Patent ID: 7264302

Claim:
A lower body construction comprising: a tubular side sill extending in a longitudinal direction of a body of a vehicle; a pillar extending in a vertical direction of the body and connected to an upper portion of the side sill at a lower end portion thereof; a primary reinforcement member interposed within the side sill in such a manner as to extend in the longitudinal direction of the body and having a projecting surface defining a lower corner portion that projects towards the outside of a passenger compartment on a side of the body so that an opening thereof is oriented towards an inside of the passenger compartment; and a secondary reinforcement member having an upper end edge portion, a lower end edge portion, and a middle portion disposed between said upper end edge portion and said lower end edge portion, said secondary reinforcement member having a c-shaped cross-section and being joined to an outer surface of the primary reinforcement member along the upper end edge portion and the lower end edge portion so as to straddle the lower corner portion of the projecting surface of the primary reinforcement member while extending in the longitudinal direction of the body, said secondary reinforcement member middle portion having a projecting surface which projects obliquely downwards between the upper end edge portion and the lower end edge portion, wherein the secondary reinforcement member is disposed at at least a portion on the primary reinforcement member which lies below a location where the side sill and the pillar are connected together.