Nissan Motor Company Limited

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Yoshio Matsuno

Teruaki Shigeta

Yoshinori Tanabe

Hitoshi Matsui

Izumi Okamura

Kazuhiko Ito

Shinichiro Choji

Hideyo Morita

Kenzo Shimizu

Toshio Miyamoto

Tokuichiro Hosaka

Hidehisa Watanabe

A lighting system for use in a vehicle cabin comprises a first lamp arranged to a roof, a second lamp arranged to a seat, and a third lamp arranged to a door. A demand is generated for providing a predetermined information to a passenger when getting out, and the first, second and third lamps are turned on in response to this demand.

Lighting system for use in vehicle cabin

A lighting system for use in a vehicle cabin comprises four ceiling lamps arranged to a roof at its peripheral portions so as to be above a plane including an eye point of a seat occupant, a first foot lamp arranged to an instrument lower cover at its lower portion to be between the top of a front seat cushion and a floor, and a second foot lamp arranged to be adjacent to a rear seat cushion and between the bottom of a rear seat cushion and the floor. Two set mode selector switches allow selection of a lamp set mode between normal and rest modes.

A lighting system for use in a vehicle cabin comprises a step lamp arranged to a door, a foot lamp arranged to a seat and a seat lamp arranged to a roof. An ON-OFF circuit turns on the step, foot and seat lamps when the door is opened, and turns off these lamps when the door is closed. An arithmetic circuit controls the step, foot and seat lamps in luminance to obtain a gradual increase in brightness in order of the road and step, the floor and the seat.

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

A lighting system for use in a vehicle cabin comprises a plurality of first lamps which are arranged between a roof and a plane including an eye point of a seat occupant for illuminating predetermined surfaces, and at least one second lamp for illuminating a floor. Luminance levels of the predetermined surfaces are controlled by, for example, an illuminance measuring apparatus, a luminance measuring apparatus, and a lighting controller.

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.

A plastic vehicular instrument panel which is excellent in impact resistance, heat resistance, fabrication efficiency and appearance. The instrument panel is formed of a plastic material comprising as main components specified crystalline propylene-ethylene block copolymer ranging from 50 to 70 weight %, specified glass fibers ranging from 20 to 30 weight %, specified ethylene-propylene copolymer rubber ranging from 15 to 20 weight %, specified pigment ranging from 2 to 5 parts by weight relative to 100 parts by weight of total of the propylene-ethylene block copolymer, the glass fiber, and the ethylene-propylene copolymer rubber.

Vehicular instrument panel polymer blend composition

A blow-out apparatus comprises a housing having a blow-out port, a plurality of guide members for adjusting the direction of the air flow blown out of the blow-out port of the housing, and a device for preventing the direction of the air flow flowing through the guide members from being disturbed by the air flow between the housing and the guide members adjacent the housing.

Blowout apparatus

A glass fiber reinforced resin composition suitable as an injection molding material for automobile instrument panels. Essentially the resin composition is a blend of 55-77 wt % of a propylene-ethylene block copolymer at least partially modified by graft copolymerization with an unsaturated carboxylic acid or its derivative, 5-15 wt % of an ethylene-propylene rubber in which the content of ethylene is 60-85 wt % and 18-30 wt % of glass fiber having a filament diameter of 8-15 .mu.m. The melt flow index of the modified propylene-ethylene block copolymer and the Mooney viscosity of the ethylene-propylene rubber are strictly specified. The resin composition is pelletized from a melted state such that the glass fiber dispersed in the pellets is not smaller than 550 .mu.m and, preferably, not greater than 1100 .mu.m in mean filament length. This resin composition is good in moldability and provides instrument panels high in rigidity, in heat distortion resistance and also in impact resistance.

Glass fiber reinforced propylene-ethylene copolymer base resin

In an air duct assembly, the air duct is integrally provided with a harness sheath which is formed with a laterally openable, longitudinal slit adapted to permit the harness to be inserted in the sheath and retained therein. The harness sheath may be molded, integrally with the air duct, of a polyethylene resin by blow-molding, for example. The air duct is a defroster duct which extends transversely across the passenger comparment of an automobile.

Air duct assembly

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided an improved instrument panel for an automotive vehicle which comprises a one-piece, elongated sheet material structure adapted to extend between front pillars of the vehicle. The sheet material structure has a panel portion which forms a passenger's head impinging zone. According to the present invention, the sheet material structure is further provided with a weakened panel portion at a location other than the panel portion forming the passenger's head impinging zone. The weakened panel portion is adapted to promote the absorption and dissipation of impact energy by weakened part of the sheet material structure permitting controlled deformation and breakage.

Instrument panel for automotive vehicles

A vehicle body construction comprises a dash panel defining a passenger compartment, a car heater core having a casing which is securely connected to the dash panel and located within the passenger compartment, side panels formed connected to the dash panel, and an elongate knee restraining or protection member securely connected to at least one of the side panels and to the car heater core casing, and so positioned as to be strikable with the knees of a vehicle occupant during a vehicle collision, thereby rendering unnecessary various support members for supporting the knee restraining member onto the dash panel.

Vehicle body construction

A securing flange extends from a portion of a structural panel to define a cavity between it and an adjacent portion of the panel. Apertures formed in the panel open into the cavity so that when an elastomeric pad is formed on the panel the flange extends into the pad and parts of the pad which extend through the apertures are formed with grommet-like locking blocks which engage the opposite side of the panel to secure the pad on the panel without the use of adhesives.

Dash panel construction

A padded panel for a vehicle dashboard, console box or the like has an opening for mounting a desired article, such as an instrument, a switch, etc. The panel includes a base plate which is formed with a closed loop groove. A portion of a surface layer, which covers the base plate, is adhered to the surface of the groove to define a completely closed space therebetween. Foamable material is injected into the closed space and caused to foam and harden to form the pad. After completion of hardening of the pad, the base plate and the surface layer are cut along the inner periphery of the groove to form the opening. The bottom surface of the groove affords a seat to accurately position and positively mount the desired article.

Method of manufacturing a padded panel

A panel such as instrument panel or door panel of a vehicle is integrally formed with a speaker supporter. The supporter comprises flat base part which has at one end thereof a catch portion into which a part of the speaker unit is slidably inserted to be caught; and slant parts connecting the flat base part to the major part of the panel in such an arrangement that the flat base part is parallelly spaced away from the major part of the panel.

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Tokyo, Japan

Yoshio Matsuno