1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cowl top cover that covers a cowl part disposed between a windshield and a bonnet hood of an automotive.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an automotive has, at a vehicle front part, an engine room in which an power engine is installed, and the right-and-left lateral surface parts of the engine room is covered with a fender panel, and the upper opening is covered with a freely openable bonnet hood.
Between a rear part of the bonnet hood of the automotive and a front end of a windshield, a cowl part is disposed to define a boundary between the engine room and a vehicle compartment, and the cowl top cover is attached to improve the appearance by covering the cowl part. Further, generally, the cowl top cover is provided with an air intake port (intake port) for introducing an outside air into the vehicle.
In a conventional cowl top cover, a panel fixation part disposed at a forward-side lower part is fixed to a vehicle body panel, and the cowl top cover is supported by the vehicle body panel. Further, at a forward-side upper part of the cowl top cover, an elastically deformable seal member is fixed. When the seal member adheres to a rear-end lower surface of the closed bonnet hood, the cowl top cover and the bonnet hood are sealed via the seal member, and thus, a heat or a bad smell of the power engine is prevented from being leaked out of the engine room.
On the other hand, at a rear end of the cowl top cover that faces the windshield, a glass engaging part is disposed which engages with the windshield to support the windshield, and the glass engaging part is formed in a clip-like shape so that the rear end of the cowl top cover is bifurcated. When the front end (lower end) of the windshield is inserted into the clip-like glass engaging part to hold the front end of the windshield, the rear end of the cowl top cover and the front end of the windshield are engaged.
An example of the cowl top cover having such a clip-like glass engaging part is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-211439 (hereinafter, referred to as “Patent Literature 1”) and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-73504 (hereinafter, referred to as “Patent Literature 2”), for example.
For example, the cowl top cover described in Patent Literature 1 includes: a clip-like glass engaging part at the rear end; a bent part that is disposed closer to the front end near a bonnet hood, obtained when the cowl top cover is viewed in a cross section orthogonal to a vehicle widthwise direction and that is formed to be bent in an approximately chevron V-shaped; and a plate part that is arranged to linearly extend from the bent part rearward. Further, at a front end of the plate part, which is rearward of the bent part of the cowl top cover, a deformed part is disposed which is obtained by thinning a plate part so as to facilitate elastic deformation.
In such a cowl top cover in Patent Literature 1, upon attachment of the cowl top cover to the cowl part, when the front end of the windshield is fitted into the glass engaging part of the cowl top cover to hold the front end of the windshield, the cowl top cover is forced and pressed down from the upper surface side and the deformed part disposed rearward of the bent part is thereby elastically deformed.
As a result, it is possible to change the orientation (angle) of the clip-like glass engaging portion disposed at the rear end of the cowl top cover, to a direction approximately equal to the inclination angle of the windshield, and this enables the cowl top cover to avoid interference with another vehicle body component so as to facilitate an engagement between the front end of the windshield and the glass engaging part of the cowl top cover. This facilitates a work of assembling a cowl top cover to a vehicle body, and it is thus possible to improve the productivity of an automotive.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5, for example, a cowl top cover 60 described in Patent Literature 2 includes a clip-like glass engaging part 61 disposed at a rear end and a panel fixation part 62 disposed at a forward-side lower part and fixed to a vehicle body panel 71. Further, at a forward-side upper part, a seal member 72 for sealing a bonnet hood 73 is fixed.
Further, the cowl top cover 60 in Patent Literature 2 includes a mountain-like protrusion part (bent part) 63 that is disposed closer to a front end near the bonnet hood 73 and that protrudes upwardly, and at the backside of the protrusion part 63, a stiffening rib 64 formed along a vehicle lengthwise direction is arranged. Moreover, in Patent Literature 2, in the stiffening rib 64 arranged in the protrusion part 63, a slit-like gap 65 is formed from a distal end (apex) to a terminal end of the stiffening rib 64.
In the cowl top cover 60 of Patent Literature 2, the above-described slit-like gap 64 is formed in the stiffening rib 64, and thus, when the cowl top cover 60 receives a relatively strong impact, the cowl top cover 60 is capable of being elastically deformed so that the slit-like gap 65 is filled with the stiffening rib 64. As a result, the received impact is lessened and it is thereby possible to prevent the cowl top cover 60 and other components from being damaged.
Further, in Patent Literature 2, when the cowl top cover 60 receives a pressing force as a result of a deposit such as snow and ice being deposited on the cowl top cover 60, for example, the cowl top cover 60 is elastically deformed so that the gap 65 is filled; however, it is possible to regulate a deformation amount of the elastic deformation by an interval between the slit-like gaps 65. When the deformation amount of the elastic deformation of the cowl top cover 60 is thus regulated, it becomes possible to prevent disengagement between the clip-like glass engaging part 61 disposed at the rear end of the cowl top cover 60 and the front end of the windshield.
As in the above-described Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2, the conventional cowl top cover often adopts, as a structure for engaging the front end of the windshield, a structure in which the clip-like glass engaging part is arranged at the rear end of the cowl top cover and the front end of the windshield is inserted therebetween and supported.
However, in this type of engagement structure, the front end of the windshield is clamped and supported by the clip-like bifurcated glass engaging part from an up-down directions, and thus, inevitably, the rear end of the cowl top cover is risen, by the thickness of at least the glass engaging part, relative to a glass surface of the windshield. When the rear end of the cowl top cover is risen relative to the windshield, a poor visual aspect ensues, and as a result, appearance quality of an automotive decreases.
Further, when the rear end of the cowl top cover is risen relative to the windshield, a foreign substance such as dust easily accumulates at a boundary part between the cowl top cover and the windshield, and as a result, there is a problem that a task of removing the accumulated foreign substance is complicated.
Therefore, Japanese Translation of PCT International Application Publication No. 2003-532574 (hereinafter, referred to as “Patent Literature 3”) proposes an engagement structure in which the rear end of the cowl top cover is not risen relative to the glass surface of the windshield to ensure that the glass surface of the windshield and an outer surface at the rear end of the cowl top cover are disposed on the same plane.
The engagement structure described in Patent Literature 3 is configured such that a locking pawl part is arranged at the rear end of the cowl top cover, and a fitting member capable of fittingly attaching the locking pawl part of the cowl top cover is bonded to a lower surface of the front end of the windshield.
When such an engagement structure (fitting structure) using the fitting member of Patent Literature 3 is adopted, it becomes possible to arrange the glass surface of the windshield and the outer surface of the cowl top cover on the same plane. Thus, it is possible to improve the visual aspect at a boundary part between the windshield and the cowl top cover, and it is also possible to prevent accumulation of a foreign substance such as dust at the boundary part.
Generally, there is a permitted error in each dimension of an automotive body, a windshield, and a cowl top cover, and thus, it is required to absorb respective dimension errors when the cowl top cover is engaged with the windshield and is assembled into the vehicle body.
For example, as described in Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2, when the clip-like glass engaging part is arranged at the rear end of the cowl top cover so as to engage the cowl top cover and the windshield, even when a dimension error occurs to a glass terminal or a vehicle body panel and thus a relative position between the glass terminal and the cowl top cover is shifted, it is possible to ensure that the front end of the windshield is stably held by the glass engaging part of the cowl top cover and it is thus possible to absorb a dimension error of each component.
However, in the engagement structure between the cowl top cover and the windshield as in Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2, as described above, the rear end of the cowl top cover is risen relative to the glass surface of the windshield, and as a result, problems may occur such as decrease in appearance quality of an automotive and accumulation of a foreign substance.
On the other hand, as described in Patent Document 3, when the cowl top cover and the windshield are connected by using the fitting member, as described above, it is possible to arrange the glass surface of the windshield and the outer surface of the cowl top cover on the same plane.
In this case, however, the relative position between the cowl top cover and the windshield is fixed by the fitting member, and thus, there is a tendency of more of an influence of a dimension error occurring in each component such as the windshield and the cowl top cover, and as a result, the relative position between the windshield and the cowl top cover or the position of the cowl top cover relative to the vehicle body may easily be shifted.
As a result, the relative position of the seal member also is shifted, and a sealability between the cowl top cover and the bonnet hood may be lost. Further, a position of a through-hole for a washer nozzle formed in the cowl top cover is shifted and a surface angle of an attachment part of the washer nozzle is inclined, and thus, an injection direction of the washer nozzle is changed as a result of which a desired performance is not satisfied and a yield is decreased.