Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Nissan Motor Company Limited

Shinichiro Choji

Teruaki Shigeta

Kazuhiko Ito

Yoshio Matsuno

Kenichi Sasaki

Yoshinori Tanabe

Yohsio Matsuno

To illuminate only a lower room space below the front and rear seat and the vehicle room floor, at least one first foot lamp is disposed on the lower surface of the instrument panel at a height roughly the same as that of the front seat cushion so as to illuminate a front floor before the front seat and a middle floor under the front seat. Further, at least one second foot lamp is preferably disposed on the rearmost and downmost position of the front seat cushion so as to further illuminate the middle floor under the front seat and a rear floor before the rear seat. Since the vehicle room floor is illuminated brighter than that of the upper room space, the passengers' eyes usually see the vehicle floor the farthest away from the passenger's eyes. Therefore, they feel that the vehicle room is broad and at ease at night, and can easily pickup an object on the floor, because it is possible to minimize the occurrence of shadows of objects on the room floor.

Vehicle room floor illuminating apparatus

At least one first foot lamp is disposed on the lower surface of the instrument panel at a height roughly the same as that of the front seat cushion so as to illuminate a front floor before the front seat and a middle floor under the front seat. Further, at least one second foot lamp is disposed on the rearmost and downmost position of the front seat cushion, so as to further illuminate the middle floor under the front seat and a rear floor before the rear seat. Since the vehicle room floor is illuminated brighter than that of the upper room space, the passengers' eyes usually see the vehicle floor the farthest away from the passenger's eyes. Therefore, they feel that the vehicle is broad and roomy and can easily pick up an object on the floor.

The brightness within a vehicle room is adjusted according to external brightness (i.e. illuminance or luminance) at night in such a way that the brightness is increased with increasing external brightness and decreased with decreasing external brightness, under due consideration of human eye adaptation to external lightness and darkness. Therefore, the passenger can read a book, for instance, at roughly a constant visual sensitivity, without being subjected to the influence of change in external illuminance or luminance.

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Machida, Japan

Shinichiro Choji