Apparatus for reducing the likelihood of injury to drivers of motor vehicles as a result of head-on collisions

摘要

The steering wheel column and/or the bearing for the steering wheel column in a motor vehicle is pushed or pulled away from a position in front of the driver in the event of a head-on collision whose intensity exceeds a preselected minimum value. The displacing unit which is activated in the event of head-on collision of preselected minimum intensity (e.g., a collision which causes the engine block and/or the transmission case to move rearwardly with reference to the frame of the motor vehicle) can entrain the steering wheel column and/or the bearing for the steering wheel column by way of a carrier which is pivotably mounted adjacent the steering wheel column or its bearing and has one or more projections with cutting edges penetrating into the steering wheel column and/or bearing in response to activation of the displacing unit. Each projection can include a cylindrical portion which extends at an oblique angle from a side of the carrier and whose axis preferably makes an acute angle with an adjacent surface of the steering wheel column or its bearing.