Patent ID: 6742411
Filing Date: 2004-06-01
Classification: B60T,G05G,Y10T

Abstract:
A brake pedal apparatus for an automotive vehicle having a dash floor panel and a vehicular body structural member, comprising:a pedal bracket fixedly secured to a dash floor panel and at a coupling position to a lower wall portion of a vehicular body structural member and carrying thereon a pivot shaft; a pivot bracket pivotally supported on the pivot shaft and having a pedal shaft; a pedal arm pivotally supported on the pedal shaft; a slide plate held in slidable engagement with the pedal bracket; an impact absorbing section located between the coupling position and the pivot shaft to permit a relative movement of at least the pivot shaft and the lower wall portion of the vehicular body structural member in a fore and aft direction of an automotive vehicle for thereby absorbing an impact energy when the pedal bracket encounters an impact force exerted rearward in a vehicle compartment at a level beyond a given load such that when the pivot shaft and the coupling position are moved in a contracted condition relative to one another, the pivot bracket disengages from the slide plate to allow the pivot bracket to rotate counterclockwise about the center of the pivot shaft; and a releasable connecting section coupling at least the slide plate and the pedal bracket to one another and operative to release a coupling state between the slide plate and the pedal bracket when the pedal bracket encounters the impact force exerted rearward at the level beyond the given load, wherein the connecting section is located in respective forward end portions of the slide plate and the pivot bracket.