Vehicle hood apparatus

Claim 1

A vehicle hood apparatus comprising: a hood for covering an engine room positioned in the front section of a vehicle; a lifting actuator for lifting the rear end of said hood a predetermined amount when the vehicle collides with an object to be protected; and a hood retaining mechanism for retaining said hood in the lifted position; said hood retaining mechanism comprising: a bracket mounted to a body frame; a lower link swingably mounted to said bracket at a first location; an upper link swingably mounted to the rear end of said hood at a second location; a hinge for bendably and stretchably mounting said lower link and said upper link such that said hinge is offset from at least one of said first and second locations in a forward direction relative to the vehicle; a stopper provided between said lower link and said bracket for preventing said lower link from falling rearward relative to the vehicle subsequent to the stretching of said lower link and said upper link; and a ratchet mechanism provided between said lower link and said bracket for allowing said lower link and said upper link to shift from a bending state to a stretching state while preventing the reverse shift.