connecting the front and rear surface portions and corresponding to an upper surface of the cross member,
- wherein an opening is provided at the rear surface portion of the reinforcing member and is provided to expose a ridge portion of the cross member extending along the lateral direction between the rear and upper surfaces of the cross member.
A vehicle body structure, comprising:
- a means for extending across a lateral direction of a vehicle;
- a means for coupling the means for extending across to a vehicle body component;
- and
- a means for reinforcing installed to the means for extending across, wherein the means for reinforcing is spaced away from the means for coupling,
- wherein the means for reinforcing comprises:
- a front surface portion corresponding to a front surface of the means for extending across;
- a rear surface portion corresponding to a rear surface of the means for extending across;
- and
- an upper surface portion connecting the front and rear surface portions and corresponding to an upper surface of the means for extending across,
- wherein an opening is provided at the rear surface portion of the means for reinforcing and is provided to expose a ridge portion of the means for extending across extending along the lateral direction between the rear and upper surfaces of the means for extending across.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.