Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Yasuyuki Otsuka

Takayuki Yamada

Takashi Saso

The present invention relates to a knee protection device for protecting the knees of an occupant when a vehicle collides. The protection device includes a knee protecting member which has a hollow cross-section outer frame composed of a front plate, a load-bearing plate, an upper plate and a lower plate, and a hollow cross-section inner frame integrally formed within the outer frame. The inner frame is integrally formed with the outer frame by connecting adjacent middle portions of the front plate, upper plate, load-bearing plate and lower plate, using plate-shaped ribs. Even if an action point on the load-bearing plate varies according to variation in height of the occupant's knee due to individual difference, impact energy is directly transmitted to the upper and lower plates as well as being dispersed and transmitted through the inner frame to the middle points of the upper, lower and front plates, efficiently received by the four plates constituting the outer frame, and thus the outer frame plastically deforms in a steady manner.

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Haga-gun, Japan

Yasuyuki Otsuka