Vehicle body structure and method for assembling vehicle body structure

Inventors: Masanori Kisaku (Wako, JP); Katsumi Ochiai (Wako, JP); Yukihiko Nagai (Wako, JP)

Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.

B62D65/02 B62D25/02 B62D25/06 B62D33/0222 Y10T29/49622

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Quick Facts

Patent No.: US 9,394,018
App. No.: 14/130,648
Granted: Jul 19, 2016
Kind: B2

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Abstract

A vehicle body structure includes a roof side rail, roof arch, and roof panel. The roof side rail includes a mount portion extending inward in a vehicle-transversal direction and having a vehicle-transversally outer end portion of the roof panel mounted thereto. The roof arch includes a vehicle-transversally outer end portion that is located outside a vehicle-transversally inner end of the mount portion in the vehicle-transversal direction, joined with the roof side rail, and disposed at a position that is spaced apart downward from the vehicle-transversally outer end portion of the roof panel. At least one of the roof arch and the roof side rail includes a flange portion that extends toward the other one of the roof arch and the side rail and comes into contact with the other one of the roof arch and the roof side rail to restrict downward movement of the roof arch.

Claims (68)

1. A vehicle body structure, comprising:

a pair of side components that are provided on left and right sides of a vehicle body, respectively, and form side portions of the vehicle body; and

a roof component including a roof arch disposed between paired side components; and a roof panel fixed to an upper portion of the roof arch and forming an upper surface of the vehicle body;

wherein each of the side components includes a roof side rail disposed at an upper side edge of the vehicle body and extending in a front or rear direction,

wherein the roof side rail includes a mount portion extending inward in the vehicle-transversal direction and including a vehicle-transversally outer end portion of the roof panel mounted thereto,

wherein the roof arch extends between the side components and includes an arch lower and an arch upper disposed at a position upper than the arch lower,

wherein the arch lower and the arch upper are joined together to form a closed cross-section,

wherein the roof arch includes a vehicle-transversally outer end portion that is located outside a vehicle-transversally inner end of the mount portion in the vehicle-transversal direction and is joined with the roof side rail,

wherein the vehicle-transversally outer end portion of the roof arch is spaced apart downward from the vehicle-transversally outer end portion of the roof panel,

wherein at least one of the roof arch and the roof side rail includes a flange portion that extends toward the other one of the roof arch and the roof side rail and comes into contact with said other one of the roof arch and the roof side rail to restrict downward movement of the roof arch,

wherein the flange portion is located at a position upper than the vehicle-transversally outer end portion of the roof arch,

wherein the mount portion is located between the roof panel and the roof arch with said other one of the roof arch and the roof side rail contacting with the flange portion,

wherein the vehicle-transversally outer end portion of the roof panel is mounted on the mount portion,

wherein the flange portion includes: a first flange portion formed on the roof arch; and a second flange portion formed on the roof side rail and disposed at a position where the second flange portion and the first flange portion vertically overlap with each other,

wherein the first flange portion includes a front arch flange portion extending forward from a front end portion of the roof arch and a rear arch flange portion extending backward from a rear end portion of the roof arch,

wherein the front arch flange portion is formed by one of the arch lower and the arch upper, and

wherein the rear arch flange portion is formed by the arch lower and the arch upper.

2. The vehicle body structure according to claim 1 , wherein the first flange portion includes a flange extension portion that extends outward in the vehicle-transversal direction and is joined with the vehicle-transversally outer end portion of the roof panel.

3. The vehicle body structure according to claim 1 ,

wherein the flange portion includes:

an extension portion extending inward in the vehicle-transversal direction from the roof side rail, at a position that is offset in the front or rear direction from the roof arch; and

a support portion extending from an extension end of the extension portion to a lower side of the roof arch.

4. The vehicle body structure according to claim 1 , wherein the flange portion includes:

an extension portion extending in the front or rear direction from a position that is spaced apart inward in the vehicle-transversal direction at a predetermined interval from the vehicle-transversally outer end portion of the roof arch; and

a support portion extending from an extension end of the extension portion to an upper side of the roof side rail.

5. A vehicle body structure, comprising: