1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to an impact beam structure for automobile side doors and, more particularly, to an impact beam structure capable of almost completely absorbing impact in the event of a side collision, thus effectively preventing a side door from being badly deformed or thrust into the passenger compartment, and protecting passengers from serious injury, and improving the safety of automobiles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As well known to those skilled in the art, in order to protect passengers in the passenger compartment of an automobile from side collision impact, an impact beam, which is a high strength steel hollow pipe, is installed in each side door as shown in FIG. 4. As shown in the drawing, an impact beam 2 is mounted to a predetermined portion of the inner panel 4 of a side door 1, with each end of the impact beam 2 being fixed to the inner panel 4 using a bracket 3. In such a case, the impact beam 2, bracket 3 and inner panel 4 are typically integrated into a single structure through a welding process. The impact beam 2 is also positioned inside an outer panel 5, with a plurality of regularly-spaced cushions 6 being interposed at the junction between the impact beam 2 and the outer panel 5. The cushions 6 thus space the impact beam 2 apart from the outer panel 5 at a gap, thus absorbing impact in the event of a side collision.
In the event of a side collision, the high strength steel impact beam 2 somewhat effectively resists being deformed. However, the two brackets 3 may fail to resist the side collision impact and may be deformed, or broken. In addition, the welded junctions between the impact beam 2, bracket 3 and inner panel 4 may fail to resist the collision impact, thus being excessively deformed or broken. Therefore, the typical impact beam structure for side doors cannot effectively prevent a side door from being badly deformed or thrust into the passenger compartment or effectively protect passengers from serious injury, thus failing to improve the safety of automobiles.