US 12,339,189 B2
Contact detection apparatus for vehicle
Keita Inamura, Tokyo (JP); Hayato Aiuchi, Tokyo (JP); Yohei Tsukui, Tokyo (JP); Shiaki Higa, Tokyo (JP); and Haruhiko Nagahashi, Tokyo (JP)
Assigned to SUBARU CORPORATION, Tokyo (JP)
Filed by SUBARU CORPORATION, Tokyo (JP)
Filed on Feb. 22, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/112,771.
Claims priority of application No. 2022-035480 (JP), filed on Mar. 8, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2023/0288277 A1, Sep. 14, 2023
Int. Cl. G01L 7/00 (2006.01); B60R 19/48 (2006.01); G01L 7/04 (2006.01)
CPC G01L 7/041 (2013.01) [B60R 19/483 (2013.01)] 4 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A contact detection apparatus for a vehicle, the contact detection apparatus comprising:
a bumper beam extending in a width direction of the vehicle;
an absorber disposed in front of and adjacent to the bumper beam and extending in the width direction of the vehicle;
a contact detection sensor including a pressure tube and configured to output a signal in accordance with a change in pressure of the pressure tube, the pressure tube extending in the width direction of the vehicle and being held by the absorber;
a tube holder comprising a part of a front end of the absorber and having a groove that opens in a frontward direction of the vehicle and holds the pressure tube therein in a rotatable manner;
a cover attached to a front end of the tube holder and comprising a body and a pressing member, the body covering a front face of the tube holder, the pressing member extending from the body in a backward direction of the vehicle and being disposed in front of the pressure tube;
a first protrusion provided on an outer periphery of the pressure tube, projecting from the pressure tube in the frontward direction of the vehicle, facing the pressing member in the frontward direction and the backward direction of the vehicle, and having a pair of an upper inclined surface and a lower inclined surface, the upper inclined surface and the lower inclined surface inclining in respective directions to come closer to each other as the upper inclined surface and the lower inclined surface extend in the frontward direction of the vehicle as seen in the width direction of the vehicle; and
a second protrusion provided on the outer periphery of the pressure tube or an inner periphery of the groove and disposed above the first protrusion in an upward direction of the vehicle.