Vehicle Door Load Transmission for Side Impact Safety
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle body structures fail to effectively prevent side collision loads from being transmitted to seat members when the seat is in a stored condition, potentially compromising safety and cargo space.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle body structure featuring a seat member with a load transmission member disposed higher than the seat's upper surface in its stored condition, which includes a pair of load transmission members – one made of metal and the other of resin – integrated into the door member to transmit side collision loads only when the seat is in a seated condition, preventing load transmission during storage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a load transmission member is disposed to transmit side collision load to the seat member, then safety is improved, but the seat member may be damaged when the seat is in stored condition with baggage placed on it
Solution Approach 1:
The load transmission member is designed to be movable relative to the seat member, capable of switching between a load transmission position (when seat is in use) and a retracted position (when seat is stored). This dynamic configuration allows the system to adapt its load transmission capability based on the operational state, preventing damage to stored seats while maintaining safety during normal operation
Solution Approach 2:
The system detects the stored condition of the seat in advance and preliminarily retracts the load transmission member before a side collision occurs. This preliminary action ensures that when the seat is folded down with baggage on it, the load transmission member is already positioned to avoid transmitting collision loads to the vulnerable stored seat structure
2Reliability
If the load transmission member is always positioned to transmit load, then safety is improved, but cargo space and ease of operation are reduced due to interference with stored seat
Solution Approach 1:
The load transmission member transitions from a static always-positioned design to a dynamic movable design that responds to seat position changes. This allows the member to automatically clear the path when the seat is folded down for storage, eliminating interference with the storage operation while maintaining safety readiness when the seat is in its normal upright position
3Ease of operation
If the load transmission member is disposed higher to avoid the stored seat, then interference with stored seat is reduced, but load transmission capability to seated occupant is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of fixing the load transmission member at a higher position that compromises safety, the member is designed to dynamically adjust its vertical position. It moves to a lower position aligned with the seated occupant's protection zone when the seat is in use, and moves to a higher retracted position when the seat is stored, thus resolving the conflict between safety effectiveness and operational clearance
Data Source
AI summary
There is provided a vehicle body structure including: a seat member storable in a floor of a vehicle body; a front door disposed on a vehicle-width directional outer side relative to the seat member; a first load transmission member and a second load transmission member disposed in the front door and configured to transmit a side collision load to the seat member at a side collision. The first load transmission member and the second load transmission member are arranged higher than an upper surface of the seat member being in a dive-down stored condition.