Patent Application
20180052482
The present application relates generally to vehicle pedal assemblies and, more particularly, to a pedal release system for a vehicle pedal assembly.
During a vehicle frontal impact event, portions of the vehicle may be urged or pushed rearward and may potentially cause a brake and/or clutch pedal to intrude into a passenger area of the vehicle and possibly transfer a force to a foot or leg of a driver of the vehicle. Systems have been developed to mechanically disengage the pedals in an effort to prevent the pedals from potentially being forced into the passenger area during such an impact event. These systems typically rely only gravity to disengage the pedals. While such systems work well for their intended purpose, there remains a desire in the relevant art to have the mechanical disengagement of the pedals be even more responsive.
In one exemplary aspect of the invention, a pedal release system for a vehicle is provided. In an example implementation, the pedal release system includes a pedal bracket configured to couple to a vehicle dash panel, a pivot pin received within the pedal bracket and defining a first rotational axis, a pedal arm configured to rotate about the first rotational axis, an activation bracket coupled to a stationary structural component of the vehicle, and a pedal release lever coupled to the pedal bracket and movable between a first position and a second position. The pedal release lever includes a contact lever, a pivot release arm, and a pivot push arm. In the first position the pivot release arm facilitates maintaining the pivot pin within the pedal bracket. Upon an impact event where the contact lever is brought into contact with the activation bracket, the pedal release lever is moved to the second position where the pivot push arm urges the pivot pin out of the pedal bracket to release the pedal arm from the pedal bracket so as to prevent intrusion of the pedal arm into a passenger area of an interior of the vehicle.
In another exemplary aspect of the invention, a vehicle is provided. The vehicle includes a dash panel and a pedal release system. The pedal release system includes, in one example implementation, a pedal bracket coupled to the dash panel, a pivot pin received within the pedal bracket and defining a first rotational axis, a pedal arm configured to rotate about the first rotational axis, an activation bracket coupled to a stationary structural component of the vehicle, and a pedal release lever coupled to the pedal bracket and movable between a first position and a second position. The pedal release lever includes a contact lever, a pivot release arm, and a pivot push arm. In the first position the pivot release arm facilitates maintaining the pivot pin within the pedal bracket. Upon an impact event where the contact lever is brought into contact with the activation bracket, the pedal release lever is moved to the second position where the pivot push arm urges the pivot pin out of the pedal bracket to release the pedal arm from the pedal bracket so as to prevent intrusion of the pedal arm into a passenger area of an interior of the vehicle.
With initial reference to
With additional reference to
In the example embodiment, brake pedal bracket 12 is configured to couple to a vehicle dash panel 22 (see
As illustrated in the example embodiment of
In the example embodiment, each inner slot 44 includes a closed end 50 and an open end 52, which enables pedal pivot pin 14 to be inserted into and removed from the inner slot 44. Moreover, open end 52 is located below closed end 50 such that pedal pivot pin 14 will be pushed out of inner slot 44 when pedal pivot pin 14 is released by release lever 18, as described herein in more detail. As illustrated in the example implementation, pedal pivot pin 14 may include ends 54 having a smaller diameter than a middle portion 56. As such, ends 54 may have a diameter sized to fit within a width of inner slot 44, and middle portion 56 may have a larger diameter sized to be received within brake pedal arm 16 and a portion of release lever 18.
In the example embodiment, brake pedal arm 16 generally includes a proximal end 60 and a distal end 62. Proximal end 60 includes an aperture 64 configured to receive pedal pivot pin 14 such that brake pedal arm 16 is rotatable about a first axis ‘A1’. Distal end 62 includes a foot pad 66 configured to receive a foot of the driver for actuation of the vehicle brakes. A booster input rod 68 is coupled to brake pedal arm 16 and is configured to provide input to a hydraulic brake booster (not shown) through the brake pedal arm 16. Although a brake pedal arm 16 is described, the pedal release system 10 described herein may be utilized with other pedals such as, for example, a clutch pedal.
In the example embodiment, pedal release lever 18 is located proximate activation bracket 20 such that during a frontal collision, as the vehicle dash panel 22 moves rearward, release lever 18 is driven into activation bracket 20, which is coupled to a stationary vehicle structure such as a cross-car beam (not shown). With further reference to
As illustrated in
In one example implementation, pivot push arm 74 is coupled to and extends outwardly from contact lever 70, and pivot release arm 72 is coupled to and extends outwardly from pivot push arm 74. Pivot release arm 72 is generally curved or hook-shaped and is configured to be disposed about at least a portion of the pivot pin 14, as shown in
As shown in
In operation, pedal release system 10 begins in the unreleased home position shown in
Upon a predetermined impact event (e.g., a frontal collision), vehicle dash panel 22 collapses rearward toward the driver, which in turn causes rearward movement of brake pedal bracket 12 and associated pedal release system 10 rearward toward the activation bracket 20, which is coupled to a stationary support structure of the vehicle. As such, contact face 76 of release lever 18 contacts activation bracket 20, thereby causing counter-clockwise rotation of release lever 18 about pivot axis ‘A2’ (as viewed in
In the example embodiment, as the release lever 18 moves from the unreleased position to the released position, the pivot release arm 72 moves from the first position (
Described herein are systems and methods for releasing a brake pedal during an impact event to prevent injury to a driver. A pedal release system includes a pedal release lever that contacts an activation bracket during the impact event. This contact causes the release lever to rotate such that a first arm enables a pedal pivot pin to release from the system while a second arm urges the pedal pivot pin away from the system, thereby releasing the brake pedal. As such, the system provides a simple mechanical release of the brake pedal that is activated based on movement of the vehicle dash panel.
It will be understood that the mixing and matching of features, elements, methodologies and/or functions between various examples may be expressly contemplated herein so that one skilled in the art would appreciate from the present teachings that features, elements and/or functions of one example may be incorporated into another example as appropriate, unless described otherwise above.
