Intrusion Mitigation Door Bracket for Vehicle Safety
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current vehicle crash test technologies fail to effectively mitigate intrusion of vehicle doors into the passenger compartment during impacts, particularly into the rear occupant area, which can compromise post-crash survivability ratings.
Innovation Solution
An intrusion mitigation system is introduced, featuring a bracket positioned at the intersection of the rocker panel and pillar reinforcement within the vehicle door, with lateral and longitudinal load-bearing surfaces to redirect impact loads along the rocker panel, thereby reducing door intrusion into the rear occupant area.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a bracket is added to the door structure to redirect impact loads, then door intrusion into the rear occupant area is reduced, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The door structure is segmented by adding a separate bracket component that divides the load path. The bracket is positioned at the intersection of the rocker panel and pillar reinforcement, creating distinct load-bearing zones that redirect impact forces away from the rear occupant area while maintaining overall structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The bracket acts as an intermediary element between the door impact force and the vehicle body structure. It mediates the transmission of impact loads by providing an alternative load path through its lateral and longitudinal load-bearing surfaces, preventing direct intrusion into the rear occupant compartment.
2Reliability
If the bracket redirects impact loads along the rocker panel, then intrusion propagation is reduced, but the manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The bracket provides localized reinforcement at the critical intersection of the rocker panel and pillar reinforcement. Rather than strengthening the entire door structure, the bracket concentrates load-bearing capacity only where needed to redirect impact forces, simplifying manufacturing while maintaining intrusion mitigation effectiveness.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle includes a rocker panel and a pillar reinforcement extending in a direction transverse to the rocker panel. The vehicle further includes a door having a bracket disposed over an intersection of the rocker panel and the pillar reinforcement when the door is in a closed position. The bracket is configured to reduce intrusion propagation of the door toward a passenger compartment and redirect an impact load laterally along the rocker panel.