Patent Application
20160375855
This disclosure relates to a cowl structure and resilient windshield support that reduces the force applied by the windshield to a pedestrian in a vehicle collision with a pedestrian.
Structural boxed cowl structures are part of a vehicle frame that supports the rear edge of the hood, the windshield, dashboard and instrument panel.
Pedestrian protection standards must be met that are intended to reduce the risk of injury and extent of any injuries to a pedestrian in a vehicle/pedestrian collision. One proposed solution is to provide a cowl that is made entirely of a soft resilient polymer. However, this approach causes structural loads to be applied to less efficient supporting structures and reduces torsional strength and adversely impacts performance of the cowl.
This disclosure is directed to the above problems and other problems as summarized below.
According to one aspect of this disclosure, a vehicle is provided that includes a vehicle frame including a cowl box and a cowl top panel and a cantilevered support that extends from a rear edge of the cowl top panel to a lower edge of a windshield. The support resiliently attaches to a front/lower edge of the windshield. The cowl box and cowl top panel are more rigid than the support.
According to other aspects of this disclosure, the cowl top panel may extend from a front end of the cowl box to a back end of the cowl box. The support may be attached to the back end of the cowl top panel above the cowl top panel to the lower edge of the windshield that is disposed forward of the front end of the cowl box. The cantilevered support deflects to a greater extent than the cowl box when an impact is applied to the windshield, for example, in a collision with a pedestrian.
The vehicle may further comprise a pair of braces attached to the cowl box and wherein each brace extends to one of a pair of shock towers. The vehicle may further comprise a pair of shotgun rails and the cowl box may extend between and may be attached to the shotgun rails to tie the shotgun rails together to increase the torsional strength of the vehicle frame.
According to another aspect of this disclosure a front end assembly is disclosed that includes a pair of frame rails extending longitudinally, a pair of shotgun rails attached to the frame rails and a pair of shock tower braces attached to a pair of shock towers. A cowl box is attached between the shotgun rails and extends in a transverse vehicle direction. A cowl top panel is attached to the cowl box that includes a windshield support attached to a rear edge of the cowl top panel and cowl box. The windshield extends to a front/lower edge of the windshield. The front/lower edge of the windshield support is disposed in a location above and forward of the cowl box.
According to other aspects of this disclosure, the windshield support resiliently supports the windshield above the cowl box and cowl top panel that are fabricated from metal or plastic materials that are more rigid than the windshield support.
According to another aspect of this disclosure a method of assembling a vehicle is disclosed that comprises the following steps:
assembling a cowl box to a frame of the vehicle and the dashboard;
assembling a cowl top panel to a cantilevered support as a sub-assembly;
assembling the sub-assembly to the cowl box; and
attaching a lower edge of the windshield to the cantilevered support.
According to other aspects of the method, the step of assembling the sub-assembly to the cowl box may further comprise welding the cowl top panel to the cowl box with the cantilevered support attached to the cowl top panel as part of the sub-assembly. The welding step may be performed in a framer tool.
The above aspects and other aspects of this disclosure are described in greater detail below with reference to the attached drawings.
The illustrated embodiments are disclosed with reference to the drawings. However, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are intended to be merely examples that may be embodied in various and alternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale and some features may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particular components. The specific structural and functional details disclosed are not to be interpreted as limiting, but as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art how to practice the disclosed concepts.
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The embodiments described above are specific examples that do not describe all possible forms of the disclosure. The features of the illustrated embodiments may be combined to form further embodiments of the disclosed concepts. The words used in the specification are words of description rather than limitation. The scope of the following claims is broader than the specifically disclosed embodiments and also includes modifications of the illustrated embodiments.
