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EP-4737221-A1 - VEHICLE STRUCTURE

EP4737221A1EP 4737221 A1EP4737221 A1EP 4737221A1EP-4737221-A1

Abstract

A vehicle structure having: a framework member (14) extending in a vehicle front-rear direction at a vehicle width direction side section; a crash box (22) disposed further to an outer side, in the vehicle front-rear direction, than the framework member (14), and extending in the vehicle front-rear direction, the crash box (22) being a single body with or integrated to the framework member (14); a first wall (106, 108) provided inside a cross-section of the framework member (14) at least at an end portion, in the vehicle front-rear direction, on a crash box side, the first wall (106, 108) having a plate thickness aligned with a vehicle height direction and extending in the vehicle front-rear direction; and a second wall (126) provided inside a cross-section of the crash box (22) at a height overlapping with the first wall (106, 108) when viewed along the vehicle front-rear direction, the second wall (126) having a plate thickness aligned with the vehicle height direction and extending in the vehicle front-rear direction.

Inventors

  • Murashige, Norihiro

Assignees

  • TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20251001

Claims (8)

  1. A vehicle structure comprising: a framework member (14) extending in a vehicle front-rear direction at a side section, in a vehicle width direction, of a vehicle (10); a crash box (22) disposed further to an outer side, in the vehicle front-rear direction, than the framework member (14), and extending in the vehicle front-rear direction, the crash box (22) being a single body with the framework member (14) or being provided integrated to the framework member (14); a first wall (106, 108) provided inside a cross-section of the framework member (14) at least at an end portion positioned, in the vehicle front-rear direction, on a crash box side of the framework member (14), the first wall (106, 108) having a plate thickness direction aligned with a vehicle height direction and extending in the vehicle front-rear direction when viewed along the vehicle width direction; and a second wall (126) provided inside a cross-section of the crash box (22) at a height overlapping with the first wall (106, 108) when viewed along the vehicle front-rear direction, the second wall (126) having a plate thickness direction aligned with the vehicle height direction and extending in the vehicle front-rear direction when viewed along the vehicle width direction.
  2. The vehicle structure of claim 1, wherein: the crash box (22) includes an upper wall (118) that configures an upper end portion in the vehicle height direction, and a lower wall (120) that configures a lower end portion that opposes the upper wall (118) in the vehicle height direction; and a plurality of first walls (106, 108) are provided, at least part of the plurality of first walls (106, 108) being provided at a height overlapping with at least one of the upper wall (118) or the lower wall (120) of the crash box (22), when viewed along the vehicle front-rear direction.
  3. The vehicle structure of claim 1 or claim 2, further comprising: a bumper reinforcement (24) extending along the vehicle width direction further to an outer side, in the vehicle front-rear direction, than the crash box (22); and a third wall (148) provided inside a cross-section of the bumper reinforcement (24) at a height overlapping with the second wall (126) when viewed along the vehicle front-rear direction, the third wall (148) having a plate thickness direction aligned with the vehicle height direction and extending in the vehicle front-rear direction when viewed along the vehicle width direction.
  4. The vehicle structure of claim 3, wherein the first wall (106, 108) is integrally molded to the framework member (14), the second wall (126) is integrally molded to the crash box (22), and the third wall (148) is integrally molded to the bumper reinforcement (24).
  5. The vehicle structure of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the framework member (14) is disposed at a vehicle rear section, and is configured as a rear side member (14) that is curved so as to be convex toward a vehicle upper side when viewed along the vehicle width direction.
  6. The vehicle structure of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the framework member (14) is formed with an open cross-section profile, and the crash box (22) is formed with a closed cross-section profile.
  7. The vehicle structure of claim 5, wherein the first wall (106, 108) extends in the vehicle front-rear direction so as to connect together a rear section (52), in the vehicle front-rear direction, of the framework member (14) and a lower edge portion (85) of a central section (50), in the vehicle front-rear direction, of the framework member (14).
  8. The vehicle structure of claim 2, wherein: the crash box (22) further includes a pair of first side walls (122) that are disposed opposing each other and that connect the upper wall (118) and the lower wall (120) together to form an angular tube shape, a connection section (90) is provided at the framework member (14) for connecting to the crash box (22); and the connection section (90) comprises: a coupling wall (102) coupled to the upper wall (118) of the crash box (22), and a pair of second side walls (104) that are disposed respectively depending from the coupling wall (102) toward the vehicle lower side and that oppose each other, with the pair of second side walls (104) respectively coupled to the pair of first side walls (122) of the crash box (22).

Description

Background Technical Field The present disclosure relates to a vehicle structure. Related Art Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2006-062561 discloses technology related to a shock absorption structure for a vehicle equipped with a pair of crash boxes at two end portions of a bumper reinforcement that extends along a width direction of a vehicle, with the crash boxes respectively interposed between the bumper reinforcement and a pair of side members that extend along a front-rear direction of the vehicle. In technology related thereto, a crash box is configured by a hollow structure opening in a vehicle height direction, with an upper or lower opening end closed off by a load regulation plate. There are also configurations in which weld separation is suppressed by performing fastening a bumper reinforcement, crash boxes, and side members together using bolt fastening, and by absorbing crash energy during a vehicle collision with the crash boxes. Summary However, when a crash load has been input to a vehicle along the vehicle front-rear direction, although crash load is transmitted between the side members and the crash boxes, there is room for improvement from the perspective of the efficiency when crash load is transmitted (so-called load transmission efficiency). In consideration of the above circumstances, the present disclosure provides a vehicle structure capable of raising the load transmission efficiency when crash load has been input along the vehicle front-rear direction. A vehicle structure according to a first aspect includes: a framework member extending in a vehicle front-rear direction at a side section, in a vehicle width direction, of a vehicle; a crash box disposed further to an outer side, in the vehicle front-rear direction, than the framework member, and extending in the vehicle front-rear direction, the crash box being a single body with the framework member or being provided integrated to the framework member; a first wall provided inside a cross-section of the framework member at least at an end portion positioned, in the vehicle front-rear direction, on a crash box side of the framework member, the first wall having a plate thickness direction aligned with a vehicle height direction and extending in the vehicle front-rear direction when viewed along the vehicle width direction; and a second wall provided inside a cross-section of the crash box at a height overlapping with the first wall when viewed along the vehicle front-rear direction, the second wall having a plate thickness direction aligned with the vehicle height direction and extending in the vehicle front-rear direction when viewed along the vehicle width direction. The vehicle structure according to the first aspect includes the framework member and the crash box. The framework member extends in the vehicle front-rear direction at the side section, in the vehicle width direction, of the vehicle. The crash box is disposed further to the outer side in the vehicle front-rear direction than the framework member and the crash box is a single body with the framework member or is provided integrated to the framework member, and the crash body extends in the vehicle front-rear direction. The first wall is provided at the framework member and the second wall is provided at the crash box. The first wall is provided inside the cross-section of the framework member at least at the end portion, in the vehicle front-rear direction, on the crash box side of the framework member, and the first wall has a plate thickness direction aligned with the vehicle height direction and extends in the vehicle front-rear direction when viewed from the vehicle width direction. The second wall is provided inside the cross-section of the crash box at a height overlapping with the first wall provided at the framework member when viewed along the vehicle front-rear direction, and the second wall has a plate thickness direction aligned with the vehicle height direction and extends in the vehicle front-rear direction when viewed from the vehicle width direction. In the present aspect the first wall is provided at the framework member with its plate thickness direction aligned with the vehicle height direction and extending in the vehicle front-rear direction, and the second wall is provided at the crash box with its plate thickness direction aligned with the vehicle height direction and extending in the vehicle front-rear direction. The first wall and the second wall are provided at heights overlapping with each other when viewed along the vehicle front-rear direction. When crash load is input to a vehicle along the vehicle front-rear direction, the crash load is effectively transmitted from the crash box to the framework member along the vehicle front-rear direction. An energy absorption effect (hereinafter simply referred to as "EA effect") by the crash box can be raised. Moreover, the first wall and the second wall that effectively transmit cr