Nissan Motor Company Limited

Kouzo Maeda

Makoto Hikone

Masanobu Yoshioka

Hideyuki Nagashima

Ken Kamijo

Hideo Omura

Harutoshi Tsujimura

Munemasa Shimamura

A safety arrangement for a driver's seat in an automotive vehicle having a steering column extending to the driver's seat. The safety arrangement is comprised of a column bracket to which the steering column is secured. The column bracket is slidably secured to a sliding block 5 fixed to vehicle body side. The column bracket is put into a slidable condition under the action of a solenoid when a driver is restrained by a seat belt, while into a fixed condition under the action of the solenoid when the driver is released from the seat belt. The column bracket is moved forward together with the steering column when an impact force is applied to a knee protector, thereby absorbing impact energy while withdrawing the steering column. Even under the fixed condition of the column bracket, an impact force applied to the steering column can be effectively absorbed by an energy absorbing mechanism provided between the steering column and the column bracket.

Vehicular safety arrangement for driver's seat

To effectively absorb shocks applied to both a rim and a cover pad of a steering wheel simultaneously or separately in spite of a simple construction, the steering wheel comprises a shock absorbing member disposed under the cover pad and sandwiched between upper and lower plates, and a spoke fixing plate for connecting radially inner ends of spokes to a middle peripheral surface of the shock absorbing member. A shock applied to the rim is mainly absorbed by the lower portion of the absorbing member by shearing deformation thereof and a shock applied to the cover pad is mainly absorbed by the upper portion of the absorbing member by compressive deformation thereof. Further, to uniformly absorb shocks applied to the cover pad at various points and in different directions, a support base having a projection is disposed under the lower plate (on which the shock absorbing member is arranged) to reduce the rigidity of the shock absorbing member. Furthermore, it is preferable to connect an additional W-shaped cross-section shock absorbing plate to a hollow cylindrical shock absorbing member via upper and lower plates for providing further uniform shock absorbing characteristics irrespective of points and directions at and in which a shock is applied.

Steering wheel with shock absorber

Herein disclosed is a steering wheel construction which comprises a circular rim; a hub adapted to connect to a steering shaft; at least one spoke connecting the circular rim and the hub; a center pad supported by the spoke and located at a generally center portion of the circular rim; and an energy absorbing structure positioned between the hub and the center pad, wherein the energy absorbing structure is so arranged as to be deformed when the spoke is subjected to deformation.

Steering wheel construction of motor vehicle

A stationary rail of generally channel-shaped construction is secured to the vehicle floor so as to have an elongate opening thereof oriented to the direction of movement of a seat mounted thereover. The stationary rail has a coaxially extending main portion or section and coaxially extending guided and guiding portions or members. A movable rail connected to the seat has throughout the length thereof the same cross section as the stationary rail. The movable rail is slidably engaged with the stationary rail in such a manner that the guided and guiding portions thereof are engaged with the corresponding guided and guiding portions of the movable rail in a mutually inverted relationship, having the main portion thereof and the corresponding truck portion of the movable rail spaced. Rollers are embraced by the stationary and movable rails in such a manner that the cylindrical outer surface of each roller engages with both the main portions of the stationary and movable rails.

Seat sliding device of a vehicle

A vehicular seat arrangement for use in an automotive vehicle, comprising at least two seat assemblies positioned on the floor panel in parallel with each other laterally of the vehicle body, each seat assembly having a seat cushion portion and a seat back portion upstanding from the seat cushion portion and rockable with respect to the seat cushion portion about a pivot axis in a lateral direction of the seat assembly, a seat reinforcing device including an elongated reinforcement member extending in a lateral direction of the vehicle body between the side wall portions of the vehicle body and passed in part through the seat back portion of one of the seat assemblies and in part through the seat back portion of the other of the seat assemblies, and tilt regulating means permitting the seat back portion of one of the seat assemblies to tilt with respect to the seat cushion portion of the seat assembly about the pivot axis independently of the seat back portion of the other of the seat assemblies.

Vehicular seat arrangement

A robustly constructed box-shaped reinforcing member is securely mounted to a vehicle floor panel with its one end portion located at a side sill above which a door opening is defined. A bracket member is securely mounted to the hinged side door at a portion which is engageable with the end of the reinforcing member when the door assumes its closed position. Thus, when the side door tends to be forced into the passenger compartment by an external force applied thereto, the bracket member movable with the door is brought into engagement with the end of the reinforcing member thereby preventing the side door from continuing its inward movement.

Door stop arrangement for a vehicle

A rigid member is secured to a frame of a seat proper. The rigid member has an extreme end located adjacent the vehicle door in close position so that when the door is urged to get into the vehicle collision upon a vehicle collision, the door getting-in motion is blocked by the extreme end of the rigid member.

Vehicle seat assembly having a door stopper

An first device is securely connected to at least one of a sliding mechanism of a seat assembly and a seat proper frame and has a rigidly constructed extreme end portion which extends outwardly toward the door opening in the vicinity of the side sill. A second device is provided on a hinged side door and positioned at a portion of the door which faces the extreme end portion upon normal closing of the side door. When the side door tends to be driven into the vehicle cabin by a violent external force applied thereto, the second device is brought into secure engagement with the extreme end portion of the first device thereby preventing the door from continuing the driving-in motion.

Collision resistant construction for a door of a vehicle

In a control system for a head restraint adjustably mounted on an automotive seat with the provision of a load-sensitive switch in the seat and a reversible motor responsive to the action of the switch, a switching circuit comprises a device having a pair of conductors fixed to a rotatable member coupled with the reversible motor and a set of stationary contacts arranged to individually make sliding contact with at least one of the conductors. The position of the stationary contacts is adjustable, and the head restraint is automatically lifted upon occupation of the seat by a passenger to a position determined by the position of this contact. The control system includes a selector switch to enable manual control of the action of the motor so as to move the head restraint from the automatically lifted position.

Growing community of inventors

Yokohama, Japan

Kouzo Maeda