Patent ID: 7422271

Claim:
Passenger cell for a passenger vehicle having a B-pillar on each side of the vehicle body, a device being situated approximately at a shoulder height of a vehicle occupant and provided to increase the transverse rigidity of the passenger cell in side impact loads behind front seats, said passenger cell comprising: a closed central hollow beam running approximately horizontally in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle and offset to the rear in relation to the B-pillars, and side parts that are curved as seen from above by which the closed hollow beam is connected in a force-transmitting manner at its two laterally exterior ends to the B-pillars, wherein the closed central hollow beam is displaced rearwardly of the B-pillars so that the B-pillars are entirely in front of the closed central hollow beam in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle; wherein the central hollow beam is connected to a receptacle area situated beneath it with at least one holder connected in between; wherein each side part is additionally connected to a front corner area of the receptacle area via a rear-profiled supporting element; and wherein the holder defines a bracket including a transverse web connected to the front side of the closed central hollow beam and a pair of foot sections connecting the transverse web to the receptacle area within which a vehicle engine is at least partially contained.