JPH0732945A - Vehicle occupant protection device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [PROBLEMS] To provide a vehicle occupant protection device capable of obtaining a high impact absorption effect without sacrificing the capacity reduction of the glove box due to the provision of the impact absorption mechanism. [Arrangement] An air conditioning unit 16 is provided in front of the glove box 14 as a regulation means for regulating the forward movement of the glove box 14. Then, the left and right side walls 14 of the glove box 14
The rigidity of B and 14C is set to be lower than the rigidity of the rear wall 14E, and the low-rigidity portion 1 is provided at an intermediate portion in the left-right direction of the rear wall 14E.
4Ea is provided, and the rear wall 14E and the left and right side walls 14B, 1
By setting the connecting portion with 4C to have high rigidity, the rear wall 14E is concavely curved and deformed and the left and right side walls 14B and 14C are convexly curved and deformed by the impact load input from the rear. Thus, by providing the glove box 14 with a sufficient shock absorbing function, it is not necessary to provide a special shock absorbing mechanism.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an occupant protection device for an automobile in which a glove box is provided in front of a seat.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to enhance safety in the event of a vehicle collision, measures have been taken to protect an occupant with a seat belt, an airbag and a knee protector. The seat belt and the airbag are mainly for protecting the upper body of the occupant, and the knee protector is mainly for protecting the lower body of the occupant, especially the knees.

The knee protector is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 164638, a member provided in a lower portion of an instrument panel located in front of an occupant seated on a seat, which is deformed by an impact load input from an occupant's knee during a vehicle collision. It is configured to absorb shock.

In order for the knee protector to fully exhibit its shock absorbing function, it is necessary to secure a sufficient space for installing the knee protector. However, in the lower part of the instrument panel located in front of the passenger seat, A glove box for accommodating small items is often provided, and in such a case, a sufficient knee protector installation space cannot be secured.

For this reason, in the prior art, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-182553 discloses a glove box provided with an impact transmission mechanism on the inner surface side of the lid, and an impact load input from the knees of an occupant is transmitted via the impact transmission mechanism. An occupant protection device is disclosed, which is transmitted to a duct of an air conditioner provided at the front and deforms the duct to absorb impact.

[0006]

However, in the conventional occupant protection device described above, there is a problem in that the space for the shock transmission mechanism is required, and the capacity of the glove box is significantly reduced.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and is capable of obtaining a high shock absorbing effect without sacrificing the capacity of the glove box to be reduced due to the disposition of the shock absorbing mechanism. The main purpose is to provide an occupant protection device.

[0008]

According to the present invention, the glove box itself is provided with a sufficient shock absorbing function by devising the structure of the glove box, thereby achieving the above object.

That is, as described in claim 1, an occupant protection device for an automobile, in which a glove box having a front wall, a rear wall and left and right side walls connecting these walls is provided in front of the seat, In front of the glove box, a restricting means for restricting the forward movement of the glove box is provided, and in the glove box, the rear wall is concavely curved and deformed and the left and right side walls are convex due to an impact load input from the rear. The rigidity of the left and right side walls is set to be lower than the rigidity of the rear wall so as to be curved and deformed, and a low rigidity portion is provided at a left and right intermediate portion of the rear wall, and the rear wall and the left and right side walls are connected to each other. It is characterized in that the parts are set to have high rigidity.

[0010]

As described above, since the restricting means for restricting the forward movement of the glove box is provided in front of the glove box, the knees of the occupant come into contact with the glove box from the rear due to a vehicle collision. At this time, the forward movement of the glove box is restricted, and the impact load due to the abutment of the knee portion concentrates and acts on the glove box.

However, the glove box is configured such that the rear wall is concavely curved and deformed and the left and right side walls are convexly curved and deformed by the input of the impact load from the rear side. A large amount of impact energy absorption will be secured. That is, the glove box itself is provided with a sufficient shock absorbing function, whereby a high shock absorbing effect can be obtained.

At this time, the rigidity of the left and right side walls is set lower than the rigidity of the rear wall, a low rigidity portion is provided in the middle portion of the rear wall on the left and right, and the connecting portion between the rear wall and the left and right side walls is made highly rigid. Since the concave curve deformation and the convex curve deformation are performed by setting, it is not necessary to reduce the capacity of the glove box for imparting the impact absorbing function.

As described above, according to the present invention, since a high shock absorbing effect can be obtained by the structure of the glove box itself, it is not necessary to dispose a shock absorbing mechanism which is required to reduce the capacity of the glove box, and moreover, the glove box. Since the shock absorbing action is obtained by the curved deformation of the box, a stable shock absorbing effect can be obtained.

As a specific structure for providing the low-rigidity portion in the left-right intermediate portion of the rear wall, for example, as described in claim 2, a structure in which a plurality of ribs are provided in a portion other than the left-right intermediate portion of the rear wall Can be

Further, in such a case, as a concrete constitution for setting the connecting portion of the rear wall and the left and right side walls with high rigidity, for example, as described in claim 3,
The rear wall and the left and right side walls are separately configured, and a U-shaped recess is formed in a pair of ribs of the plurality of ribs of the rear wall, and the U-shaped recesses of the pair of ribs are formed in the left and right side walls. The rear end portion may be inserted and fixed.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an embodiment of an occupant protection system according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II thereof.

As shown in FIG. 1, an instrument panel 12 extending in the left-right direction (vehicle width direction) is provided in the front portion of the vehicle compartment, and a small object is provided below the instrument panel 12 in front of the passenger seat. There is provided a glove box 14 for storing the.

An air conditioning unit 16 is provided near the front of the glove box 14, and a steering support member 18 extending in the left-right direction and having both ends fixed to the vehicle body is provided near the front and above the glove box 14.
Is provided, and an airbag inflator 42 is provided near the upper portion of the steering support member 18.

On the left and right sides of the glove box 14 of the steering support member 18, a pair of upper ends of brackets 20 are welded. Each of the brackets 20 has a bolt 24 on the upper surface of the left and right ends of a hinge plate 22 hinged to the lower end of the glove box 14.
It is supposed to be fixed with.

The glove box 14 has a box body 26, a lid 28, and a cover 30 fixed to each other.
It is provided rotatably around an axis extending in the left-right direction indicated by a point P.

The box body 26 is a member that constitutes the front wall 14A, the left and right side walls 14B and 14C, and the bottom wall 14D of the glove box 14, and as shown separately in FIG. The wall 14A is formed, and the left and right side walls 14B and 14C are formed by the surfaces 26c and 26d.
The surface 26e constitutes the bottom wall 14D.
The box body 26 is made of a fiber-reinforced plastic having a relatively thin wall, and each of the surfaces 26a to 26e has a substantially uniform wall thickness.
Opening end portions 26f and 26g of the connection corner portion with 6d are partially formed thick. In addition, the box body 26
The open ends 26h and 26j of the surfaces 26c and 26d are notched in a concave shape.

The lid 28 is the glove box 14
A member made of fiber reinforced plastic that constitutes the rear wall 14E, and as shown as a single item in FIG. 5, a plurality of ribs 34 are provided on the rear surface side of the plate-like portion 32 that is formed to have substantially the same thickness as the box body 26. Are provided in a grid pattern on the left, right, top and bottom, but in the left-right direction intermediate portion 28a of the lid 28,
Only the rib 34 extending in the horizontal direction is formed at the lower end portion thereof, whereby the low-rigidity portion 14Ea is formed in the left-right intermediate portion 28a of the rear wall 14E of the glove box 14.
Are formed. Ribs 3 extending vertically
A pair of ribs 34L, 34R located at the left and right ends of
Is formed to have a large width, and on the back surface side (that is, the front surface side) thereof, as shown in FIG.
34Ra is formed. Each of these U-shaped recesses 34
La and 34Ra include left and right side walls 14B and 14C of the glove box 14 (the surfaces 26c and 26 of the box body 26).
The rear end of d) is inserted and fixed via an adhesive.

As shown in FIG. 6 as a single piece, the cover 30 is a member made of resin such as polypropylene provided near the rear of the lid 28, and is fixed to the lid 28 at its outer peripheral portion. A recess 30a formed in the central portion of the cover 30 is a recess for mounting a glove box opening / closing lever. As shown in Figure 1,
A hinge rib 36 is provided on each of the left and right ends of the cover 30 on the front surface of the lower end. The hinge rib 36 is hinged to the hinge plate 22 to allow the glove box 14 to rotate. It's designed to be used.

As shown by the hinge plate 22 as a single item in FIG. 7, the hinge rib 36 and the hinge plate 2 are provided.
The hinge connection with 2 is performed by arranging the hinge ribs 36 between each pair of sleeves 38 located on the axis extending in the left-right direction indicated by a point P in the figure and inserting the pin 40 into the sleeve 38. Be seen.

As shown in FIG. 2, a pair of brackets 22.
Has an L-shaped cross section at its middle portion and is parallel to the left and right side walls 14B, 14C at a predetermined distance from the left and right side walls 14B, 14C of the glove box 14 (the surfaces 26c, 26d of the box body 26). Is provided so that the surface is located at.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, when a vehicle collision occurs, an occupant in the passenger seat moves forward due to inertial force, and its knee moves in the direction of the arrow (slightly upward) to the front of the passenger seat. It contacts the provided glove box 14. The impact load in the direction of the arrow in the figure is input to the glove box 14 due to the contact of the knees. An air conditioning unit 16 is provided near the front of the glove box 14, and a steering support member 18 is provided near the front of and above the glove box 14, so that the glove box 14 moves forward due to the impact load. Even if an attempt is made, the air conditioning unit 16 and the steering support member 18 serve as forward movement restricting means, and only a slight forward movement of the glove box 14 is allowed. Therefore, the impact load due to the abutment of the knee portion is concentrated and acts on the glove box 14.

Therefore, the glove box 14 has a front wall 14A, a rear wall 14E and left and right side walls 14B, 14.
Although C is made of the same material and has substantially the same thickness, the rear wall 1
Since the plurality of ribs 34 are provided in 4E, the rigidity of the left and right side walls 14B and 14C is set to be lower than the rigidity of the rear wall 14E. Since it is provided in many parts other than the part, the left and right intermediate parts are the low-rigidity parts 14Ea, and further, the pair of ribs 3 at the left and right ends of the rear wall 14E.
U-shaped concave portions 34La, 34 formed in 4L, 34R
Since the rear end portions of the left and right side walls 14B, 14C are inserted and fixed to Ra, the rear wall 14E and the left and right side walls 14B, 14C are fixed.
The connecting part with is set to have high rigidity.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, in the glove box 14, when an impact load from the rear is input to the rear wall 14E, first, the rear wall 14E is located at the middle portion in the left-right direction of the low-rigidity portion 14Ea. The concave curve is deformed around
This deformation of the rear wall 14E is transmitted to the left and right side walls 14B and 14C via the connecting portion set to have high rigidity. As a result, the left and right side walls 14B and 14C, which are set to have a lower rigidity than the rear wall 14E, are convexly curved and deformed. At that time, the open ends 26h, 26 of the left and right side walls 14B, 14C
Since j is notched in a concave shape, the convex curved deformation is performed more smoothly. At this time, the front wall 14A of the glove box 14 is concavely curved and deformed by transmitting the convex curved deformation of the left and right side walls 14B and 14C. At that time, the opening end portions of the connecting corner portions between the left and right side walls 14B and 14C and the front wall 14A (opening end portions 26f and 26 of the connecting corner portions between the surfaces 26c and 26d of the box body 26 and the surface 26a).
Since g) is partially thickened, the above-mentioned transmission is performed more smoothly.

Since a large amount of impact energy absorption is secured by the series of these curved deformations, the glove box 1
4 itself has a sufficient shock absorbing effect, and a high shock absorbing effect can be obtained. Moreover, since the shock absorbing action is obtained by the curved deformation of the glove box 14, a stable shock absorbing effect can be obtained.

Therefore, it is not necessary to provide a special shock absorbing mechanism in addition to the glove box 14 as in the prior art, that is, without sacrificing the capacity of the glove box 14 to be reduced due to such shock absorbing mechanism arrangement. The knees can be protected reliably.

Moreover, in this embodiment, the pair of brackets 2 for supporting the glove box 14 on the vehicle body.
0 is the left and right side walls 14B and 14C of the glove box 14.
Since the left and right side walls 14B and 14C of the glove box 14 are in contact with the brackets 20, the left and right side walls 14B and 14C are allowed to freely deform in a convex curve, After the contact, since the elastic reaction force of each bracket 20 (or the reaction force accompanied by plastic deformation of each bracket 20 when an extremely large impact load is input) is received, the convex curved deformation of the left and right side walls 14B and 14C is not generated. Controls rapid progress. As a result, as shown in FIG. 8, the left and right side walls 14B, 1B, with respect to the entering amount of the knee portion of the occupant after the knee portion abuts on the glove box 14.
Since the load received by 4C can be leveled, it is possible to prevent an extremely large load from acting on the left and right side walls 14B and 14C. As a result, the left and right side walls 14
A large amount of impact energy absorption can be secured without causing cracks in B and 14C, and the protection function for the occupant's knees can be further improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an embodiment of an occupant protection device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing the operation of the above embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the box body as a single item.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the lid separately.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the cover separately.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the hinge plate as a single item.

FIG. 8 is a graph showing the operation of the above embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 12 Instrument panel 14 Glove box 14A Front wall 14B, 14C Left and right side walls 14D Bottom wall 14E Rear wall 14Ea Low rigidity part 16 Air conditioning unit (restricting means) 18 Steering support member (restricting means) 20 Bracket 26 Box body 28 Lid 30 Cover 32 plate-like parts 34, 34L, 34R ribs 34La, 34Ra U-shaped recessed parts

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An occupant protection device for an automobile, wherein a glove box having a front wall, a rear wall, and left and right side walls connecting the both walls is provided in front of the seat, and the glove box is provided in front of the glove box. The glove box is provided with restriction means for restricting forward movement of the box, and the glove box is configured such that the rear wall is concavely curved and deformed by the impact load input from the rear side, and the left and right side walls are convexly curved and deformed. Is set to be lower than the rigidity of the rear wall, a low-rigidity portion is provided in the left and right intermediate portions of the rear wall, and a connecting portion between the rear wall and the left and right side walls is set to have high rigidity. A vehicle occupant protection device characterized by the above. 2. The vehicle occupant protection device according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of ribs are provided on a portion of the glove box other than the left and right intermediate portions of the rear wall. 3. The glove box is configured such that the rear wall and the left and right side walls are separate bodies, and a U-shaped recess is formed in a pair of ribs of the plurality of ribs of the rear wall. 3. The vehicle occupant protection system according to claim 2, wherein rear ends of the left and right side walls are inserted and fixed into the U-shaped recesses of the pair of ribs.