It is often necessary in the construction of vehicles to movably couple functional elements in the front area of the vehicle (brake servo unit cylinder, clutch, throttle flap, etc.) with the corresponding actuating means in the passenger compartment (brake pedal, clutch pedal, gas pedal, etc.). Such a mechanical connection is usually established, especially in case of the brake pedal, by a push rod, which may be fastened in many different ways on the pedal side. These include fork and bolt connections, spindle nut-like connections, snap connections, etc. The connection is established at a comparatively poorly accessible point and can be brought about, as a rule, only manually.
Thus, a snap connection is provided in the patent specification known from EP 0 229 350 B1, in which the pedal has a bushing, in which the pin-shaped or spherical end of the push rod can be held nearly without clearance. The bushing as such represents an undercut, into which the pin-shaped or spherical end fastened to the push rod can be pushed. The bushing has a funnel-shaped insertion area and is in turn integrated in an insert part, which can be snapped into a mounting part of the pedal.
By contrast, the articulated connection between the push rod and the brake pedal in the actuating device known from EP 0 896 162 A1 is established by a fastening device, in which the ball head of the push rod is held by two hooks during movements opposite the direction of actuation. The ball head is supported in a bearing shell during the actuation of the pedal. Both hooks are part of an annular plastic insert, which can in turn be snapped into an insert part of the pedal and is open on one side, so that the end of the push rod can be removed through this opening at right angles to the axis of the push rod in the non-installed state of the insert.
Fastening devices especially of the type mentioned last have the drawback that, on the one hand, the lateral snap hooks or the pedal-side hooks corresponding to them become blunt and lose their hooking property or even break off in case of frequent removal of the plastic insert. On the other hand, the plastic insert does not have the maximum strength that would be desirable even in the installed state at right angles to the axis of the push rod because of its removal opening. Even buckling of the insert would be possible on the side located opposite the opening under a corresponding (lateral) load, which can lead to an undesirable breaking off of the insert part in the worst case. The insert part may also be unintentionally twisted and damaged during nonuniform opening of the snap hooks or during nonuniform removal because of the removal opening.