Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Hitoshi Mizohata

Takayuki Yamada

Yasunori Watanabe

Kazunori Hida

Yusuke Takayama

Ken Yasui

Eisei Higuchi

Shigeyuki Nagai

Tomohisa Tanaka

A vehicle body side part structure includes a side outer panel, which includes a roof side rail outer and a center pillar outer. The roof side rail outer includes a downward extension part extending downward. The downward extension part includes a pair of flange parts located at a vehicle front side and a vehicle rear side of the downward extension part, a pair of side wall parts extending outward in a vehicle width direction from the flange parts, and an extended wall part located between the side wall parts and connecting the side wall parts to each other. In this structure, lower end parts of the side wall parts and a lower end part of the extended wall part extend downward in an up-down direction of the vehicle from lower end parts of the flange parts.

Vehicle body side part structure

A vehicle body includes: left and right floor frames for supporting a floor panel; left and right side-frames extending from the vicinities of ends of the left and right floor frames in the front-rear direction so as to be separated in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body from the left and right floor frames; and a subframe provided below the left and right side-frames. Left and right bulkheads and left and right collar sections of a hollow shape, which are provided to the left and right bulkheads, are provided within the left and right floor frames. The subframe has left and right subframe end sections extending toward end sections of the left and right floor frames. The left and right subframe end sections are connected to the left and right collar sections by left and right connection members so as to be able to swing vertically.

Vehicle body structure

Left and right roof rails for supporting a roof panel include left and right inner rails; and left and right outer panels located on the outsides of the left and right inner rails in the width direction of the vehicle. Each of the outer panels is formed in a stepped shape and includes a stepped section at an intermediate stage and an upper outer flange at a lower stage. The upper outer flanges are joined to the upper surfaces of the associated inner rail. The left and right ends of the roof panel are joined to the stepped surfaces of the stepped sections by adhesion sections and temporarily securing sections. The temporarily securing sections are weld portions that provide temporary affixation until the adhesion sections can exhibit an adhesion force, and the temporarily securing sections are covered with filling agent layers that are filled into the stepped sections.

Vehicle roof structure

A vehicle body side part structure having high strength against a load in a frontal collision and a load in a side collision. A side panel outer member () is provided with a front pillar lower section () which is formed from a high-tensile steel sheet, a front pillar upper section () which is formed from a normal steel sheet, and a reinforcement member () which is disposed along the front pillar upper section. The upper end () of the front pillar lower section () is joined to the inner surface of the lower end () of the front pillar upper section. The front end () of the reinforcement member () is joined to the inner surface of the upper end () of the front pillar lower section.

Structure for side section of vehicle body

A center pillar section formed of a high-tensile steel plate is fixed to a side panel frame section including a roof rail section formed of an ordinary-tensile steel plate. A reinforcing member formed of a high-tensile steel plate is provided inside the roof rail section, and the center pillar section is fixed at its upper end portion to the outer surface of the reinforcing member and at its lower end portion to the side sill section. A door beam provided within a front door overlaps the center pillar section and lower portion of a front pillar section. Front and rear end portions of the door beam are opposed to respective increased-width portions of the front pillar section and center pillar section.

Vehicle side body structure

In a vehicle body side structure, a tailor welded blank is used for forming an outer panel assembly consisting of a frame structure, and a center pillar assembly is connected vertically between a roof side rail and a side sill outer of the outer panel assembly. The center pillar assembly is made of a material having a higher mechanical strength than most of the outer panel assembly. Thereby, the stamp forming process can be simplified, and a required mechanical strength can be ensured in a favorable manner. In particular, the center pillar assembly may include a center pillar outer made of material having a higher mechanical strength than at least a part of the outer panel assembly, the center pillar outer being attached to an outboard side of the side sill outer at a lower end thereof and to an inboard side of the roof side rail at an upper end thereof.

Growing community of inventors

Wako, Japan

Hitoshi Mizohata