Delphi Technologies, Inc.

Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Marc William Heinzman

Michael Patrick Anspaugh

Richard Kremer Riefe

David Michael Byers

Thomas M Tighe

James R Salois

Michael John Clayton

A steering shaft assembly has a tubular main body and a shaft, with a spring and a sleeve disposed at least partially therebetween. The shaft is disposed at least partially in the tubular main body and the sleeve is disposed at least partially between the spring and the main body. The sleeve acts to urge the spring into frictional contact with the shaft to impart an axial resistance force supporting the shaft against axial displacement in response to application of an axial force on the shaft less than the axial resistance force. The sleeve enables axial displacement of the shaft in response to application of an axial collapsing force exceeding the axial resistance force. In another construction of a steering shaft assembly, a shaft is disposed at least partially in the tubular main body and the spring is disposed at least partially in the tubular main body between the tubular main body and the shaft. The spring acts to impart a radial load between the shaft and the tubular main body. The spring has at least one undulation that provides for linear frictional contact between the spring and the shaft in a circumferential direction about the shaft to resist torsional rotation of the shaft relative to the tubular main body.

Steering shaft assembly

A plastic honey comb mounting bracket having a center passage surrounds a mast jacket of the steering column. The top of the plastic mounting bracket is clamped flush against a flat panel on a body of the motor vehicle by a pair of spring washers supported below respective ones of a pair of platforms on the mounting bracket by a pair of rigid studs on the vehicle body. The rigid studs are exposed through a pair of vertical slots in the mounting bracket. In some embodiments the spring washers release the plastic mounting bracket for linear translation as a unit with the mast jacket with the path traversed by the mast jacket being defined by the vertical slots in the mounting bracket. In another embodiment, the plastic mounting bracket remains stationary and the path traversed by the mast jacket during its collapse stroke is defined by the center passage in the plastic mounting bracket.

Mounting apparatus for motor vehicle steering column

The lower bracket assembly for a vehicle steering column includes a lower column support bracket with a central passage. A lower bearing adapter slides into the central passage from the rear. A pair of energy absorption straps engage the column support bracket and the lower bearing adapter and resist further forward movement of the lower bearing adapter. During a collision, the energy absorption straps absorb energy while permitting the lower bearing adapter to move forward and out of the central passage through the column support bracket.

Steering column lower bracket

An energy absorber for a motor vehicle steering column including a yoke pivotable about a lateral centerline of a body of the motor vehicle and an energy absorbing structure responsive to linear translation of a mast jacket of the steering column relative to the yoke in the direction of a longitudinal centerline of the mast jacket. The mast jacket extends through a bore in the yoke and is prevented by the bore from tipping relative to the yoke. The energy absorbing structure includes a convex anvil on the mast jacket and a J-shaped flat metal strap seated on the convex anvil with a short leg rigidly attached to the yoke and a long leg juxtaposed a wall of the mast jacket. An impact on the steering column initiates linear translation of the mast jacket in the direction of its longitudinal centerline relative to the yoke during which the convex anvil translates linearly relative to the stationary metal strap so that the metal strap is pulled over the convex anvil and plastically deformed to convert into work a fraction of the kinetic energy of the impact.

Growing community of inventors

Frankenmuth, MI, United States of America

Marc William Heinzman