Vehicle rear structure

Abstract

To realize a vehicle rear part structure which complies with regulation for external projections and can reduce costs.SOLUTION: A vehicle rear part structure includes: a back door 10 having a back door outer panel 20 forming an outer surface, and a back door inner panel 30 having a panel inner surface part 32, forming an inner surface, and a panel bottom surface part 34 connecting the back door outer panel 20 with the panel inner surface part 32 and facing downward; accessory components attached to the panel bottom surface part 34; and a resin back door garnish 40 which is attached to the panel bottom surface part 34 so as to cover an attachment part of the accessory components attached to the panel bottom surface part 34. The back door outer panel 20 has a protruding part 22 protruding to the lower side relative to the panel bottom surface part 34. A corner part 42 located at a rear lower portion of the back door garnish 40 is located at the lower side relative to the protruding part 22 at the inner side of the back door outer panel 20 and has a rounded shape compared to the protruding part 22.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a vehicle rear structure.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, a vehicle rear structure has been proposed in which a backdoor garnish is attached to a backdoor. The backdoor has a backdoor outer panel that constitutes the outer surface of the backdoor and a backdoor inner panel that constitutes the inner surface and the bottom surface of the backdoor. Here, the bottom surface of the backdoor inner panel refers to a bottom surface portion that connects the backdoor outer panel and the inner surface portion of the backdoor inner panel and faces downward. Members such as a back camera for imaging the rear of the vehicle and a switch for opening the backdoor (hereinafter referred to as "accessory parts") are attached to this bottom surface portion. In order to hide the attachment portion and improve the appearance, a backdoor garnish is used.

[0003] In the vehicle rear structure as described above, in order to reduce costs, it is desirable to attach the backdoor garnish to the backdoor inner panel without adding separate members or complicating the shape of the backdoor itself.

[0004] Incidentally, in the rear structure of a vehicle, it is desirable to have a structure that does not add any extra components that would incur unnecessary costs while still considering the appearance, but in addition to this, it is necessary to comply with regulations on external protrusions. In the rear structure of a vehicle, the rear bumper is usually positioned close to the lower side of the closed back door, with almost no gap between the two. However, depending on the vehicle model, the rear bumper may have a recessed portion, and in some cases, this recessed portion is recessed further forward in the vehicle's longitudinal direction than the lower part of the back door. In such a rear structure, because the recessed portion is positioned further forward than the lower part of the back door, the lower end of the back door outer panel that constitutes the outer surface of the back door protrudes into the air. In this case, the lower end of the back door outer panel becomes subject to regulations on external protrusions. Therefore, a rear structure of a vehicle that complies with regulations on external protrusions by devising the shape of the lower end of the back door outer panel has been proposed. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a back door panel with a rounded lower end shape. [Prior art documents] [Patent Documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2011-037316 [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0006] However, in the case of commonly used sheet metal back door panels, some kind of processing or manufacturing step is required to give the lower edge of the back door outer panel a rounded shape, resulting in extra costs.

[0007] Therefore, this specification discloses a vehicle rear structure that can reduce costs while complying with regulations on external protrusions. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The vehicle rear structure disclosed herein is a back door provided at the rear of a vehicle, comprising: a back door having a back door outer panel that constitutes the outer surface; a back door inner panel that constitutes the inner surface and has an inner panel surface that connects the back door outer panel and the inner panel surface and has a downward-facing bottom surface; an accessory part attached to the bottom surface of the panel; and a resin back door garnish attached to the bottom surface of the panel so as to cover the attachment part between the bottom surface of the panel and the accessory part, wherein the back door outer panel has a projection that protrudes downward from the bottom surface of the panel, and the rear lower corner of the back door garnish is located below the projection on the inside of the back door outer panel and has a more rounded shape compared to the projection. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] According to the vehicle rear structure disclosed herein, the lower rear corner of the back door garnish is located below the protruding portion of the back door outer panel. Here, rounding the lower rear corner of the resin back door garnish is easier than rounding the lower edge of the back door outer panel. In other words, the above structure makes it possible to create a vehicle rear structure that can comply with external protrusion regulations while keeping costs down. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0010] [Figure 1] This is a schematic rear view of the vehicle. [Figure 2] This is a perspective view of a vehicle's tailgate. [Figure 3] This is a cross-sectional view AA in Figure 1. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0011] The vehicle's rear structure will be described below with reference to the drawings. In each drawing, "Fr," "Up," and "W" indicate the front, top, and width directions of the vehicle, respectively.

[0012] Figure 1 is a schematic rear view of vehicle 1. Vehicle 1 is equipped with a back door 10 at the rear of the vehicle. The back door 10 is a lift-up type vehicle door that has a window portion 12 at the top and opens and closes using the upper end of the back door 10 body as a pivot point. Figure 2 is a perspective view of the back door 10, showing the area around the lower end of the back door 10 as seen from below when the back door 10 is open. Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of AA in Figure 1. As shown in Figure 3, the back door 10 has a back door outer panel 20 that constitutes its outer surface and a back door inner panel 30 that constitutes its inner surface and bottom surface. The back door inner panel 30 is composed of a panel inner surface portion 32 that constitutes the inner surface of the back door 10 and a panel bottom surface portion 34 that connects the back door outer panel 20 and the panel inner surface portion 32 and faces downward. The lower part of the back door outer panel 20 functions as a protruding portion 22 that protrudes downward from the panel bottom surface portion 34. This protruding portion 22 is folded back, but it is simply made by folding back a relatively thin metal panel, and the lower end is not sufficiently rounded, protruding downwards.

[0013] Returning to Figure 1, the structure around the back door 10 of vehicle 1 will be further described. Vehicle 1 is equipped with a rear bumper 60 below the back door 10. The rear bumper 60 has a recessed portion 62. This recessed portion 62 is where the license plate is attached and is recessed to the front of the rear bumper 60 in the vehicle's longitudinal direction. The lower part of the back door 10 (the protruding portion 22 of the back door outer panel 20 shown in Figure 3) and the upper part of the recessed portion 62 are positioned to overlap when viewed from the rear of the vehicle. The lower part of the back door 10 and the surface of the recessed portion 62 do not come into contact with each other and are separated in the vehicle's longitudinal direction, forming a gap between them. Here, the recessed portion 62 is positioned forward of the lower part of the back door 10 by the amount of this gap. As shown by the dashed line in Figure 1, a switch 56 for opening the back door 10 is attached to the bottom surface portion 34 of the panel, so sufficient space is secured between the protruding portion 22 and the recessed portion 62.

[0014] Next, as shown in Figure 2, auxiliary components such as a license plate lamp 52 for illuminating the license plate, a rearview camera 54 for imaging the area behind the vehicle 1, and a switch 56 are attached to the bottom surface 34 of the panel. A resin back door garnish 40 is used to conceal these mounting points and improve the appearance. As shown in Figures 2 and 3, the back door garnish 40 is attached to the bottom surface 34 of the panel so as to cover the mounting points between the bottom surface 34 and the auxiliary components. As a result, the mounting points are not visible from the rear of the vehicle, making it possible to attach the necessary auxiliary components without compromising the appearance of the rear of the vehicle. Here, as shown in Figure 2, the back door garnish 40 covers most of the bottom surface 34 of the panel while exposing the necessary parts of the auxiliary components. For example, the back door garnish 40 is positioned above the recessed area 62. Furthermore, openings are provided for the light-emitting portion of the license plate lamp 52, the housing portion of the optical system facing the rear of the backup camera 54, and the finger-operated portion of the switch 56, exposing these components. In other words, since the necessary parts of each accessory component need to be exposed to the outside in order to perform their function, holes and cutouts are appropriately provided in the back door garnish 40 to expose the necessary parts.

[0015] Incidentally, in the vehicle rear structure disclosed herein, the back door garnish 40 not only contributes to improving the appearance of the rear of the vehicle 1, but also plays a role in complying with regulations on external protrusions. This will be explained in detail below.

[0016] Vehicles are required to comply with regulations regarding external protrusions. These regulations require that there be no sharp protrusions on the outside. Regarding the rear of the vehicle, when a spherical test piece, as shown by the dashed line in Figure 3, is rolled toward the vehicle body (rear bumper 60 in Figure 3), it is required that no sharp protrusions come into contact with the test piece. In a vehicle like this example, where the lower part of the back door 10 (protrusion 22 in Figure 3) and the main body of the rear of the vehicle (rear bumper 60 in Figure 3) are separated in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle without contact, and a gap is formed, consider the case when the above-mentioned spherical test piece is rolled toward the vehicle body. If there is no back door garnish 40, the test piece will come into contact with the lower part of the back door (protrusion 22 in Figure 3). That is, as shown in Figure 3, since the lower end of the back door outer panel is located below the bottom surface of the back door inner panel, the above-mentioned spherical test piece will come into contact with the lower end of the back door outer panel. However, the lower edge of the back door outer panel protrudes sharply downwards in a hollow space, which poses a problem under regulations regarding external protrusions in such cases.

[0017] Therefore, conventional measures have been taken to comply with external protrusion regulations, such as modifying the shape of the lower end of the back door outer panel. For example, measures have been taken to round the lower end of the back door outer panel so that it does not have a pointed shape that protrudes downwards. Sheet metal is usually used as the material for the back door outer panel and back door inner panel (hereinafter, both are collectively referred to as "back door panels"), but in order to change the shape of the lower end of the back door outer panel, it is necessary to apply additional processing and processing to the sheet metal. For example, one currently popular method is to process the lower end of the back door outer panel by hemming using a roller. However, with this method, it is difficult to process the panel into the desired shape uniformly, and those that do not meet the requirements must be discarded, leading to increased costs. On the other hand, methods other than hemming using a roller have been considered, but it has been pointed out that productivity will decrease. In other words, even when trying to form a back door outer panel that complies with external protrusion regulations, some inconvenience arises as described above.

[0018] Therefore, in the vehicle rear structure disclosed herein, the configuration of the back door 10 and the back door garnish 40 is unique so as not to form any sharp protrusions to the outside. The specific configuration is as follows.

[0019] First, as before, the back door panel is made of sheet metal, and the back door garnish 40 is made of resin. Furthermore, as shown in Figure 3, the lower rear corner 42 of the back door garnish 40 is made into a rounded shape. This takes advantage of the fact that the back door garnish 40 is made of resin, making it easy to process into different shapes.

[0020] Next, as described above, the protrusion 22 of the back door outer panel 20 protrudes downward and the lower end is not sufficiently rounded, but even with this shape, it is configured not to cause problems in terms of external protrusion regulations. Specifically, the lower rear corner 42 of the back door garnish 40 is configured to be located below the protrusion 22. As shown in FIG. 3, by configuring the corner 42 to be located below the protrusion 22, the spherical test piece rolled toward the rear bumper 60 contacts the corner 42 instead of the protrusion 22. The corner 42 is rounded and not sharp, so even if such a corner 42 protrudes downward, it will not conflict with the external protrusion regulations. The external protrusion regulation is that the radius of curvature of its tip is, for example, 2.5 mm or more, and it is preferable to make the radius of curvature of the rounded shape at the lower end of the back door garnish 40 larger than this.

[0021] As described above, in the vehicle rear structure disclosed in this specification, in order to comply with the external protrusion regulations, the resin back door garnish 40 is used, and the lower rear corner 42 of the back door garnish 40 is made into a rounded shape. And the arrangement within the vehicle rear structure is also unique such that the corner 42 is located below the protrusion 22 of the back door outer panel 20. By adopting such a configuration, the shape of the protrusion 22 does not cause problems in terms of external protrusion regulations. As a result, it becomes possible to suppress costs while complying with the external protrusion regulations, without the need to add other parts to the back door outer panel 20 or perform any processing.

[0022] Note that the above description is just an example. The rear vehicle structure only needs to use at least a resin rear door garnish 40, and the lower rear corner 42 thereof has a rounded shape and is arranged below the lower end (protrusion 22) of the rear door outer panel 20. Therefore, the configurations of other rear vehicle structures may be changed as appropriate. For example, in this example, the rear door 10 of the vehicle 1 is a flip-up vehicle door, but it is not limited thereto and may be a side-opening or double-hinged vehicle door. Also, in the above description, no rounding is provided for the portions other than the lower rear corner 42 of the rear door garnish 40. However, rounding may also be provided for other portions. For example, the front side of the rear door garnish 40 may have the same rounded shape as the rear side. With such a configuration, the shapes of the front and rear sides of the rear door garnish can be unified, enabling an improvement in efficiency during the manufacture of the rear door garnish.

Description of Reference Signs

[0023] 10 Rear door for vehicle, 20 Rear door outer panel, 22 Protrusion, 30 Rear door inner panel, 32 Inner surface of panel, 34 Bottom surface of panel, 40 Rear door garnish, 42 Lower rear corner of rear door garnish 40.

Claims

[Claim 1] A back door provided at the rear of a vehicle, comprising: a back door outer panel constituting the outer surface; a back door inner panel constituting the inner surface, and a back door inner panel having an inner panel portion and a bottom panel portion that connects the back door outer panel and the inner panel portion and faces downward; The accessory parts attached to the bottom surface of the panel, A resin back door garnish is attached to the bottom of the panel so as to cover the mounting portion between the bottom of the panel and the attached component, In a vehicle rear structure equipped with, The aforementioned back door outer panel has a protrusion that extends downward from the bottom surface of the panel, The rear lower corner of the aforementioned back door garnish is located below the protruding portion on the inside of the back door outer panel and has a more rounded shape compared to the protruding portion. A vehicle rear structure characterized by the following.

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