Mazda Motor Corporation

Kazuo Ikeda

Naoto Takata

Masaya Watanabe

Kiyomi Hirakami

Wataru Tsutagawa

Hisao Takahashi

Shoji Nobumoto

Yoshia Oda

Kaoru Yamane

Michitaka Inoue

Hideharu Fujita

A rear body structure of a vehicle is provided with a space, defined under a floor panel between a passenger room and a trunk room, in which a fuel tank is received. The structure includes support beams for supporting the fuel tank from an underside, in a fuel tank space. The space is formed by bending up and down a floor panel in a lengthwise direction of the car body, such as the rear floor panel of the passenger room and the trunk floor panel of the trunk room. The support beams include a pair of support beams, disposed in parallel and extending in a lengthwise direction of the car body, and a pair of connecting beams, extending in a transverse direction of the car body between and connected to the supporting beams, which are assembled as parallel crosses.

Rear body structure of automotive vehicle

A wheel apron reinforcement being coupled with a wheel apron is joined, in the forward position of a suspension tower, with a front side frame extending inside an engine compartment, thereby improving rigidity of the engine compartment without increasing weight of the vehicle body. Further improvement in rigidity of the engine compartment can be achieved by fitting the wheel apron reinforcement to a hinge pillar or a recessed portion of the front side frame.

Front structure of a motor vehicle

A front structure for a vehicle body including a front frame which extends in the longitudinal direction of the side of the engine room of the vehicle. The front frame is formed of an outer frame and an inner frame connected together to form a closed cross section. A dashboard lower panel is disposed near the rear edge of the front side frame and extends vertically. A front floor extends rearward from the lower edge of the dashboard lower panel. A side sill extends in the longitudinal direction along the side of the front floor and is formed of an outer frame and an inner frame connected together to form a closed cross section. The side sill has a projection on its inward side at front end thereof which is connected to the rear portion of the front side frame.

Front structure of vehicle body

Growing community of inventors

Hiroshima, Japan

Kazuo Ikeda