Safety panelling arrangement with a deformable structure

Claim 1

A safety panelling arrangement for a motor vehicle having a floor and an elongate rigid member transversely disposed in said vehicle at a front portion of the passenger compartment under the windscreen, comprising: a first elongate sheet member transversely disposed in said vehicle and having the front end thereof fixed to said elongate rigid member and the rear end portion thereof bent downwardly, the rear end portion of said first elongate sheet member forming a first supporting part the lateral axis of which is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said vehicle; a second sheet member transversely disposed in said vehicle and having the front end thereof fixed to the rear surface of said first elongate sheet member and the rear end portion thereof bent downwardly, the rear end portion of said second elongate sheet member forming a second supporting part the lateral axis of which is substantially parallel with that of said first supporting part; and a straightly extending member firmly spanned substantially horizontally between said first and second supporting parts, at a position below an area where said second elongate sheet member is fixed to said first elongate sheet member, in a manner that the longitudinal axis of said straightly extending member is inclined with respect to an imaginary plane which is perpendicular to said floor and includes therein said longitudinal axis of said vehicle, said area being an area most likely impacted by the head of a passenger in a passenger compartment in a vehicle collision.