The present invention is directed to a door handle unit for actuating a lock of a movable part of a motor vehicle, particularly a door, a flap or such according to the preamble of claim 1. Thereby the door handle unit comprises a door handle which is movably supported on a support element for the mechanical opening of the movable part by a user, wherein the door handle can at least take a resting and an operating position. Moreover, the door handle unit is supplied with a mechanical coupling element, which is movably supported on the support element, and is transferable by a movement of the door handle from the resting position into the operating position towards the lock, wherein the door handle and the coupling element are mechanically cooperating and form a movable actuating mechanism. Moreover, the door handle unit comprises at least a blocking unit, which in the normal case enables a movement of the actuating mechanism for actuating the lock and only in the blocking case blocks a movement of the actuating mechanism for actuating the block. Further, the present invention is also directed to a method for securing a door handle unit.
From the state of the art generic door handle units are known, which comprise a crash lock or crash latch. In this context for example the document DE 199 29 022 A1 has to be mentioned, which discloses a crash lock for a generic door handle unit. The particularity of this crash lock is that it is supplied with a low mass, so that it is faster movable due to the low mass inertia as the heavier movable parts of the door handle unit. If now accelerations due to a crash act on the door handle unit, they cause that initially the fast crash lock blocks the other heavier movable parts of the door handle unit in a formfitting way. Thereby it can be avoided that an accidental deployment of the door handle unit in a crash and consequential resulting accelerations occur.
However, it has turned out with multiple crash investigations that such crash locks can flutter, so that nevertheless an undesired release of the door handle unit can occur, what in any case has to be avoided. With the previously described crash lock for the door handle unit it does not depend on whether the movable door handle itself is actually moved or not, since the crash lock is solely actuated due to impacting forces from the crash acceleration, which are directly acting on the crash lock.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds