Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Hitoshi Kato

Kosaku Tomozawa

Masamitsu Shiono

Takashi Kikuchi

Takeshi Yoshimoto

Kazuhiro Onda

Kazuo Arai

A reinforcing element structure placed between left and right seats. A reinforcing element comprises a pair of left and right side walls positioned so as to be disposed opposite from interior faces of a pair of left and right seats, and a reinforcing member for coupling the pair of left and right side walls. The pair of left and right side walls and the reinforcing member are jointly fastened to a tunnel section. A load that acts on the reinforcing element is transferred from one of the side walls to the other side wall via the reinforcing member. The load is withstood by a highly rigid reinforcing element constituted by the left and right side walls and the reinforcing member.

Reinforcing element structure

In an automotive vehicle body including a first annular frame () formed by front pillars (), a second annular frame () formed by center pillars () and a front door () internally provided with a front door beam () and fitted between the front pillar and center pillar one each side of the vehicle body, the front door beam overlaps the first annular frame and second annular frame as seen from sideways, and includes a door beam main body () providing a channel member having an open side facing inboard and a tension wire () extending along an inboard side of the door beam main body. Thereby, when another vehicle hits the front door from sideways, because the front door beam overlaps the first annular frame and second annular frame as seen from sideways, the impact energy can be effectively transmitted to the vehicle body. Furthermore, because the door beam main body supports a compressive load while the tension wire supports a tensile load, deformation of the door beam is minimized.

Vehicle body structure reinforced against side impact

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Wako, Japan

Hitoshi Kato