Nissan Motor Company Limited

Yoichiro Kato

Takuya Murakami

Masaki Tanaka

Kenji Terauchi

Chikara Ito

An automotive vehicle including a vehicle body and a torsion beam which supports the vehicle body thereon and left and right axles at opposite ends thereof. A lateral link extends in a transverse direction of the vehicle body and has one end portion pivotally connected to the torsion beam and the other end portion connected to the torsion beam. A control link is pivotally connected at one end portion thereof to the lateral link and at the other end portion thereof to the torsion beam. Centers of the respective pivotal connections of the lateral link to the vehicle body and the torsion beam and centers of the respective pivotal connections of the control link to the lateral link and the torsion beam, are disposed in the common vertical plane with respect to the vehicle body.

Vehicle suspension

An independent suspension system for a rear wheel of an automotive vehicle includes a wheel carrier for rotatably supporting a rear wheel. The wheel carrier is supported movably in the vertical and fore-and-aft directions with respect to the vehicle body, through a plurality of lateral links and a longitudinal link. The longitudinal link is connected at its front end to the vehicle body and at its rear end to the wheel carrier. The longitudinal link is integrally provided with an extended section which is extended from its rear end in the direction away from its front end to form a rear-most end. The extended section is axially aligned with the longitudinal link and connected at the rear-most end with one of the lateral links through an elastomeric bushing. The elastomeric bushing is constructed to establish a stiff connection in the vertical direction and a soft connection in the fore-and-aft and lateral directions with respect to the vehicle body, between the longitudinal links and one of the lateral link.

Wheel independent suspension system

A double link type suspension system for an automotive vehicle is comprised of an extension member movably connecting the upper section of a knuckle and an upper control arm. The knuckle upper section and the lower end section of the extension member are connected through a rotatable joint mechanism including a cylindrical member fixed to the extension member whose axis is aligned with the axis line passing through a joint between the lower section of the knuckle and a lower control arm. A pivot shaft fixed to the knuckle upper section is disposed inside a pair of deep groove ball bearings supported inside the cylindrical member. Additionally, a stabilizer bar is provided in such a manner that its end section is attached to the extension member lower end section at a position closer to the center axis of the vehicle body, thereby preventing steering effort change caused by change of steering turn angle of the wheel.

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Kanagawa, Japan

Yoichiro Kato