The construction of a motor vehicle front end is very complex because of statutory provisions, in particular for occupant protection. A motor vehicle front end having two laterally situated longitudinal girders, whose outer sides are each connected to a wheel well having a spring strut receptacle for the spring strut a wheel suspension, is known from EP 1 081 024 A2. The particular spring strut receptacle is welded to a side part of a bulkhead wall, so that a radiator tank is closed on the bottom, and is connected to the upper end of a rear wheel well strut of a wheel well.
A front wall stiffener of a vehicle body, in particular for a passenger automobile, is known from DE 103 38 389 A1, which is to ensure an intrusion-secure support of the front wall in case of a vehicle crash. For this purpose, in each of a total of two longitudinal girders, a front longitudinal girder area lying in front of the front wall is connected to a longitudinal girder area lying behind the front wall in such a manner, using a vertical front wall girder running up to a crossbeam provided in the wind deflector area, that total forces acting in the event of a vehicle crash via the front longitudinal girder area on the front wall may be deflected via multiple force pathways into the vehicle body, so that a front wall intrusion into the passenger compartment is reliably prevented. The two front wall girders are each fixedly connected to an area of an assigned floor longitudinal girder, which adjoins the front wall from the rear.
However, the front crash designs, i.e., the designs on the motor vehicle front end in case of a frontal impact of the motor vehicle, have contrary requirements for North America and Europe. While the front wall intrusion is to be kept particularly low for the European market, in North America a lower deceleration pulse is the most important design criterion. The front wall penetration typically rises when the deceleration pulse decreases and vice versa. Therefore, the front wall stiffener known from the prior art is not capable of fulfilling the requirements of both the European and also the North American markets. A compromise of the two requirements results in a higher weight in the common architectures.
At least one object of the invention is to specify a motor vehicle front end and a method for producing a motor vehicle front end which offers an optimum structure in each case for the two opposing requirements, the motor vehicle front end additionally having the lowest possible weight and the fewest possible framing changes being performed. In addition, other objects, desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.