Patent ID: 6443511
Filing Date: 2002-09-03
Classification: B60R

Abstract:
An energy absorber for motor vehicle bumpers with a number of stiffening elements arranged between a bumper bracket and a bumper shell of a bumper,wherein the stiffening elements have front sides facing away from a rear mounting structure that is capable of being fastened to the bumper bracket, and whose centers are also laterally offset from one another in the longitudinal direction, the lateral center-to-center distance corresponding to the dimensions of a human leg, whereas the stiffening elements are stiffening loops with flattened, elongated front sides and with loop edges joined at the transverse edges of the front side, wherein the loop edges are capable of connection to the bumper bracket by means of rear sections and loop edges of stiffening loops that are adjacent in the longitudinal direction are in contact with one another, thus the stiffening elements deforming in the event of a collision with a first object having the size of a human leg with essentially unimpeded and mutually independent energy-absorbing deformation of side faces which face one another, and the stiffening elements engaging one another at their side faces in a manner hindering lateral deformation with an abrupt increase in the stiffness of the energy absorber in the event of collision with a second object larger than the dimensions of a human leg.