Some motor vehicles have an interior architecture often described as being of a ‘walkthrough’ design. This is when a floor console between a first row of seats does not connect with an instrument panel of the motor vehicle but stops short of the instrument panel or when the motor vehicle has a bench type seat. The gap between the instrument panel and the floor console or the bench seat will be referred to here as the ‘walkthrough gap’.
The presence of a ‘walkthrough gap’ can improve the feeling of space for those who want to have less of a ‘cockpit’ feel. However, some storage space is lost with such an arrangement when the floor console does not extend from between the front seats to the instrument panel as this part of the floor console is often provided with some storage capacity.
The use of a long floor console extending to the instrument panel is popular because a gear selector and sometimes a parking brake lever or switch can be housed in this part of the floor console. The inventors have realised that, as vehicles increasingly move to electric parking brakes, drive-by wire including electronically controlled gearboxes and electric or hybrid powertrains, items such as a parking brake lever or switch and a gear selector can be housed elsewhere in the passenger compartment of the motor vehicle thereby facilitating the use of a shorter floor console providing a ‘walkthrough gap’.
However, it is disadvantageous when the floor console is short and ends at a position level with the front seats due to the loss of storage space in a central location within the motor vehicle.
It is an object to provide a stowable storage apparatus that solves the problem of lost storage space thereby facilitating the provision of a walkthrough arrangement.
It is a second object to provide a stowable storage apparatus that has a large deployed-to-stowed volume ratio.
According to a first aspect, there is provided a motor vehicle having a cabin, a row of seats mounted in the cabin, a structural component mounted in the cabin and a stowable storage apparatus comprising a rigid first end wall and two flexible vertically disposed spaced apart side walls. Each of the flexible side walls have first and second ends and are fastened at their first ends to the first end wall such that, when the first end wall is in a deployed position, the first end wall and the two side walls define three sides of an enclosure for storing one or more small objects supported by the structural component. A central walkthrough gap is defined between the structural member and the row of seats. When the stowable storage apparatus is in the deployed state, the first end wall of the stowable storage apparatus is spaced away from the structural component so that the flexible side walls of the stowable storage apparatus span substantially the entire longitudinal depth of the central walkthrough gap.
Each flexible side wall may be attached at a second end to a respective spring biased roller. The spring biasing of the roller is arranged to promote rolling of the flexible material from which the respective flexible side wall is made onto the roller.
The flexible side walls may be rolled onto their respective rollers when the first end wall is in a stowed position.
When the first end wall is moved away from the stowed position to the deployed position, the two flexible side walls may be unrolled from their respective rollers against the action of the spring biasing of the rollers.
When the first end wall is in the deployed position the biasing spring may produce a tension in both of the flexible side walls thereby holding them taut.
Alternatively the apparatus may further comprise a floor joining together the two flexible side walls and the two flexible side walls and the floor of the apparatus form a collapsible corrugated U-shaped trough.
When the first end wall is moved from the deployed position to a stowed position, the two flexible side walls and the floor may fold in a concertina manner.
The collapsible corrugated U-shaped trough may be formed from a number of wire stays connected together by fabric.
The apparatus may further comprise a pair of spaced apart extendible rails and the collapsible corrugated U-shaped trough may be suspended from the pair of spaced apart extendible rails.
The stays in one of the two side walls may have upper ends slideably attached to a first one of the pair of extendible rails and the stays in the other of the two side walls may have upper ends slideably attached to a second one of the pair of extendible rails.
When the stowable storage apparatus is in a stowed state, the first end wall of the stowable storage apparatus may be positioned adjacent the structural component so that the stowable storage apparatus reduces by only a small amount the longitudinal depth of the central walkthrough gap.
The structural component may be an instrument panel of the motor vehicle and the stowable storage apparatus may be supported by a central column of the instrument panel.
When the stowable storage apparatus is in the stowed state, the first end wall may abut against a face of the central column of the instrument panel.
The face may include a depression and, when the stowable storage apparatus is in the stowed state, the depression may form a small opening between the first side wall of the stowable storage apparatus and the central column for stowing small flat objects.
The row of seats may comprise a pair of spaced apart front seats with a floor console mounted therebetween and the central walkthrough gap may be defined between a front end of the floor console and the central column of structural component.
The floor console may include a latch for holding the stowable storage apparatus in the deployed state.
The central column may include a panel defining a second end wall for the stowable storage apparatus.
The panel, the first end wall and the two side walls may form a four sided enclosure for storing one or more small objects.