Patent ID: 8622465

Claim:
A front pillar for an automobile, including: an outer panel contiguous to a roof of a vehicle body, supporting a windshield, and facing outside the vehicle body; an inner panel facing a passenger compartment; a hollow member disposed between the outer panel and the inner panel; an inner flange of the outer panel joined to an upper wall section of the hollow member; an inner flange of the inner panel joined to an inner wall section of the hollow member contiguous to the upper wall section and facing the passenger compartment; and a closed void section and a seal attachment section that are formed by overlapping an outer flange of the outer panel and an outer flange of the inner panel at a position adjacent to an outer wall section of the hollow member, wherein the seal attachment section includes a rear section reinforcing member and a front section reinforcing member sandwiched between the outer flanges of the outer and inner panels in a rear end section and a front end section, respectively, of the front pillar, and a gap channel formed to communicate with the closed void section by partially separating the outer flanges of the outer and inner panels at a position located between the rear section reinforcing member and the front section reinforcing member, and wherein the reinforcing members are joined to the outer wall section of the hollow member.