Abstract: A pillar structure that reduces bending deformation of the pillar toward the vehicle interior, during a vehicle side collision, by suppressing cross-sectional collapse of the pillar. In a pillar which is erected on a side face of a body of an automobile and in which an outer panel and an inner panel form a closed cross-section, at sites where a collision load is likely to act strongly and locally during a side collision such as a site opposing an end of an impact beam that is provided inside a front door and that extends in the front-rear direction, and a site where a hinge joint is formed, grooves having a substantially square C-shaped cross section are formed in a front face portion, of an outer panel having a hat-shaped cross section, that faces toward the front of the vehicle, and/or a rear face portion thereof that faces toward the rear of the vehicle.

Abstract: A pillar structure that reduces bending deformation of the pillar toward the vehicle interior, during a vehicle side collision, by suppressing cross-sectional collapse of the pillar. In a pillar which is erected on a side face of a body of an automobile and in which an outer panel and an inner panel form a closed cross-section, at sites where a collision load is likely to act strongly and locally during a side collision such as a site opposing an end of an impact beam that is provided inside a front door and that extends in the front-rear direction, and a site where a hinge joint is formed, grooves having a substantially square C-shaped cross section are formed in a front face portion, of an outer panel having a hat-shaped cross section, that faces toward the front of the vehicle, and/or a rear face portion thereof that faces toward the rear of the vehicle.