US-20260125017-A1 - BUMPER COVER STRUCTURE

Abstract

In a bumper cover of a front bumper, a radar unit is disposed between left and right grille portions in a grille opening portion, and a radar cover is disposed on a vehicle front side of the radar unit. The radar unit is attached to the base portion of a radar cover, and the base portion is attached to the bumper cover by each of an upper engagement portion and a lower engagement portion being engaged with upper and lower sides of the grille opening portion. As a result, since the relative position of the radar unit with respect to the grille opening portion is returned by the restoration of the shape of the bumper cover deformed by the light impact, the deterioration in the radar function of the radar unit can be suppressed.

Inventors

• Eisuke Ikeno

Assignees

• TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA

Dates

Publication Date

20260507

Application Date

20251017

Priority Date

20241106

Claims (2)

1. 1 . A bumper cover structure comprising: a bumper cover body having a grille opening portion provided to penetrate the bumper cover body in a vehicle front-rear direction; a grille component disposed in the grille opening portion; a radar device disposed at a center portion of the grille component in a vehicle width direction on a vehicle rear side of the grille opening portion, emitting a radar wave toward a vehicle front side, and receiving a reflected wave of the radar wave; and a cover member disposed in the grille opening portion to cover the vehicle front side of the radar device, to which the radar device is attached, and having a vehicle upper side portion and a vehicle lower side portion each attached to the bumper cover body, the cover member allowing the radar wave and the reflected wave to be transmitted.
2. 2 . The bumper cover structure according to claim 1 , wherein the cover member is attached to the bumper cover body on both sides in the vehicle width direction at each of the vehicle upper side portion and the vehicle lower side portion.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2024-194657 filed on November 6, 2024. The disclosure of the above-identified application, including the specification, drawings, and claims, is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field The present disclosure relates to a bumper cover structure of a vehicle. 2. Description of Related Art Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2017-077804 (JP 2017-077804 A) discloses a front grille of a vehicle. The front grille is provided in front of a front member, and a millimeter wave radar is attached to the front member via a bracket. The front grille includes a radome holding portion fitted to an opening portion provided in a center portion in a vehicle width direction, and a radome made of a member through which radio waves can be transmitted is fitted to the radome holding portion. The millimeter wave radar is protected from disturbances such as wind, rain, snow, sand, and flying stones by covering the front with the radome. SUMMARY In general, in a vehicle, a millimeter wave radar provided as a radar device used for monitoring a front of the vehicle emits radio waves (radar waves) toward the front of the vehicle through a grille opening portion provided in a bumper cover and receives reflected waves reflected by a target object in front of the vehicle. In this case, since the radar waves can be transmitted and received in an angle range set in advance, a required radar function by the millimeter wave radar is realized in the vehicle. On the other hand, in the vehicle, the bumper cover of the bumper is deformed by receiving an impact, and the impact is absorbed by the bumper cover. In this case, in the millimeter wave radar, when the deformation occurs in the bumper cover or the like and the angle range in which the radar wave or the reflected wave is transmitted is changed, the required radar function is not realized. From this, in the vehicle, a material having elasticity is used for a bumper cover or the like, and even when the bumper cover or the like is deformed by receiving an impact (light impact) that is less than the impact set in advance, a performance is guaranteed such that a shape of the bumper cover or the like is restored after the impact is released. Such a performance guarantee test of the bumper is inspected by a so-called pendulum test or the like. However, in the millimeter wave radar, when the shape of the bumper cover or the like is restored, there is a concern that a relative position or the like with respect to the bumper cover or the like may be changed and the required radar function may not be maintained. The present disclosure has been made in view of the problems, and an object of the present disclosure is to provide a bumper cover structure capable of suppressing a deterioration in the radar function of a radar device when a shape of the bumper cover structure is restored. According to a first aspect of the present disclosure for achieving the object, there is provided a bumper cover structure including: a bumper cover body having a grille opening portion provided to penetrate the bumper cover body in a vehicle front-rear direction; a grille component disposed in the grille opening portion; a radar device disposed at a center portion of the grille component in a vehicle width direction on a vehicle rear side of the grille opening portion, emitting a radar wave toward a vehicle front side, and receiving a reflected wave of the radar wave; and a cover member disposed in the grille opening portion to cover the vehicle front side of the radar device, to which the radar device is attached, and having a vehicle upper side portion and a vehicle lower side portion each attached to the bumper cover body, the cover member allowing the radar wave and the reflected wave to be transmitted. In the bumper cover structure according to the first aspect, the grille opening portion is provided in the bumper cover body, and the grille opening portion is provided to penetrate in the vehicle front-rear direction of the bumper cover body. In the grille opening portion, the grille components are disposed on both sides in the vehicle width direction, and the radar device is disposed at the center portion in the vehicle width direction. The radar device emits radar waves toward the vehicle front side and receives reflected waves of the radar waves on the vehicle rear side of the grille opening portion. In addition, the cover member that covers the vehicle front side of the radar device and allows radar waves and reflected waves to be transmitted is disposed in the grille opening portion, and the radar device is attached to the cover member. Here, each of an upper side portion and a lower side portion of the cover member is attached to the bumper cover body. Therefore, even in a case where the bumper cover body is deformed and the grille opening portion