Claims
- 1. A bumper system for a passenger vehicle comprising:
a beam having a face and adapted for attachment to a vehicle frame; and an energy absorber supported against the face of the beam, the energy absorber including a longitudinally-extending top and bottom horizontal walls, at least part of one of the top and bottom horizontal walls including a front portion, a rear portion extending parallel the front portion, and an offset mid-portion that interconnects the front and rear portions but that offsets and misaligns the front and rear portions so that, upon a frontal impact, the front and rear portions telescopingly collapse with the offset mid portion wrapping back upon itself with a predictable energy-absorbing collapse.
- 2. The bumper system-defined in claim 1, wherein both of the top and bottom horizontal walls include a front portion, a rear portion parallel the front portion, and an offset mid-portion that interconnects the front and rear portions but that offsets and misaligns the front and rear portions so that, upon a frontal impact, the front and rear portions telescopingly collapse with the offset mid portion wrapping back upon itself with a predictable energy-absorbing collapse.
- 3. The bumper system defined in claim 2, wherein the top and bottom horizontal walls include wavy undulations and are non-planar.
- 4. The bumper system defined in claim 3, wherein the beam includes top and bottom beam walls, and wherein the top and bottom horizontal walls of the energy absorber generally align with the top and bottom beam walls, respectively, such that impact energy from a crash is communicated directly from the energy absorber to the beam.
- 5. The bumper system defined in claim 4, wherein the energy absorber includes flanges that extend overlappingly onto the top and bottom beam walls, the flanges including friction pads for frictionally engage the beam to temporarily retain the energy absorber on the beam during assembly.
- 6. The bumper system defined in claim 1, wherein the front face of the beam includes apertures, and the energy absorber includes hooks that extend into the apertures and that resiliently snap-attach to the beam for temporarily holding the energy absorber on the beam.
- 7. A bumper system for a passenger vehicle comprising:
a beam having a face and top and bottom beam walls and being adapted for attachment to a vehicle frame; and an energy absorber supported against the face of the beam, the energy absorber including a plurality of horizontally-and-longitudinally-extending top and bottom walls that generally align with the top and bottom beam walls, and further including flanges that overlap onto the top and bottom beam walls and that include at least a pair of fingertip-like friction pads that frictionally engage the top and bottom beam walls to temporarily retain the energy absorber to the beam.
- 8. The bumper system defined in claim 7, wherein the fingertip-like friction pads engage top and bottom surfaces of the top and bottom beam walls.
- 9. The bumper system defined in claim 7, wherein the face of the beam includes apertures, and the fingertip-like friction pads of the energy absorber includes hooks that extend into the apertures and that resiliently snap-attach to the beam for temporarily holding the energy absorber on the beam.
- 10. The bumper system defined in claim 7, wherein the energy absorber includes a rear wall that engages the face of the beam, and the flanges and fingertip-like friction pads extend rearwardly of the rear wall.
- 11. A bumper system for a passenger vehicle comprising:
a beam having front and rear beam walls, and that is adapted for attachment to a vehicle frame; the front beam wall including at least one aperture in the front beam wall, with the rear beam wall including a support area located behind and spaced from the at least one aperture; and an energy absorber supported against the front beam wall, the energy absorber including a plurality of horizontally-extending longitudinally-extending top and bottom walls and further including front and rear walls, the energy absorber walls including at least one structural column extending from the front wall through the rear wall and through the at least one aperture in the front beam wall to a location near the support area on the rear beam wall, wherein the front wall of the energy absorber receives support from the front beam wall via the structural column.
- 12. The bumper system defined in claim 11, wherein the at least one aperture includes at least two apertures, and wherein the at least one column includes at least two columns.
- 13. The bumper system defined in claim 12, wherein the at least one column defines a tubular shape.
- 14. The bumper system defined in claim 11, wherein the at least one column is configured to temporarily support the energy absorber on the beam.
- 15. The bumper system defined in claim 11, wherein the at least one column defines a tubular shape.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 10/061,670, filed Feb. 1, 2002, entitled BUMPER SYSTEM WITH FACE-MOUNTED ENERGY ABSORBER, which in turn claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of a provisional application Serial No. 60/283,969, filed Apr. 16, 2001, entitled BUMPER SYSTEM WITH FACE-MOUNTED ENERGY ABSORBER. This application is further a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 09/967,196, filed Sep. 28, 2001, entitled BUMPER SYSTEM WITH FACE-ABUTTING ENERGY ABSORBER, which in turn claims benefit of provisional application Serial No. 60/284,058, filed Apr. 16, 2001, entitled BUMPER SYSTEM WITH FACE-ABUTTING ENERGY ABSORBER under 35 USC §119.
Provisional Applications (2)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60283969 |
Apr 2001 |
US |
|
60284058 |
Apr 2001 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (2)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10061670 |
Feb 2002 |
US |
Child |
10407413 |
Apr 2003 |
US |
Parent |
09967196 |
Sep 2001 |
US |
Child |
10407413 |
Apr 2003 |
US |