Nissan Motor Company Limited

Nihon Plast Co., Ltd.

Other

Satoru Yoshikawa

Satoru Ichikawa

Akira Kawai

Motoru Komatsu

Kazuo Matsuyama

Kazuyuki Yamamoto

Tetsuo Maki

Kenichi Saito

Tomio Hirata

Kazushige Ohnishi

A front pillar garnish adapted to cover a front pillar disposed between a front windshield and a side door in an automotive vehicle. The front pillar garnish comprises a main body section formed of plastic and generally channel-shaped. The main body section is to be fixedly connected to the front pillar and located at the side of a passenger compartment. A plurality of generally plate-shaped energy absorbing ribs are integrally formed at the inner surface of the main body section in a manner to be generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the main body section. A plurality of bosses are integrally formed extending from the inner surface of the main body section. A clip supporting plate or member is fixedly secured to the tip end sections of the bosses and fixedly supported on the edges of the energy absorbing ribs. A clip formed of a spring material is fixedly mounted on the clip supporting plate or member and fixable to the front pillar in order to install the front pillar garnish to the vehicle body.

Impact-absorbing system for automotive vehicle

A front pillar garnish adapted to cover a front pillar disposed between a front windshield and a side door in an automotive vehicle. The front pillar garnish comprises a main body section formed of plastic and generally channel-shaped. The main body section is to be fixedly connected to the front pillar and located at the side of a passenger compartment. A plurality of generally plate-shaped energy absorbing ribs are integrally formed at the inner surface of the main body section in a manner to be generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the main body section. A plurality of bosses are integrally formed extending from the inner surface of the main body section. A clip supporting member is fixedly secured to the tip end sections of the bosses and fixedly supported on the edges of the energy absorbing ribs. A clip formed of a spring material is fixedly mounted on the clip supporting member and fixable to the front pillar in order to install the front pillar garnish to the vehicle body.

Interior material for automotive vehicle

A pillar garnish for a front pillar disposed between a front windshield glass and a side window glass of an automotive vehicle. The pillar garnish comprises a main body section formed of plastic and secured to a vehicle body. The main body section is generally channel-shaped to cover the front pillar forming part of the vehicle body. The main body section has an inner surface facing the front pillar, and an outer surface facing a vehicle passenger inside a passenger compartment. A plurality of reinforcement ribs are formed at the inner surface of the main body section and integral with the main body section. Each reinforcement rib extends perpendicular to the inner surface. Additionally, a plurality of auxiliary ribs are formed at the inner surface of the main body section and integral with the main body section. Each auxiliary rib extends parallel with each reinforcement rib. Each rib is located between the reinforcement ribs which are located adjacent each other. Each rib extends to occupy at least a part of a region surrounded by the inner surface of the main body section and first and second imaginary straight lines in a transverse plane perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the main body section.

A novel vehicle energy absorbing structure is disclosed, in which a hard member has a portion facing the compartment, a cover having a substantially U-shaped section is provided to cover the compartment side of the hard member, and an energy absorbing member is interposed between the cover and the hard member to absorb energy by plastic deformation. At the time of deformation of the cover caused under a pressure load not less than a predetermined value, at least a trigger portion formed in the cover provides a momentum for plastic deformation of the energy absorbing member. Thus a compact vehicle energy absorbing structure is provided which can absorb a sufficient amount of load.

Vehicle energy absorbing structure

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Satoru Yoshikawa