JP2511352Y2 - Vehicle near protector - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial field of application) The present invention relates to a knee protector for a vehicle that protects the driver's knees during a vehicle collision.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, there is a knee protector as one of safety means for protecting an occupant, particularly a driver in a vehicle collision.

The knee protector is arranged below the instrument panel in the front of the driver's seat, and is arranged on the path along which the driver's knee shifts forward when the vehicle collides. Here, as shown in FIG. 5, the knee protector 1 has a horizontally long curved plate shape, and is composed of a central portion 3 below the steering column 2 and left and right knee receiving wall portions 4 and 4 which extend to the left and right of the steering column 2. Has been formed.

This knee protector 1 has well-known shock absorbing members 5 and 5 attached to the back surfaces of the left and right knee receiving wall portions 4 and 4, so that both shock absorbing members are
The other ends of 5, 5 are connected to a deck cross member forming a vehicle base (not shown).

Since the central portion 3 of the knee protector 1 is located below the steering column 1, the knee protector 1 has a narrower shape than the left and right knee receiving wall portions 4 and 4 in order to avoid the interference.

In such a knee protector, the left and right knees of the driver hit the left and right knee receiving wall portions 4 and 4 at the time of a vehicle front collision,
The impact absorbing member portions 5, 5 on the back side thereof are plastically deformed and can absorb the reaction force applied to the left and right knees of the driver.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) However, when the vehicle collides in an oblique direction without a normal collision, the left and right knees of the driver are displaced from the left and right knee receiving wall portions 4, 4 and One knee will hit the central part 3.

In this case, there is no shock absorbing member on the back side, and the portion directly hits the steering column 1 or the like, which is a rigid body on the back side, and as a result, the knee of the driver is impacted and injured.

In particular, when the steering column 1 is a tilt type, it is necessary to make a large gap T in order to avoid interference with the steering column, and the plate width of the central portion 3 is narrowed, which easily causes breakage, which is a problem. .

An object of the present invention is to provide a knee protector that can protect the knees of a driver even if the knees of the driver hit the lower position of the steering column.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention has a central portion arranged at a lower portion of a steering column supported by a rigid member of a vehicle, and the left and right knees are disposed from the left and right ends of the central portion. In a knee protector of a vehicle in which a receiving wall portion is formed to extend in the vehicle width direction, each back surface of the left and right knee receiving wall portions is attached to the rigid member side via a first shock absorbing member, and The back surface is provided with a receiving plate portion having a predetermined amount of contact surface having a shape capable of being brought into close contact with the back surface, and movable impact absorbing means including a second impact absorbing member for attaching the receiving plate portion to the steering column.

(Operation) Even if the knee hits the center part deviated from the left and right knee receiving wall parts, the load applied to the center part will be applied to the second shock absorbing member via the receiving plate part. The member can absorb the impact.

(Embodiment) The knee protector 10 of the vehicle shown in FIG. 1 is arranged in the front portion of the driver's seat of a passenger vehicle.

The steering column 11 of this passenger car has a steering wheel 12 attached to the head end on the passenger compartment side, whereby the traveling direction can be operated, and in particular, it is a well-known shock absorption type. That is, when the steering wheel 12 receives a load of a certain value or more from an occupant, the shock absorbing member 16 is plastically deformed to reduce its length by a small amount. Moreover, it is a tilt type and its steering column
11 is supported by a well-known column lock device 14 on a deck cross member 13 which is a rigid member long in the vehicle width direction. Reference numeral 15 indicates a lock lever.

As shown in FIG. 2, an upper region of the steering column 11 is covered with an instrument panel 17, and a knee protector 10 is arranged below the instrument panel 17.

Here, the main body of the knee protector 10 has a horizontally long curved plate shape, and is integrally formed with a central portion 101 below the steering column 11 and left and right knee receiving wall portions 102, 102 extending to the left and right thereof. In particular, the shape of the upper edge of the central portion 101 is set so that the steering column 11 does not come into contact with the steering column 11 even if the steering column 11 is tilted to the lowermost end side.

In this knee protector 10, first impact absorbing members 18, 18 are attached to the back surfaces of the left and right knee receiving wall portions 102, 102, and the other ends of both impact absorbing members are connected to a deck cross member 13 forming a vehicle base. The first shock absorbing member 18 is configured so that a pair of bending plates facing each other can be plastically deformed when a load is applied.

On the other hand, on the back surface of the central portion 101, the movable shock absorbing means 19 is provided oppositely. As shown in FIG. 3, the movable shock absorbing means 19 has a receiving plate portion 20 having a contact surface 201 having a shape capable of being brought into close contact with the back surface of the central portion 101, and a second impact for attaching the receiving plate portion to the steering column 11. Absorbing member 21 and mounting bracket 22
It consists of and.

The contact surface 201 of the receiving plate portion 20 has an area capable of contacting the entire main portion of the central portion 101, and moreover, the steering column 11
The contact surface 201 is set so as to be able to contact the back surface of the central portion 101 when is tilted to the lowermost end side. The symbol S indicates a slit.

Similar to the first shock absorbing member 18, the second shock absorbing member 21 is provided with two pairs of bending plates 211 and 211 that face each other, and can be plastically deformed when a load is applied thereto. The displacement of the second shock absorbing member 21 with respect to the load is set as shown by the solid line a in FIG. Here, the broken line b indicates the displacement when the movable shock absorbing means 19 is not provided.

In such a vehicle, the knee protector 10 of the vehicle is normally separated from the movable shock absorbing means 19 supported by the steering column 11 by a predetermined distance T1, and the tilt position of the steering column 11 is the maximum. When reaching the lower end, the contact surface 201 of the receiving plate portion 20 contacts the back surface of the central portion 101.

In the knee protector 10 of such a vehicle, when the knee N of the occupant hits the left and right knee receiving wall portions 102, 102 during a vehicle frontal collision, mainly the left and right first impact absorbing members 18 are plastically deformed, and further, the second impact is generated. The absorbing member 21 is also plastically deformed after the contact surface 201 contacts the back surface of the central portion 101.

Therefore, the reaction force applied to the occupant's knee is absorbed by the first and second impact absorbing members, and the occupant's knee is reliably protected.

On the other hand, when the vehicle collides diagonally and the knees of the occupant come into contact with the central portion 101 of the knee protector 10, first, the back surface of the central portion 101 contacts the contact surface 201 of the receiving plate portion 20 of the movable shock absorbing means 19. It is possible to prevent local damage of only the central portion 101 by contacting.
After that, the second shock absorbing member 21 plastically deforms to absorb the load from the occupant's knee, and at the same time, the left and right first shock absorbing members 18 also partially plastically deform.

Therefore, the reaction force applied to the knees of the occupant is not affected by the second impact absorbing member.
21 and a part thereof are absorbed by the first shock absorbing member 18, and the knees of the occupant are reliably protected.

As described above, the knee protector 10 of the vehicle shown in FIG. 1 allows the steering column 11 to tilt,
When the vehicle collides, especially when the vehicle collides obliquely and the knees of the occupant come into contact with the central portion 101 of the knee protector 10, the movable shock absorbing means 19 operates and the knees of the occupant can be reliably protected.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, even if the knee strikes the central portion, the load applied to the central portion is applied to the second shock absorbing member via the receiving plate portion. The second shock absorbing member can absorb the shock and can reliably protect the driver's knee.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 is a schematic sectional view of a steering column around a knee protector of a vehicle as an embodiment of the present invention when the vehicle is mounted, and FIG. 2 is a schematic front view of the knee protector of the same.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a movable impact absorbing means used in the same knee protector, FIG. 4 is a load--displacement amount characteristic diagram of an impact absorbing member used in the same movable impact absorbing means, and FIG. 5 is a conventional knee protector vehicle. It is a schematic main-part sectional drawing at the time of mounting. 10 …… Knee protector, 11 …… Steering column, 12
...... Steering wheel, 18 …… First shock absorbing member,
19: movable shock absorbing means, 21: second shock absorbing member, 10
2 …… Left and right knee receiving wall, 20 …… Receiving plate, 201 …… Abutting surface.

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A knee of a vehicle in which a central portion is arranged at a lower portion of a steering column supported by a rigid member of the vehicle, and left and right knee receiving wall portions are formed to extend in the vehicle width direction from left and right ends of the central portion. In the protector, each back surface of the left and right knee receiving wall portions is attached to the rigid member side via a first shock absorbing member, and a predetermined amount of contact surface is formed on the back surface of the central portion so as to be in close contact with the back surface. A knee protector for a vehicle, comprising: a receiving plate part and a movable shock absorbing means composed of a second shock absorbing member for attaching the receiving plate part to the steering column.