Abstract:
A vehicle rear gate includes a gate panel, a garnish disposed on the gate panel, a gate handle provided to the garnish and being turnable backward of a vehicle to open the gate panel, a stop lamp provided to the garnish, and a stop lamp attaching portion that reinforces the garnish.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to a rear gate for enclosing a rear portion of a rear body of a pickup truck or the like to open and close the portion, and more particularly to a rear gate to a back surface of which a closing handle is provided.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art  
           [0004]    As illustrated in FIG. 1 and FIG. 6, in a pickup truck  1 , a garnish  5  made of resin is attached to a gate panel  4  of a conventional rear gate  3  that encloses the rear side of a rear body  2 , and a gate handle  6  is incorporated into the garnish  5  such that the gate handle  6  can be turned backward of the vehicle on a supporting point as indicated with a chain double-dashed line in FIG. 6. The rear gate  3  can be opened backward of the vehicle by turning the gate handle  6  backward.  
           [0005]    When the gate handle  6  is operated backward of the vehicle, the gate handle  6  is turned by the reaction caused by pushing the thumb of the operator against an upper end surface  8  of the garnish  5 . Therefore, it is possible that the garnish  5  is damaged by a relatively large load applied to the upper end surface  8 .  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0006]    The present invention intends to prevent damage of a garnish by enhancing rigidity of the garnish even though a closing handle is provided to a rear gate of a pickup truck or the like via the garnish.  
           [0007]    According to the present invention, there is provided a vehicle rear gate including: a gate panel; a garnish disposed on the gate panel; a gate handle provided to the garnish and being turnable backward of a vehicle to open the gate panel; a stop lamp provided to the garnish; and a stop lamp attaching portion that reinforces the garnish.  
           [0008]    Such a structure in which the gate handle and the stop lamp are provided to the garnish has not been proposed. This structure is a new structure.  
           [0009]    Since the gate handle and the stop lamp are incorporated into a single garnish that is attached to the gate panel of the rear gate, an assembling man-hour required for attaching the gate handle and the stop lamp to the vehicle can be reduced easily. Also, since the garnish is reinforced by the stop lamp attaching portion, when the gate handle is turned backward of the vehicle to open the rear gate and when a relatively large load is applied to the rear end portion of the garnish by the opening motion of the operator, the rear end portion can sufficiently support the load.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0010]    [0010]FIG. 1 is a schematic arrangement view in an embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of a pertinent portion of the embodiment;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 3 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG. 2;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the pertinent portion of the embodiment;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of a pertinent portion of another embodiment; and  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of a pertinent portion in the related art. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0016]    An embodiment of the present invention will be described hereinafter while members and portions corresponding to those in the related art are denoted by the same reference numerals.  
         [0017]    In FIG. 1 to FIG. 4, a rear gate  3  is provided at the back of a rear body  2  of a pickup truck  1 , and a garnish  5  made of resin is attached to a gate panel  4  of the rear gate  3  from the backside of the vehicle.  
         [0018]    A gate handle  6  is incorporated into a lower portion of the garnish  5  in such a manner that the gate handle  6  can be turned about a supporting point  7  to the backward of the vehicle as indicated by a chain double-dashed line in FIG. 3. The rear gate  3  can be opened backward by turning backward the gate handle  6 .  
         [0019]    Also, a lateral window  10  is provided to an upper portion of the garnish  5 . A rib  11  is formed around the window  10 . Stud bolts  12 ,  13  are provided to the lower portion of the garnish  5  and both sides of the window  10  on the vehicle front side respectively. A stud bolt  15  is provided to a lower side of the window  10  on the vehicle front side, i.e., on the vehicle front side of a rear end portion  14  formed in the garnish  5  adjacent to an upper area of the lower portion of the garnish  5 . In addition, clips  16  are molded integrally on both sides of the vehicle front side in the lower portion of the garnish  5  respectively.  
         [0020]    Therefore, a high mounted stop lamp  20  can be fixed to the garnish  5  by fitting the stop lamp  20  into the window  10  from the vehicle front side, then inserting the stud bolt  15  into a lower bolt hole  21  formed in an attaching piece  20   a  of the stop lamp  20 , and then screwing a nut  22 . Then, the garnish  5  can be fixed to the gate panel  4  by pushing the clips  16  provided to the lower portion of the garnish  5  into fitting holes  30  of the gate panel  4 , then inserting the stud bolts  12  of the garnish  5  sequentially into side fitting holes  23  of the stop lamp  20  and bolt holes  31  of the gate panel  4  respectively, and then screwing nuts  32  and also inserting the stud bolts  13  of the garnish  5  into bolt holes  33  of the gate panel  4  and then screwing nuts  34 .  
         [0021]    As shown in FIG. 5, the stud bolt  15  may be replaced with a stud nut  122 , and then a bolt  115  may be inserted into the lower bolt hole  21  and screwed into the stud nut  122 .  
         [0022]    Since the gate handle  6  and the stop lamp  20  are incorporated into a single garnish  5 , an assembling man-hour required for attaching the gate handle  6  and the stop lamp  20  to the vehicle can be reduced easily, and thus cost reduction of the vehicle can be achieved as a whole.  
         [0023]    Also, the stud bolt  15  for fixing the stop lamp  20  is provided to the vehicle front side of the rear end portion  14  of the garnish  5 , and thus a thickness of the rear end portion  14  is increased inevitably. Therefore, rigidity of the garnish  5  can be enhanced automatically and also rigidity of the neighborhood of the rear end portion  14  can be enhanced by the ribs  11  provided around the window  10  of the garnish  5 .  
         [0024]    Therefore, when the gate handle  6  is turned backward of the vehicle to open the rear gate  3 , such gate handle  6  is turned by the reaction caused by pushing the thumb of the operator against the rear end portion  14  of the garnish  5 . Even when a relatively large load is applied to the rear end portion  14 , the rear end portion  14  can sufficiently support the load. Thus, it is possible to surely prevent the damage of the garnish  5 .  
         [0025]    As was described above, in the vehicle rear gate according to the present invention, since the gate handle and the stop lamp are incorporated into the garnish that is attached to the gate panel of the rear gate, the assembling man-hour of the gate handle and the stop lamp to the vehicle can be reduced easily and thus the cost reduction of the vehicle can be achieved. Also, the rigidity of the rear end portion formed adjacent to the upper area of the gate handle of the garnish can be enhanced. Therefore, even when the relatively large load is applied to the rear end portion by the motion of the operator who opens the rear gate, the rear end portion can support sufficiently the load and thus it is possible to prevent the damage of the garnish without fail.