Vehicle Hood Latch Assembly with Recessed Safety Hook
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing hood latch assemblies for vehicles suffer from issues such as reduced strength, increased height, potential injury to users, and aesthetic degradation, as well as reduced operability, especially for shorter individuals, due to the design of integrated and separate-lever latches.
Innovation Solution
A hood latch assembly with a housing, latch, and safety hook configuration that eliminates the need for a lever, featuring a support protrusion, sliding protrusion, and resilient members to ensure safe operation and improved aesthetics, allowing the hood to be easily opened and closed without an actuator or lever.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If an integrated-lever latch is used, then the lever can be elongated to provide leverage, but the lever strength is reduced and the lever gap increases
Solution Approach 1:
The latch mechanism is divided into separate functional components: a separate-lever latch for operation and a safety hook for securing. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently - the lever can be short and strong while the safety hook provides the necessary retention function.
Solution Approach 2:
The safety function is extracted from the lever mechanism by introducing a separate safety hook component. This extraction allows the lever to be simplified and strengthened while the safety hook independently provides the securing function that previously required a long, weak lever.
2Strength
If a separate-lever latch is used, then the lever strength is improved, but the height of the hood from the ground increases
Solution Approach 1:
The safety hook is designed to engage in a longitudinal direction (along the hood's length) rather than requiring vertical clearance. This dimensional change allows the hood to be positioned lower to the ground while still providing effective latching through the safety hook's engagement with the vehicle body in the longitudinal axis.
3Ease of operation
If a lever is used in the hood latch assembly, then the latch can be operated, but the lever may injure pedestrians and degrade the aesthetic appearance
Solution Approach 1:
The harmful lever component that protrudes into pedestrian space is extracted and replaced with a recessed safety hook mechanism. The safety hook is positioned within the hood panel recess, eliminating the protruding element that could injure pedestrians while maintaining the latching function.
Solution Approach 2:
A button mechanism served as an intermediary to operate the latch from inside the cabin, eliminating the need for external lever manipulation. This intermediary control method allows hood operation without exposing pedestrians to harmful protruding components.
4Ease of operation
If a lever is added to the hood inner panel, then the latch can be operated, but the hood inner panel is interfered with and aesthetic appearance is degraded
Solution Approach 1:
The safety hook is nested within a recess formed in the hood inner panel, allowing the latching mechanism to be contained within the panel's thickness rather than protruding outward. This nesting approach maintains the smooth aesthetic appearance of the hood panel while providing functional latching capability.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The proposed configuration enhances user and pedestrian safety, improves design freedom, and increases operability by simplifying the mechanism, reducing the risk of injury, and enhancing the aesthetic appearance of the hood latch assembly.
Implementation Method 1
a first resilient member with one end portion thereof being coupled to the housing and the other end portion thereof being coupled to the auxiliary latch, the first resilient member allowing the auxiliary latch to resiliently restore an original position thereof after pivoting
Data Source
AI summary
A hood latch assembly for a vehicle. A housing includes an insert recess allowing a striker coupled to a hood of a vehicle to be retracted into and withdrawn from the insert recess. A latch has one end portion pivotably coupled to an inner portion of the housing. A fitting recess in the other end portion of the latch allows the striker to be retracted into and withdrawn from the fitting recess. A support protrusion is formed on one end portion of the fitting recess. A safety hook includes a hinge disposed on one end portion to be pivotably coupled to an outer portion of housing and a sliding protrusion disposed on the other end portion to allow the striker to slide when in contact with the striker. When the hood is in a closed position, the safety hook is supported by the support protrusion so as not to pivot.