Patent ID: 8714294

Claim:
A pedestrian protection apparatus for a vehicle, comprising: a resin molded product which is configured to be disposed at a lower region of a front of the vehicle so as to extend in a front to back direction of the vehicle, the resin molded product including a front section at which a reinforcing portion is provided and a rear section comprising an attachment plate at which the apparatus is configured to be fixed to a vehicle component, the apparatus being arranged to protect a leg portion of a pedestrian that has collided with a front face of the vehicle by contact of a front end of the resin molded product with the leg portion of the pedestrian, wherein the reinforcing portion is constituted by a plurality of cylindrical structures that are arranged at the front section so as to be in a line in the vehicle width direction and extend in the front to back direction of the vehicle, the plurality of cylindrical structures comprising: (a) at least three vertical ribs that are arranged at the front section so as to be opposed to each other in the vehicle width direction with a predetermined distance therebetween and extend in the front to back direction of the vehicle; (b) an upper connecting plate that is arranged to extend in the front to hack direction of the vehicle while extending across upper ends of all of the at least three vertical ribs, thereby integrally connecting the upper ends of the at least three vertical ribs; (c) a lower connecting plate that is arranged to extend in the front to back direction of the vehicle while extending across lower ends of all of the at least three vertical ribs, thereby integrally connecting the lower ends of the at least three vertical ribs, and (d) a front wall integrally and vertically provided at a front end of an upper surface of the lower connecting plate and extending over an entire width of the lower connecting plate, thereby closing a front of each of the plurality of cylindrical structures; wherein the lower connecting plate and the attachment plate are made of a single plate member; and wherein the upper connecting plate has a dimension in the front to back direction that is the same as, or larger than, a longest dimension of the vertical ribs in the front to back direction, so that spaces between the upper ends of adjacent vertical ribs and the lower ends of the adjacent vertical ribs are respectively closed by the upper connecting plate and the lower connecting plate.