Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Hiroki Yamasaki

Makoto Sekizuka

Hiroshi Tamura

Atsushi Hiroshige

Katsumi Nawata

Yuan Zhong

Noritaka Takagi

A molded-component characteristic estimation device that estimates the stress-strain curve of each portion of a molded-component includes a storage unit that stores correlation data showing the correlation between solidification time and mechanical characteristics of a material for the molded-component; and a controller that estimates solidification time of each portion of the molded-component using a shape model of the molded-component, calculates a mechanical characteristic value of each portion based on the correlation data and the estimated solidification time, and estimates the stress-strain curve of each portion of the molded-component based on the calculated mechanical characteristic value. With this device, the stress-strain curve of each portion of the molded-component is estimated without actual measurement.

Molded-component stress-strain curve estimation device

A vehicle side portion structure, which is applied to a vehicle body, has a pillar that is arranged at the side of a vehicle body and which extends in the substantially up and down directions of the vehicle; and a side door turnably supported around a door hinge attached to pillar. A preset gap is set between the surfaces of the pillar and the side door that face each other. A load-conveying component is provided at the gap or vicinity thereof, and this suppresses the rotational displacement of the pillar around the door hinge when a frontal collision load is input and makes the frontal collision load act upon the side door as an axial force towards the rear side of the vehicle.

Side structure for vehicle body

A flange is formed at an upper edge of a lower arm, and the strength of an upper portion of the lower arm is set to be greater than the strength of a lower portion thereof. A fragile portion is formed in a longitudinally intermediate portion of the lower arm, and when an impact of a predetermined value or greater is applied in the rearward direction of the vehicle during a rear collision of the vehicle, the lower arm is adapted to absorb the impact by undergoing deformation beginning at the fragile portion. In addition, with respect to the load applied to the seat back from the rear by luggage or the like during a front collision of the vehicle, the deformation of the lower arm can be effectively suppressed by the flange.

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Toyota, Japan

Hiroki Yamasaki