Vehicle door structure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9074398-B2
Application number	US-201313768237-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 15, 2013
Priority date	Feb 17, 2012
Publication date	Jul 7, 2015
Grant date	Jul 7, 2015

Abstract

A vehicle door structure in which it is possible to prevent a slide opening and closing door panel from being uncoupled from a swing opening and closing door panel when the swing opening and closing door panel is opened, is provided. A vehicle door structure 10 includes a lock mechanism 22 that locks a slide door panel 14 to a swing door panel 16 when the swing door panel 16 is opened. The lock mechanism 22 is composed of a locking part 50 which is provided so as to be movable backward and forward along a direction in which the slide door panel 14 and the swing door panel 16 overlap each other according to opening and closing of the swing door panel 16 , and a protrusion 60 which is provided on the slide door panel 14 , and is locked by the locking part 50 when the swing door panel 16 is opened. The locking part 50 moves forward to the slide door panel 14 side, to lock the protrusion 60 when the swing door panel 16 is opened.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle door structure comprising:
a first door panel which is installed at a first opening section provided in a vehicle body, the first door panel opens and closes the first opening section;
a second door panel which is installed at a second opening section continuously provided adjacent to the first opening section, the second door panel opens and closes the second opening section;
a sliding mechanism with which the first door panel is slidably mounted with respect to the vehicle body and the second door panel, and the first door panel is moved between a closed position at which the first opening section is closed and an open position at which the first door panel overlaps the second door panel at the same time as the first opening section is fully opened; and
a swinging mechanism with which the second door panel is swingably supported with respect to the vehicle body, and the second door panel is made swingable when the first door panel is at the open position,
the vehicle door structure further includes a locking mechanism with which the first door panel is locked to the second door panel when the second door panel is opened, wherein
the locking mechanism is composed of a locking part which is provided on one of the first door panel and the second door panel, and is provided so as to be movable backward and forward along a direction in which the first door panel and the second door panel overlap each other according to opening and closing of the second door panel, and a part to be locked which is provided on the other one of the first door panel and the second door panel, to be locked by the locking part when the second door panel is opened,
the locking part moves toward the part to be locked, to lock the part to be locked when the second door panel is opened,
the sliding mechanism is composed of an upper slide rail, a lower slide rail, and an intermediate slide rail provided on the second door panel, the intermediate slide rail provided between the upper slide rail and lower slide rail, and an upper slide part, a lower slide part, and an intermediate slide part which are provided on the first door panel, the upper slide part, the lower slide part, and the intermediate slide part slide in the upper slide rail, the lower slide rail, and the intermediate slide rail, respectively,
and the part to be locked is
provided on the intermediate slide part, the locking part
includes a contacting member, a locking member, and a coupling member, wherein a first end of the contacting member is pivotally coupled to a first end of the coupling member, a first end of the locking member is pivotally coupled to a second end of the coupling member, and a second end of the locking member is configured to contact the part to be locked and
the locking member moves into the intermediate slide rail when the second door panel is opened.

2. The vehicle door structure according to claim 1 , wherein
the locking part is provided on the second door panel, and has the contacting member which comes into contact with the vehicle body at a closed position of the second door panel that closes the second opening section, the locking member which reciprocates between a forward-moving position for forward movement to a first door panel side and a backward-moving position for backward movement to a second door panel side, the coupling member which couples the contacting member and the locking member, and a biasing member which biases the locking member in a direction in which the locking member moves forward, and
the locking member moves forward to the first door panel side when the contacting member is spaced from the vehicle body.

3. The vehicle door structure according to claim 1 , wherein the part to be locked is a protrusion protruding toward a second door panel side at the open position of the first door panel.

4. The vehicle door structure according to claim 2 , wherein the part to be locked is a concave portion through which the locking member is inserted.

5. The vehicle door structure according to claim 1 , wherein the part to be locked is locked by the locking mechanism only when the second door panel is open.

6. The vehicle door structure according to claim 1 , wherein the contacting member and the locking member are configured to be movable forward and backward along a direction essentially perpendicular to the direction of sliding of the first door panel.

7. The vehicle door structure according to claim 1 , wherein the slide part extends from the first door in a direction perpendicular to the first door panel and the second door panel.

Assignees

• Toyota Jidoshokki Kk

Inventors

• Maruyama Katsuya
• Kuno Hiroshi
• Ojima Yoshio
• Fukuhara Taketo

Classifications

• E05D15/48 Primary

  allowing alternative movements ({E05D15/0604 takes precedence } ; for vertically-sliding wings E05D15/22) · CPC title

• B60J5/047 Primary

  characterised by the opening or closing movement · CPC title

• B60J5/06

  slidable; foldable · CPC title

• E05D15/1047

  specially adapted for vehicles (E05D15/1044 takes precedence) · CPC title