Device for locking the steering spindle of a vehicle

US6810702B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignees

• AUDI AG · DE
• Huf Hülsbeck & Fürst GmbH & Co. KG · DE
• Krupp Presta AG Press-und Stanzwerk · LI

Inventors

• Carsten Fuchs · Essen, DE
• Friedrich Pieper · Langenfeld, DE
• Patrik Jaillant · Feldkirch, AT
• Gunther Wagner · Reutlingen, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Jul 30, 2002
• Grant date: Nov 2, 2004
• Expiry date: Jul 30, 2022

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10T70/7051
• WIPO field: Transport
• WIPO sector: Mechanical engineering

Abstract

A lock for irrotationally locking a motor-vehicle steering column enclosed by a tubular housing, the lock including a lock element displaceable to-and-fro between a locked and a released position and further a drive motor driving the locking element. For greater compactness, to offer enhanced security against theft, and to leave unhampered the telescoping of the steering pillar composed of steering column and tubular housing, further to reduce the danger of knee injury in case of accident, the locking element is mounted in the vicinity of the steering-wheel side end of the steering column inside the tubular housing, and the drive motor is mounted next to the foot-space side end of the steering column, and the drive motor cooperates with the locking element through a connecting element arrange inside the tubular housing.