Nissan Technical Center North America, Inc.

Slav Borkowski

Youichi Yamamoto

Mike Smith

A vehicle cowl structure basically comprises a cowl panel and a vent pipe disposed in the cowl panel at a low drainage point on a lateral wall portion of the cowl panel. The vent pipe includes an opening that is split by a divider into an upper air passageway and a lower water drain passageway. The vent pipe also includes a mounting flange that contacts with an interior surface of the lateral wall portion and retaining projections to create a snap-fit between the vent pipe and the drainage aperture of the cowl panel. The vent pipe is also inserted into a hole formed in a vehicle body section such that a retaining member installed over the vent pipe contacts the vehicle body section around the hole and seals a space between the vent pipe and the hole of the vehicle body member.

Vehicle cowl structure with vent pipe

A vehicle front end structure has a firewall structure and a pair of hood ledge structures that extend in a cantilevered manner. Each of the hood ledge structures has a vehicle frame mounting part for coupling its free end to the vehicle chassis. Thus, the hood ledge structures are configured and arranged to be separately supported by the firewall structure to form an unobstructed space between the hood ledge structures. A front end module is fixedly coupled to the hood ledge structures at a pair of upper attachment points and at pair of lower attachment points. The lower attachment points are offset inwardly relative to the upper attachment points. The front end module and the hood ledge structures are provided with mating guide members that have horizontal and vertical guide portions to aid in the installation of the front end module on the hood ledge structures.

Growing community of inventors

Commerce Township, MI, United States of America

Slav Borkowski