Patent ID: 7407206

Claim:
A bumper structure for a motor vehicle, comprising: a cross member; a crash box firmly mounted to the cross member and extending between the cross member and a longitudinal member, said crash box having a cross-member-proximal first zone and a second cross-member-distal elastic attachment zone and being made of two half-shells connected to one another at least in the first zone; and fastening means, extending through walls of the attachment zone and the longitudinal member, for securing the crash box to the longitudinal member by forcing the attachment zone against the wall of the longitudinal member, while the attachment zone undergoes locally an elastic or plastic deformation for realizing a self-centered disposition of the crash box in relation to the longitudinal member by allowing a transverse shift of the half-shells of the crash box transversely to a vehicle length axis, said walls of the attachment zone and the longitudinal member extending at a tolerance distance relative to one another before the crash box is secured to the longitudinal member, wherein the wall of the attachment zone has length slots to thereby provide the wall with elastic or plastic deformation capability.