Patent ID: 8215443
Filing Date: 2012-07-10
Classification: B60K,F01N

Abstract:
1. An exhaust pipe structure for a vehicle, comprising: a vehicle body frame of a vehicle body, the vehicle body frame comprising a front frame portion, a center frame portion, and a rear frame portion, the front frame portion supporting a front-wheel drive system, the center frame portion providing a space for occupants, the rear frame portion supporting a rear-wheel drive system; a pair of occupant seats comprising a driver's seat and a passenger seat and disposed side by side in a vehicle width direction in the center frame portion; an internal combustion engine disposed behind the occupant seats and supported substantially on a center line of the vehicle body in the rear frame portion; an exhaust pipe which is connected to the internal combustion engine behind the occupant seats and through which a combustion gas generated by combustion in the internal combustion engine is exhausted, the exhaust pipe extending outward in the vehicle width direction from the internal combustion engine, thereafter, being bent substantially in a U-shape to extend inward in the vehicle width direction, and then extending substantially onto the center line of the vehicle body; and a muffler connected to the exhaust pipe, wherein the muffler is provided substantially on the center line of the vehicle body in the rear frame portion, wherein the exhaust pipe extends frontward from the internal combustion engine, then u-turns to extend rearward, and then is bent outward in the vehicle width direction so that the exhaust pipe linearly extends outward in the vehicle width direction, and wherein after being bent to extend inward in the vehicle width direction, the exhaust pipe linearly extends back substantially onto the center line of the vehicle body so that the exhaust pipe is connected to the muffler.