Kabushiki Kaisha Tokai Rika Denki Seisakusho

Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd.

The Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd.

Furukawa Automotive Systems Inc.

Nobuyuki Ishigure

Akio Nishiyama

Toshihiko Kosugi

Yoshio Chiba

Tadashi Usuya

Yuki Sato

Takayuki Aoki

Masahiro Kato

Ryusuke Ohta

Shinji Hara

Shinji Matsubara

Shigeo Shigeyama

Yasuaki Nadaya

Shuji Hirai

Fumitaka Hayase

Shinichi Saiki

Tadashi Okubo

Kazutaka Kamiya

Atsushi Onoda

Keiji Nagaya

Hideki Matsumura

Kunihiko Ikegame

Yoshitoku Uesaka

Yohei Hotta

A lever operation device includes an operation lever which rotates integrally with a steering wheel of a vehicle and receives operations at least in upward and downward directions and around which a predetermined region is set so as to prevent the operation lever from contacting with a leg of a user seated in a driver's seat when the steering wheel is rotated to a maximum steering angle, and an operation portion that is arranged on the operation lever so as not to be located out of the region and includes plural operating positions each assigned an executable function.

Lever operation device

A switch device includes a switch body, which is attached to and rotated integrally with an irregularly-shaped steering unit, and a lever unit, which is held pivotally about a switch body. The lever unit includes a lever shaft including a base, which extends in a direction intersecting the steering shaft, and an arm, which is formed integrally with the base and extends in a direction that differs from the direction in which the base extends. The lever unit also includes a lever head at the distal end of the lever shaft, and the lever head extends from the lever shaft in the width direction, which intersects an axial direction.

Switch device

A switch device includes a switch body, which is arranged at the back side of a steering unit, and a lever unit, which is attached to the switch body to allow for switching by a pivotal operation about a first axis, which extends in the axial direction of a steering shaft. The lever unit includes a lever shaft, which extends in a direction intersecting the first axis of the pivotal operation, a lever head, which is arranged at the distal end of the lever shaft and has a larger dimension than the diameter of the lever shaft, and a push operation unit, which allows for switching by a push operation. The push operation unit is arranged so that the operation direction of the push operation is directed toward the first axis.

Looseness of a rotary connector and lifting of the rotary connector which occurs depending on a harness wiring state are prevented, to reduce inconvenience such as generation of an abnormal sound due to the rotary connector contacting a steering wheel. In a fixing structure of a rotary connector, which includes a projecting pieceto fix the rotary connector to a combination switch and a locked portionto be locked by the projecting pieceand in which a laterally protruding locking clawis formed in a tip portion of the projecting piece, the locking clawof the projecting pieceis integrally provided with a flexible urging portionthat displaces and urges the locking clawin a locking direction. A contact surfaceis formed on the locking claw, the contact surfaceobliquely coming into contact with a locking side cornerof the locked portionfrom the opposing side.

Rotary connector and fixing structure of rotary connector

A combination switch lever includes a cylinder body including an opening, a plurality of switches to operate an electric component disposed in the vehicle, a flexible board that is disposed inside the cylinder body and that includes a circuit part and a non-circuit part disposed outside the circuit part in a width direction, and a first guide member and a second guide member that are disposed inside the cylinder body so as to be opposite to each other sandwiching the flexible board. An inside projection is formed at a vicinity of the opening of the cylinder body on an opposite surface of the first guide member and/or the second guide member, and the inside projection presses the non-circuit part. The first guide member and the second guide member include an adjacent opposite surface such that an opposite distance therebetween is partially narrowed.

Combination switch lever

A switch device includes a cylindrical movable lever-portion that is operable in multiple directions, a unit case that supports the movable lever-portion, and a flexible printed circuit board routed from an inside of the movable lever-portion to an inside of the unit case. A routed portion of the flexible printed circuit board to be routed inside the unit case includes a stress absorber configured to absorb a stress applied to the flexible printed circuit board. The stress absorber includes a plurality of curved portions curved in opposite directions to each other.

A subassembly includes an intermediate knob serving as a first knob rotatably fitted to and supported by a middle serving as a fixing portion, a first spring and a first ball for giving a detent feeling upon a rotary movement between the middle serving as the fixing portion and the intermediate knob, a distal end knob serving as a second knob rotatably fitted to and supported by the middle serving as the fixing portion, and a second spring and a second ball for giving a detent feeling upon a rotary movement between the middle serving as the fixing portion and the distal end knob. In such a subassembly, the intermediate knob, the first spring and the first ball, and the distal end knob, the second spring and the second ball are integrally assembled as a subassembly.

Provided is a switch device including rotor members mounted so as to be rotatable about a longitudinal axis of a lever main body, knob members mounted so as to be integrally rotatable with the rotor members, the knob members including cam surfaces that face the cam surfaces of the rotor members with a gap therebetween, a movable contact member being movable in the longitudinal axis direction by a rotational operation of the rotor members and the knob members about the longitudinal axis, and a flexible substrate linearly disposed in the longitudinal axis direction in at least a movable range of the movable contact member, the flexible substrate including a contact portion, a contact terminal of the movable contact member being brought into contact with and separated from the contact portion in association with the movement in the longitudinal axis direction of the movable contact member.

A switch device includes a knob member rotatably fitted to and supported by a middle serving as a fixing portion, and a rotor member integrally mounted to the knob member and rotatably supported by the middle. A rotation regulating portion that regulates a rotatable range of the knob member with respect to the middle and rotation sliding surfaces in a rotational axis direction of the middle and the knob member are collectively formed.

A paddle shift memberis positioned to the rear surface side of a wheel lower coverby engaging the paddle shift memberto the wheel lower cover. The wheel lower coverto which the paddle shift memberhas been positioned is installed to the rear surface side of a steering wheel main body. Then the paddle shift memberis connected to the steering wheel main body by screwing a tapping screw T into the paddle shiftvia the steering wheel main body from the front surface side of the steering wheel main body to which the wheel lower coverhas been installed. According to this method, the paddle shift memberis assembled to the steering wheel main body without inverting the core

Growing community of inventors

Aichi, Japan

Nobuyuki Ishigure