JP4213115B2 - Vehicle front pillar structure - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a front pillar structure of a vehicle.

  As a front pillar of a vehicle, as shown in FIG. 5, an outer panel 102 and an inner panel 103 are joined by flange portions 104 and 105 at both ends with a stiffener 101 interposed therebetween, and a closed cross section is known. In the front pillar 100, the capacity of the closed section is ensured by the balance between the maximum width dimension C and the maximum depth dimension D, and the vehicle body rigidity and the collision performance are satisfied. In the case of the front pillar 100, the wind shield 110 is supported by one flange portion 104, the gap between the wind shield 110 and the outer panel 102 is closed by the garnish 111, and the door seal 112 is provided on the other flange portion 105. The door seal 112 seals between the door sash 113 and the front pillar 100, and an interior material 114 that covers the inner panel 103 is attached to the vehicle interior side of the front pillar 100.

In addition, in order to improve vehicle body rigidity, a hollow member having a closed cross-section is integrally formed by a hydroform molding method, and an outer panel is attached to the outside of the hollow member to constitute a front pillar (for example, Patent Document 1). reference). In this front pillar, a flange portion projecting outward from the hollow member is provided at one end of the outer panel, and the windshield is supported by this flange portion.
JP 2002-2533 A

In the case of the conventional front pillar structure shown in FIG. 5, the range from the end of the interior material 114 to the end of the door sash 113 is a blind spot, but the maximum width dimension C of the closed cross section formed by the outer panel 102 and the inner panel 103. And the flange portion 104 for supporting the windshield 110 is provided, the width of the interior material 114 becomes extremely large, and the blind spot range becomes large.
Also, in the case of a front pillar having a hollow member and an outer panel as in Patent Document 1, a flange portion is provided at one end of the outer panel so as to protrude outward from the hollow member in order to attach the windshield. After all, the blind spot range becomes large.
Therefore, the present invention provides a front pillar structure capable of narrowing the blind spot range while satisfying the vehicle body rigidity and the collision performance.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 1 is a flange portion (for example, described later) in which a pair of plate members (for example, plate members 10A and 10B in the embodiments described later) are arranged opposite to each other and provided at both ends of each plate member. A front surface (for example, the front surface 11 in the embodiment described later) supporting the windshield (for example, the windshield 6 in the embodiment described later) It has a pair of side surfaces (for example, side surfaces 12 and 13 in the embodiments described later) having a direction along the line of sight of the driver as a width direction, and one of the flange portions (for example, flange portion 15 in the embodiments described later). Is disposed between the pair of side surfaces and has a hollow member (e.g., a hollow member 10 in an embodiment to be described later) that extends the front end toward the outside of the vehicle, and the other of the hollow members. A door seal (for example, a door seal 30 in an embodiment to be described later) attached to a lunge portion (for example, a flange portion 16 in an embodiment to be described later), and attached to the front surface of the hollow member, and from the door seal to the windshield. An outer member (for example, outer panel 20 and garnish 40 in the embodiment described later) that covers the hollow member including the one flange portion (for example, a vehicle in the embodiment described later) 1) Front pillar structure.
With this configuration, the horizontal width dimension of the front pillar can be reduced while satisfying the vehicle body rigidity and the collision performance.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the horizontal width of the front pillar can be narrowed while satisfying the vehicle body rigidity and the collision performance, so that the blind spot range by the front pillar can be narrowed and the visibility is improved. . .

Embodiments of the front pillar structure according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings of FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 1, the front pillar 2 of the vehicle 1 is a portion that connects the roof side portion 3 and the front body side portion 4, and forms a part of an opening in which the front door 5 is accommodated. An end of a windshield (hereinafter abbreviated as “windshield”) 6 is supported.
As shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 2, the front pillar 2 includes a hollow member 10 formed by joining a pair of metal plates, a metal outer panel 20 attached to the outside of the hollow member 10, and a door seal 30. A garnish 40 and an interior panel 50 attached to the inside of the hollow member 10. The outer panel 20 is integrally formed from the roof side portion 3 to the front body side portion 4.

  The hollow member 10 includes a pair of metal plate members 10A and 10B facing each other, and flange portions 15, 15 and 16, 16 provided at both ends of each plate member 10A and 10B are overlapped and welded to form a polygonal closed member. It has a cross section and includes at least a front surface 11 that supports the windshield 6 and a pair of side surfaces 12 and 13 that have a width direction in a direction along the driver's line of sight (the line of sight in FIG. 2). In this embodiment, the front surface 11 and the side surface 12 are formed on one plate material 10A, and the side surface 13 is formed on the other plate material 10B. The hollow portion of the hollow member 10 is set such that the depth dimension in the direction along the driver's line of sight (hereinafter referred to as the line-of-sight direction) is larger than the width dimension in the horizontal direction.

  One flange portion 15 is disposed between the two side surfaces 12 and 13, is connected to the end portion of the front surface 11, and extends the tip thereof toward the vehicle exterior along the line-of-sight direction. The other flange portion 16 is connected to the end portion of the side surface 13 on the side away from the front surface 11, and its tip is bent outward from the side surface 13 at a substantially right angle.

  As shown in FIG. 3, one end portion 10a in the longitudinal direction of the hollow member 10 is joined by MIG welding (MIG welding) to a roof side panel (not shown) disposed inside the outer panel 20 in the roof side portion 3. The other end portion 10b in the longitudinal direction of the hollow member 10 is disposed between the outer panel 20 of the front body side portion 4 and the front body side inner 4a, and is MIG welded to the front body side inner 4a. Mig welded to a stiffener (not shown) fixed to the front body side inner 4a by welding.

As shown in FIG. 2, the outer panel 20 of the front pillar 2 includes a substantially flat first base portion 21 that is in surface contact with the front surface 11 of the hollow member 10, and a substantially U-shape outward from the first base portion 21. A projecting projection 22; a second base portion 23 that is in surface contact with the side surface 13 of the hollow member 10 that is spaced from the front surface 11; a flange portion 24 that extends outward from the second base portion 23 at a substantially right angle; A step portion 25 provided between the second base portion 23 and the second base portion 23 is formed.
The outer panel 20 of the front pillar 2 is fixed to the hollow member 10 by welding the first base portion 21 to the front surface 11 of the hollow member 10 and welding the second base portion 23 to the side surface 13 of the hollow member 10. Has been. In addition, the outer panel 20 in the front pillar 2 engages the step portion 25 with the corner portion 14 of the side surface 13 of the hollow member 10 and causes the second base portion 23 to abut the surface 13 of the hollow member 10. The flange portion 24 is superposed on the flange portion 16 of the hollow member 10.

  The door seal 30 is attached to the overlapping portion of the flange portion 24 of the outer panel 20 and the flange portion 16 of the hollow member 10. The door seal 30 seals closely to the door sash 5a when the front door 5 is closed. Further, when the front door 5 is closed, the seal member 5 b attached to the door sash 5 a of the front door 5 seals closely with the step portion 25 of the outer panel 20.

The end of the windshield 6 is attached to the first base portion 21 with an adhesive 8. That is, the front surface 11 of the hollow member 10 supports the windshield 6 via the first base portion 21 of the outer panel 20.
The garnish 40 is attached between the protrusion 22 of the outer panel 20 and the windshield 6. In this embodiment, the outer panel 20 and the garnish 40 constitute an outer member that covers the hollow member 10 from the door seal 30 to the windshield 6.
In FIG. 2, reference numeral 9 denotes a door windshield of the front door 5.

In the front pillar 2, the first base portion 21 of the outer panel 20 is joined to the front surface 11 of the hollow member 10, and the front surface 11 supports the windshield 6 via the first base portion 21. In addition, the flange portion for attaching the windshield does not protrude from the hollow member 10. And since the flange part 15 of the hollow member 10 was arrange | positioned between the side surfaces 12 and 13, the single blind spot by the flange part 15 does not arise. And the width dimension A (refer FIG. 2) of the horizontal direction of the hollow member 10 is suppressed small, and the dimension B (refer FIG. 2) along a visual line direction in the part which match | combined the hollow member 10 and the protrusion 22 of the outer panel 20 was combined. By setting to a predetermined value, a cross-sectional area necessary for satisfying the vehicle body rigidity and the collision performance of the front pillar 2 is secured.
Therefore, the blind spot range by the front pillar 2 can be narrowed while satisfying the vehicle body rigidity and the collision performance.

  By the way, the mechanism of the blind spot by the front pillar 2 will be described with reference to FIG. The overlapping part (hatched part in FIG. 4) of the chain line is a blind spot that cannot be seen by both eyes. Therefore, theoretically, it is possible to set the width dimension of the front pillar 2 so as to completely eliminate the blind spot in both eyes. However, if the blind spot of the front pillar 2 is completely eliminated, the driver will feel a sense of incongruity on the contrary and it will be difficult to grasp the vehicle interval. Therefore, when the blind spot is slightly left when viewed with both eyes, a boundary between the vehicle front view and the vehicle side view is formed, and the driver can easily control the vehicle.

Therefore, in the front pillar 2, the horizontal width dimension A of the hollow member 10 is set so that the blind spot of the front pillar 2 exists at a minimum when viewed with both eyes. Thereby, since the blind spot of the front pillar 2 exists, the visual discomfort is eliminated and the vehicle is easily controlled, and since the blind spot is minimized, the visual target is easily visible and the visibility is improved.
In this embodiment, the outer panel 20 is made of a metal molded product, but it may be replaced with a resin garnish.

1 is a perspective view of a vehicle provided with a front pillar structure according to the present invention. It is XX sectional drawing of FIG. It is the perspective view which looked at the front pillar from the vehicle outer side. It is a figure which shows the blind spot of a front pillar. It is sectional drawing of the conventional front pillar.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vehicle 2 Front pillar 6 Wind shield 10 Hollow member 10A, 10B Plate material 11 Front surface 12, 13 Side surface 14 Corner part 15 One flange part 16 The other flange part 20 Outer panel (outer member)
30 Door seal 40 Garnish (outer member)

Claims (1)

A pair of plate materials are arranged opposite to each other, and flange portions provided at both ends of each plate material are overlapped and joined to form a closed cross section, and a front surface supporting the windshield and a pair of side surfaces having a direction along the driver's line of sight as the width direction A hollow member in which one of the flange portions is disposed between the pair of side surfaces and the front end extends to the outside of the vehicle,
A door seal attached to the other flange portion of the hollow member;
An outer member that is attached to the front surface of the hollow member and covers the hollow member including the one flange portion from the door seal to the windshield;
A front pillar structure for a vehicle, comprising:

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