Mazda Motor Corporation

Masayuki Furutani

Ryo Ando

Kuniyoshi Tashiro

Takuya Yamada

Reiko Yoshiura

Akira Ichigi

Masahiro Nishioka

Koji Miyamoto

Takashi Kashiwabara

Masaru Chikita

Arihiro Furumoto

Koichi Hirata

Keiichi Kamimura

Satoshi Nishizaka

Ryosuke Kawafune

Ken Saito

Masahiko Tanisho

Tadatomo Toda

Akira Noomo

Tsuyoshi Kouno

Yuta Morinaga

Seiji Namba

Kakuya Yamada

Yuzo Fujino

Kazuhiro Tokushima

There are provided a vehicle-body member provided at a vehicle-body front portion, a bumper-face support member supporting a bumper face in front of the vehicle-body member, and plural brackets fixedly connecting the vehicle-body member and the bumper-face support member. The bracket comprises an inclination portion which is inclined such that a front side thereof is positioned on an inward or outward side, in the vehicle width direction, of the bracket, a high-rigidity portion, at least part of which is positioned at the inclination portion and which is configured to have high rigidity against an input of a load applied in a vehicle longitudinal direction, and a fragile portion which is configured to be deformable by receiving the input of the load applied in the vehicle longitudinal direction. The high-rigidity portion and the fragile portion are provided adjacently to each other in the vehicle longitudinal direction.

Front structure of vehicle

A vehicle front structure comprises a beam member positioned in front of a sub frame and having a closed-cross section extending in a vehicle width direction and a plate member extending forwardly from the beam member. The plate member comprises a fixation portion fixed to the beam member, a body portion extending forwardly from the fixation portion, and a front end portion positioned at a front end of the body portion and configured to have higher rigidity against a load applied in a longitudinal direction than the body portion. The front end portion of the plate member comprises an upper section located at a higher level than the body portion and a lower section located at a lower level than the body portion. The upper section is positioned on a vehicle forward side of the lower section.

A vehicle front structure comprises a beam member and a plate member. The plate member comprises a vertical face portion, a body portion extending forwardly from the vertical face portion, a front end portion positioned at a front end of the body portion, and a protrusion face portion provided to be forwardly spaced apart from the vertical face portion. The front end portion comprises an upper section located at a higher level than the body portion. The protrusion face portion comprises a protrusion-face-portion upper section located at a higher level than an upper end of the upper section and a protrusion-face-portion lower section located at a lower level than the upper end of the upper section. The protrusion-face-portion lower section is configured to have lower strength against a collision load applied from a vehicle forward side than the protrusion-face-portion upper section.

An engine crank pulley structure disposed at a vehicle front side of a longitudinal engine includes: a front pulley that transmits crank rotational force to the water pump via a belt; a rear pulley that is disposed at a vehicle rear side of the front pulley and transmits a crank rotational force to a compressor via a belt; and a connecting portion that connects the front pulley and the rear pulley, the connecting portion crushing and deforming in a vehicle front-rear direction as a collision load toward the vehicle rear side is applied to it. An outer diameter of the front pulley is smaller than an inner diameter of the rear pulley.

Engine crank pulley structure

Removal and breakage of fuel piping during a vehicle front collision is prevented for an engine mounted longitudinally in an engine compartment. Embodiments include a side structure of the engine having an alternator in front of an intake manifold and fuel piping behind the intake manifold so as to extend in the vertical direction. The intake manifold includes a plurality of independent intake pipe portions each having one end portion connected to one side of the engine in a vehicle width direction, and a surge tank portion to which the other end portions of the independent intake pipe portions are connected. As seen from the rear side, a portion of the fuel piping closer to the surge tank portion is located closer to the one side of the engine in the vehicle width direction than the surge tank portion.

Side structure of engine

Interference between an intake manifold and a fuel pipe during a vehicle front collision is prevented in an engine which is longitudinally mounted in an engine room. A vehicle component is arranged on the front side of an intake manifold, and a fuel pipe is arranged on the rear side of the intake manifold. The intake manifold includes a mounting portion on the intake-air downstream end side of a plurality of independent intake pipe portions and connects each of the plurality of independent intake pipe portions to a portion of the engine on one side of the engine in the vehicle width direction. The mounting portion has a front-side mounting portion relatively positioned on the front side and a rear-side mounting portion relatively positioned on the rear side, and the rear-side mounting portion has a higher rigidity than the front-side mounting portion.

Intake manifold structure

Interference between an intake manifold and a fuel pipe during a vehicle front collision is prevented in an engine which is longitudinally mounted in an engine room. A vehicle component is arranged on the front side of the intake manifold, and the fuel pipe is arranged on the rear side of the intake manifold. The intake manifold includes a plurality of independent intake pipe portions arranged side by side in the vehicle front-rear direction which branch for each of the cylinders of the engine; and a plurality of coupling portions that each couple adjacent independent intake pipe portions to each other in an integral manner A first coupling portion of the plurality of coupling portions positioned on the frontmost side has a lower rigidity than a third coupling portion of the plurality of coupling portions positioned the rearmost side.

A side part structure of an engine having cylinders lined up in a front-and-rear direction of a vehicle body, is provided. The structure includes auxiliary machinery disposed in a front part of one side wall part of the engine in a vehicle width direction, a fuel system component disposed in a rear part of the side wall part, an intercooler disposed between the auxiliary machinery and the fuel system component, and a first protector member disposed between the intercooler and the fuel system component. At least a front part of the first protector member is formed so as to be separated from the side wall part as it extends rearward. A front part of the intercooler is disposed rearward of the auxiliary machinery and the intercooler is disposed along the first protector member so as to be separated from the side wall part as it extends rearward.

Side part structure of engine

An engine is a rear exhaust engine provided with an exhaust system component on a rear side in a vehicle front-rear direction. This engine includes a first flow rectifying member, provided above the engine, that subjects traveling wind to flow rectification so that the traveling wind flows rearward and a second flow rectifying member, disposed adjacently to a rear side of the first flow rectifying member, that subjects the traveling wind, subjected to flow rectification by the first flow rectifying member, to flow rectification so that the traveling wind is directed to the exhaust system component, in which fuel system components are disposed below the first flow rectifying member.

Upper structure of engine

An accessory support structure for a vehicle engine includes a pair of accessory-side supports provided on the engine accessory, and a pair of engine-side supports provided on the engine body. The engine-side supports each have a shaft hole into which a bolt is inserted, a slot closer to the engine body than the shaft hole is, and extending substantially horizontally, and an intermediate portion interposed between the shaft hole and the slot to restrict movement of the bolt. The engine-side supports each remove a restriction imposed by the intermediate portion and guide the bolt from the shaft hole to the slot if an external force acting on the alternator toward the engine body exceeds a predetermined threshold.

Accessory support structure for vehicle engine

A vehicle comprises a bumper reinforcement extending in a vehicle width direction and a shock absorbing member fixed to a front face of the bumper reinforcement and extending in the vehicle width direction along the bumper reinforcement. The shock absorbing member comprises a base portion extending vertically along the front face of the bumper reinforcement and a projection portion extending forward from a lower end portion of the base portion and being resiliently-downward deformable relative to the base portion. Thus, the vehicle comprising the shock absorbing member provided in front of the bumper reinforcement with the leg-flicking function for the pedestrian protection can be provided.

Growing community of inventors

Higashihiroshima, Japan

Masayuki Furutani