Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Hiro Nushii

Takumi Tsuyuzaki

Toshizumi Yamaguchi

Kiyoshi Nakajima

Hidetoshi Amano

A vehicle body structure capable of preventing a bumper beam of another vehicle from riding over the rear part of the vehicle body. A vehicle body structure () is provided with a rear side door () located forward of a rear wheel () with respect to the vehicle body, and the rear side door is provided with a rear door beam () extended in the front-and-rear direction of the vehicle body. The vehicle body structure is provided with a side member upper section () extending toward the rear of the vehicle body from a rear wheel arch () and provided on a line extended from the rear door beam (), and also with a side member lower section () extending on a down grade from the rear section () of the side member upper section toward a lower rear section () of the rear wheel arch ().

Vehicle body structure

A pair of rear floor frames extend in a fore-and-aft direction in a lower part of a vehicle body. A pair of rear horizontal frames extend in the fore-and-aft direction above corresponding rear wheels. A door beam extends in the fore-and-aft direction in each side door in alignment with the corresponding rear horizontal frame. A pair of rear vertical frames each extend vertically behind the corresponding rear wheel and join rear ends of the corresponding rear floor frame and rear horizontal frame to each other. In a rear end crash with a vehicle having a front bumper at a relatively high position, the rear vertical frames allow the impact energy of the rear end crash to be evenly distributed, and deformation of the passenger compartment is minimized. The rear horizontal frames allow the impact energy to be transmitted to the door beams, contributing to reinforcement of the passenger compartment.

Rear vehicle body structure

In a rear vehicle body structure, a spare tire is received in a spare tire pan in a rear end up slanted orientation, the front end of the spare tire is prevented from forward movement by a spare tire pan cross member, and a rear bottom of the spare tire pan is reinforced. At the time of a rear end crash, the spare tire is tilted substantially to an upright orientation around the front end, and the spare tire pan is deformed in such that the rear bottom folded upon a front bottom wall in the shape of letter Z as seen from side so that the spare tire pan provides a long deformation stroke, and is utilized for absorbing the impact energy of the rear end crash. Preferably, the rear bottom comprises an elevated horizontal part and a stepped portion defining a front edge of the elevated horizontal part.

In a rear vehicle body structure for a vehicle using a torsion beam suspension system, a laterally extending slot is defined between a vertical front wall of a spare tire pan defined in a rear floor panel and a raised rear end of a front floor panel and a torsion beam of the torsion beam suspension system is received in this slot. The spare tire is received in the spare tire pan in a rear end up slanted orientation. A rear end cross member extends across the vehicle in a rear end of the spare tire pan. In a rear end collision, the spare tire pan is pushed forward by the rear end cross member. The rear end cross member enables the impact load to be evenly distributed to the spare tire pan or the rear floor panel.

An upper portion of a damper connected at its lower end to a lower arm of a suspension is accommodated within a side frame having a closed section. An upper spring seat, which is a mounting portion for the damper, is fixed to a lower surface of the side frame by a bolt. Thus, the support rigidity of the damper is enhanced, whereby the responsiveness of the damper to a load input from the lower arm is improved. Moreover, since the upper portion of the damper is accommodated within the side frame, an internal space in the side frame can be utilized for disposition of the damper. In addition, it is unnecessary to arrange the side frame and the damper side-by-side in a lateral direction of the vehicle body, and hence it is easy to ensure a space for disposition of the suspension.

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Hiro Nushii