Patent ID: 6367840
Filing Date: 2002-04-09
Classification: B62D

Abstract:
A modulatable device for absorbing energy from an automobile vehicle steering column, which includes a steering shaft rotatably mounted in a body-tube connected to a support assembly fixed to the vehicle, said modulatable device comprising:a fixed support fastened to the vehicle and a mobile support which is connected to and locked to the fixed support with a particular clamping force such that locking ceases in the event of an impact; at least two coils of a metal member with a particular section, which are connected to the fixed support and to the mobile support by a retaining pin and by an attachment pin, respectively; the coils being mounted on one or more rollers disposed on the retaining pin fastened to the fixed support member and each having a rectilinear portion substantially parallel to the direction of movement of the mobile support on the fixed support to be damped, and a free end which is attached to the corresponding attachment pin disposed at one end of the mobile support, at the same end as the steering rack; at least one coil having one of its attachment pin and its retaining pin in the form of a holding rod adapted to be moved along its axis by pyrotechnic displacement means which are actuated by actuator means, so that in the event of an impact the mobile support is connected to the fixed support by a number of coils matching the energy to be absorbed.