Patent ID: 7810408
Filing Date: 2010-10-12
Classification: B62D

Abstract:
1. A steering column supporting apparatus, comprising: a steering column provided with a steering shaft attached to a steering wheel; a tilt bracket located outside said steering column and fixed to a vehicle body, the tilt bracket having a U-shaped part opposing a lower face and side faces of the steering column; a column bracket provided between the steering wheel and the tilt bracket and fixing the steering column to the vehicle body; a bulging part provided on the lower face of said steering column and at a location between said column bracket and said tilt bracket; and a support pin provided on one of said tilt bracket and said steering column, and passed through a hole formed in the other one of said tilt bracket and said steering column, thereby defining a center of a tilting action of the steering column relative to the U-shaped part of the tilt bracket, wherein a slotted hole is formed in the other one of said tilt bracket and said steering column, and extended continuously from the hole in a direction identical with an axial direction of said steering column; wherein a boundary is formed between the hole and said slotted hole; wherein a gap is formed between the bulging part and the tilt bracket to allow the steering column to tilt about the support pin under a condition that the support pin is held within the hole; wherein the boundary is crushed by the support pin according to an initial impact of a vehicle collision; wherein the support pin is allowed to displace along the slotted hole during the vehicle collision after the boundary is crushed; wherein said tilt bracket comes in contact with said bulging part when said support pin is displaced along said slotted hole; and wherein a thickness of the bulging part increases as the bulging part extends rearward in the direction of the length of the vehicle, so that a part of said bulging part is crushed by the U-shaped part of said tilt bracket during the vehicle collision.