US-12617474-B2 - Vehicle-body rear structure

US12617474B2US 12617474 B2US12617474 B2US 12617474B2US-12617474-B2

Abstract

A vehicle-body rear structure for a vehicle includes a stiffening bracket and a seat hinge. The stiffening bracket is provided on a vehicle-widthwise inner side of a rear fender arch of the vehicle on a vehicle front side of a rear wheel house of the vehicle. The rear fender arch is joined to a side sill and a rear pillar of the vehicle. The seat hinge is provided so as to extend in a vehicle width direction of the vehicle on a vehicle lower side of a vehicle seat of the vehicle. The stiffening bracket includes a recessed part recessed outward in the vehicle width direction. The seat hinge includes a vehicle-widthwise outer end that is disposed on a vehicle-widthwise inner side of the recessed part, and to a vehicle-widthwise inner surface of the recessed part with a space between the vehicle-widthwise outer end the vehicle-widthwise inner surface.

Inventors

Tomoyuki Inoue

Assignees

Subaru Corporation

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20240130
Priority Date: 20230221

Claims (2)

1 . A vehicle-body rear structure for a vehicle, the vehicle-body rear structure comprising: a stiffening bracket provided on a vehicle-widthwise inner side of a rear fender arch of the vehicle on a vehicle front side of a rear wheel house of the vehicle, the rear fender arch being joined to a side sill and a rear pillar of the vehicle; and a seat hinge provided so as to extend in a vehicle width direction of the vehicle on a vehicle lower side of a vehicle seat of the vehicle, wherein the stiffening bracket comprises a recessed part recessed outward in the vehicle width direction, and the seat hinge comprises a vehicle-widthwise outer end that is disposed on a vehicle-widthwise inner side of the recessed part, and proximate to a vehicle-widthwise inner surface of the recessed part with a space between the vehicle-widthwise outer end the vehicle-widthwise inner surface.
2 . The vehicle-body rear structure according to claim 1 , further comprising a cover bracket having a through hole in a side view from inside in the vehicle width direction so as to overlap the recessed part of the stiffening bracket, the cover bracket being disposed on a vehicle-widthwise inner side of the stiffening bracket so as to cover the stiffening bracket, wherein the seat hinge is disposed so as to pass through the through hole of the cover bracket.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2023-024760 filed on Feb. 21, 2023, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. BACKGROUND The disclosure relates to a vehicle-body rear structure. In recent years, in a vehicle such as an automobile, there has been a demand for a vehicle body structure that reduces an amount of deformation inward in a vehicle width direction even when a side-face collision has occurred in the vehicle. In order to improve rigidity against a side-face collision (hereinafter, referred to as a “side collision”) with the spot around a rear seat of the vehicle, it is intended to prevent intrusions of constituent members provided on an outer side in the vehicle width direction toward an inner side in the vehicle width direction through improvement in rigidity of, for example, a rear frame structure such as a rear seat door, a rocker (side sill), a rear pillar, or a rear fender arch. For example, Japanese Patent No. 6330621 discloses a technique of efficiently transmitting a load applied to a side door at the time of a side collision to a seat member through the inclusion of a rocker (side sill) disposed at a side part of a vehicle, a rear pillar, a reinforcing member that couples the rocker to the rear pillar, the seat member disposed on a vehicle inner side of the reinforcing member, and a load transmission member that transmits the load at the time of the side collision of the vehicle to the seat member. SUMMARY An aspect of the disclosure provides a vehicle-body rear structure for a vehicle. The vehicle-body rear structure includes a stiffening bracket and a seat hinge. The stiffening bracket is provided on a vehicle-widthwise inner side of a rear fender arch of the vehicle on a vehicle front side of a rear wheel house of the vehicle. The rear fender arch is joined to a side sill and a rear pillar of the vehicle. The seat hinge is provided so as to extend in a vehicle width direction of the vehicle on a vehicle lower side of a vehicle seat of the vehicle. The stiffening bracket includes a recessed part recessed outward in the vehicle width direction. The seat hinge includes a vehicle-widthwise outer end that is disposed on a vehicle-widthwise inner side of the recessed part, and to a vehicle-widthwise inner surface of the recessed part with a space between the vehicle-widthwise outer end the vehicle-widthwise inner surface. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate an embodiment and, together with the specification, serve to describe the principles of the disclosure. FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of a vehicle-body rear structure according to an embodiment of the disclosure, illustrating a rear seat in a see-through manner; FIG. 2 is an enlarged top perspective view of a rear bench seat and a side collision-resistance hinge, which are illustrated in FIG. 1; FIG. 3 illustrates, from three different perspectives, a stiffening bracket illustrated in FIG. 2; FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of an area BK illustrated in FIG. 2, the cross-sectional view being taken along line A-A as viewed in a direction of arrows AA; FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A as viewed in a direction of arrows BB illustrated in FIG. 2; FIG. 6A is a top plan view illustrating a pre-collision deformation at the time of a side collision in the vehicle-body rear structure according to the embodiment of the disclosure, and FIGS. 6B and 6C are top plan views time-serially illustrating a deformation at the time of the side collision in the vehicle-body rear structure according to the embodiment of the disclosure; FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a first modification example of a seat hinge illustrated in FIG. 2, the cross-sectional view being taken along line A-A as viewed in the direction of arrows AA; and FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a second modification example of the seat hinge illustrated in FIG. 2, the cross-sectional view being taken along line A-A as viewed in the direction of arrows AA. DETAILED DESCRIPTION The technique described in Japanese Patent No. 6330621 has a concern about time-consuming assembling work in fixing a seat to the side part of the vehicle because a seat hinge bracket and a seat hinge are joined or integrated. It is desirable to provide a vehicle-body rear structure that increases rigidity of a rear seat while maintaining good assembling workability of the rear seat. Hereinafter, with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6C, a description will be given of a vehicle V to which a vehicle-body rear structure S according to the present embodiment is applied. Note that the following description is directed to an illustrative example of the disclosure and not to be construed as limiting to t