A convertible vehicle door assembly includes a gate subassembly including an electrical panel, latch handle and is secured by hinges and a latch to a vehicle static structure. An outer door subassembly is removably secured to the gate subassembly by at least one quick connect mechanism. The outer door includes a window assembly operable by the electrical control panel.

An exterior panel structure for a vehicle prevents unevenness of an outer surface of an exterior panel material caused by joining of a reinforcing member to the exterior panel. The reinforcing member is joined to the exterior panel material such that rigidity is maintained, thereby keeping dents in the exterior panel material small even when a user presses on the exterior panel material during waxing of the vehicle, or the like. The exterior panel structure includes a door outer panel, a reinforcing member, and a bracket. In the bracket, a joint surface which follows an inner surface of the door outer panel is joined to an outer peripheral edge of the door panel which is separated from the inner surface of the door outer panel in a thickness direction of the door outer panel, and another joint surface is joined to a reinforcing outer peripheral edge of the reinforcing member.

A convertible vehicle door assembly is disclosed and includes a gate subassembly including an electrical panel, latch handle and is secured by hinges and a latch to a vehicle static structure. An outer door subassembly is removably secured to the gate subassembly by at least one quick connect mechanism. The outer door includes a window assembly operable by the electrical control panel.

[Object] Provided is a configuration that makes up for a lack of tensile rigidity and a lack of collision properties at the same time.

[Solution] An automotive exterior panel according to the present invention: an exterior material 110; and a reinforcing member 120 that is in contact along an automobile inside surface of the exterior material 110 and of which a second moment of area in a direction orthogonal to the exterior material is less than or equal to 15,000 mm.sup.4 in a cross section orthogonal to a longitudinal direction of the reinforcing member. By this configuration, the second moment of area in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the reinforcing member 120 is made less than or equal to 15,000 mm.sup.4, and hence a lack of tensile rigidity can be made up for at the same time.

To make it possible to make impact absorption at the time of a collision even when there is no sufficient space.

[Solution] An impact absorption member according to the present invention includes: a member that is placed adjacent to an exterior material 110 of an automobile and in which a height in a direction orthogonal to the exterior material is larger than a width in a direction along the exterior material in a cross section orthogonal to an extending direction of the member. By this configuration, a first member 122 and a second member 124 are arranged so as to extend in different directions and be adjacent to the exterior material 110 of an automobile, and therefore impact absorption at the time of a collision can be made even when there is no sufficient space.

An add-on part (1) of a vehicle body, such as a door (1) or tailgate, has interconnected inner and outer parts (2, 4) and reinforced portions (5, 6) and a reinforcing device (7) connecting said reinforced portions (5, 6). The reinforcing device (7) has arms (8, 9, 18, 19), and, in the region of the ends of the arms (8, 9, 18, 19), the reinforcing device (7) is connected in a force-fitting and/or form-fitting manner to the reinforced portions (5, 6). Such an add-on part, while having a structurally simple design and relatively low weight, ensures particularly good stiffening properties.

A vehicle includes a door and an impact absorbing structure. The door has an interior panel. The impact absorbing structure is secured to an inner surface of the interior panel. The impact absorbing structure has a centrally located hub and a plurality of spokes extending radially outward from the hub toward a peripheral boundary of the interior panel.

A frame structure of an automotive exterior panel includes a sheet-like outer panel, a plurality of first members, each of which has an elongated shape, and which are disposed on a vehicle inside with respect to the outer panel, and a second member that has an elongated shape and intersects with the plurality of first members, in which each of the plurality of first members extends in a first direction along a sheet surface of the outer panel, and has a groove part recessed from the vehicle outside toward the vehicle inside at a portion thereof in a longitudinal direction, the second member extends in a second direction along the sheet surface of the outer panel, and has a thickness in a vehicle inside-outside direction, which is uniform at a portion closer to the center than at both end portions in the longitudinal direction, and at an intersection portion where each of the plurality of first members and the second members intersect with each other, the second member is in contact with the inside of the groove part provided in each of the plurality of first members.

This impact-absorbing member for an automobile door is an impact-absorbing member for an automobile door formed from a blank, which is a single-piece blank or a tailored blank, and includes: a connection band portion extending in a first direction; and at least three connected portions each having one end connected to the connection band portion and extending in a second direction intersecting the first direction, in which the connected portion has an impact-absorbing portion that is a closed cross-sectional structure.