A front pillar structure for a vehicle includes a front pillar including a front pillar lower extending vertically and a front pillar upper extending obliquely from the front pillar lower. A connection member is coupled to a bottom end of the front pillar lower and connects a front side member and a side sill. The front pillar lower has an S-shaped cross section and the connection member has stepwise flanges coupled to the bottom end of the front pillar lower.

A vehicle includes a frame and a body supported above the frame. The body includes a pair of hinge pillars disposed on opposite sides of the body and a bulkhead extending between the hinge pillars. A pair of one-piece hydroformed front-support tubes is each attached to one of the hinge pillars at a back end of the tube. Each of the tubes includes a forwardly extending portion, and a transversely extending portion attached to the frame and terminating at a front end. The front ends are attached to each other by an overlapping joint located behind a front fascia of the vehicle.

A reinforcement unit of an engine room includes a first mounting bracket mounted to a front end module disposed at a front of a vehicle body; a second mounting bracket corresponding to the first mounting bracket and mounted to a cowl disposed at a rear of the vehicle body; a first connection bracket mounted to one shock absorber housing of the vehicle body; a second connection bracket mounted to another shock absorber housing of the vehicle body; a first connecting member having both ends mounted to one side of the first connection bracket and the second connection bracket; and a second connecting member disposed at the rear of the vehicle body while corresponding to the first connecting member and having both ends mounted to another side of the first connection bracket and the second connection bracket.

An electric vehicle may include: a cowl; a charging lid disposed outward of the cowl in a vehicle width direction, and a charging cable disposed between the cowl and the charging lid. A drain hole is defined in a bottom wall of the cowl, the bottom wall of the cowl may include a first bottom wall portion and a second bottom wall portion, the first bottom wall portion is located more proximate to a central portion of the cowl than the second bottom wall portion, the second bottom wall portion is located between the first bottom wall portion and the drain hole and is adjacent to the drain hole, and an inclination angle of a surface of the second bottom wall portion is greater than an inclination angle of a surface of the first bottom wall portion.

The invention relates generally to structural steel components for automotive vehicles, and methods for manufacturing the structural components. The method includes heating a workpiece to at least 900° C. to form austenite in the steel material, hot forming the workpiece, and quenching the formed workpiece to transform the austenite to martensite. The method next includes tempering at least one portion of the quenched workpiece, wherein the tempering step includes simultaneously applying thermal energy and a magnetic field to the workpiece. During the tempering step, the martensite of the steel material transforms to a mixture of ferrite and cementite precipitates. The portions of the steel material subject to the thermomagnetic tempering are also typically free of pearlite and spheroid particles. The remainder of the workpiece is protected during the tempering step to maintain a hard zone including the martensite.

A safety device is described which is configured to orient a motor-vehicle front wheel transversely to the travel direction, following a collision of the motor-vehicle against a barrier. The device includes a ram member carried by a plate projecting laterally in a cantilever fashion from the motor-vehicle structure forwardly of the front wheel. The ram member is pushed against the front wheel following a collision of the motor-vehicle against the barrier. The ram member has a vertically elongated front portion, for engaging the wheel. With the transverse plate carrying the ram member there is associated a bumper structure located forwardly of the transverse plate and including a bumper element projecting forwardly from the transverse plate, at an intermediate position between the ram member and a connected end of the transverse plate.

A bulkhead (110) for separating an engine compartment (112) and a passenger compartment (114) including a support structure (320) including at least one reinforcement member (324) and a body (322) supported by the reinforcement member (324), a thermally insulative component (330) supported by the support structure (320), and an acoustic resonator (370) defining a plurality of openings that extend along a first direction from the thermally insulative component (330) toward the first resonator side and terminate at a location between the first resonator side and the second resonator side. The acoustic resonator (370) includes a plurality of cells that each defines a respective first open volume that is in fluid communication with at least one of the plurality of openings.

A vehicle equipped with a traveling motor includes: two front pillars; two side members; a power unit arranged between the two side members and including the traveling motor; an electric-power converter arranged adjacent to the power unit and located at a higher position in the vehicle-vertical direction than the side members; and a first auxiliary frame member, a first end of the first auxiliary frame member being coupled to one of the front pillars, the first auxiliary frame member extending, as viewed from the vehicle-width direction, to pass a position where the first auxiliary frame member overlaps with the electric-power converter or a position higher than the electric-power converter, and a second end of the first auxiliary frame member being coupled to one of the side members, at a more frontward position than the electric-power converter.

A collision countermeasure apparatus includes an impact absorbing body attached to an outboard side of a sub-frame and a rigid link. The rigid link is attached to the impact absorbing body at an outboard location and extends upward to an outer side of a frame rail. A frontal impact with a rigid barrier outboard of the frame rail drives the impact absorbing body into the link to force the link into the outer side of the frame rail. The force applied to the frame rail by the impact absorbing body laterally displaces the vehicle to reduce the extent of intrusion into the passenger compartment of the vehicle.

A chassis platform module for an electric vehicle may include: a main frame having a battery mounted thereon; and a front wheel-side support frame unit connected to a front of the main frame. The front wheel-side support frame unit may include: a pair of first support frames disposed in a width direction of a vehicle, and each having a first connection groove formed at a front end thereof; a pair of second support frames disposed at a front of the pair of first support frames, respectively, and each having a second connection groove formed at a rear end thereof; a connection frame having connection protrusions inserted into the first and second connection grooves, respectively; an adhesive part adhered to the inner circumferential surfaces of the first and second connection grooves; and a fastening member coupled to each of the connection protrusions through each of the first and second support frames.