Vehicle seat belt system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10434980-B2
Application number	US-201816032976-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 11, 2018
Priority date	Sep 5, 2017
Publication date	Oct 8, 2019
Grant date	Oct 8, 2019

Abstract

There is provided a vehicle seat belt system including: webbing that has one end anchored to one seat width direction side surface of a vehicle seat or to a vehicle body, and that restrains an occupant seated in the vehicle seat; a retractor to which another end of the webbing is engaged and that is configured to take up the webbing, the retractor being provided with a pretensioner which, when activated, pulls in the webbing; a buckle, with which a tongue plate attached to the webbing can be engaged; a force limiter that allows the buckle to move to thereby reduce a tensile load acting on the webbing due to activation of the pretensioner; and a warning section that is configured to utilize movement of the buckle resulting from the force limiter to notify the occupant of an abnormality that the force limiter has been activated.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle seat belt system comprising:
webbing that has one end anchored to one seat width direction side surface of a vehicle seat or to a vehicle body, and that restrains an occupant seated in the vehicle seat;
a retractor to which another end of the webbing is engaged and that is configured to take up the webbing, the retractor being provided with a pretensioner which, when activated, pulls in the webbing;
a buckle, that is provided on another seat width direction side surface of the vehicle seat or on the vehicle body, with which a tongue plate attached to the webbing can be engaged;
a force limiter that allows the buckle to move to thereby reduce a tensile load acting on the webbing due to activation of the pretensioner; and
a warning section that is configured to utilize movement of the buckle resulting from the force limiter to notify the occupant of an abnormality that the force limiter has been activated,
wherein the warning section is configured to electrically detect movement of the buckle and electrically notify the occupant of the abnormality, and
wherein the warning section includes an electrical circuit and is configured such that electrical resistance in the electrical circuit changes when part of the electrical circuit becomes disconnected due to movement of the buckle, and the warning section determines, in accordance with the electrical resistance, whether or not the force limiter has been activated.

2. The vehicle seat belt system according to claim 1 , wherein the warning section is configured to notify the occupant of a second abnormality when the buckle and the tongue plate are not engaged with each other and notify the occupant of the abnormality, regardless of whether or not the buckle and the tongue plate are engaged with each other, when the force limiter has been activated.

3. The vehicle seat belt system according to claim 2 , wherein the warning section is configured to distinguish between, and notify the occupant of, the second abnormality when the buckle and the tongue plate are not engaged with each other, and the abnormality when the force limiter has been activated.

4. The vehicle seat belt system according to claim 3 , wherein the electrical circuit includes:
a circuit that interconnects point A and point B, which are measurement points of the electrical resistance;
a buckle switch that is provided in the circuit and switches ON and OFF depending on whether or not the tongue plate is engaged with the buckle;
a movement detection switch that is provided in series with the buckle switch in the circuit and switches from ON to OFF due to movement of the buckle; and
a resistor that is provided in parallel with the buckle switch in the circuit.

5. The vehicle seat belt system according to claim 3 , wherein the electrical circuit includes:
a circuit that interconnects point A and point B, which are measurement points of the electrical resistance;
a buckle switch that is provided in the circuit and switches ON and OFF depending on whether or not the tongue plate is engaged with the buckle;
a movement detection switch that is provided in series with the buckle switch in the circuit and switches from ON to OFF due to movement of the buckle;
a first resistor that is provided in parallel with the buckle switch in the circuit; and
a second resistor that is provided in parallel with the buckle switch and the movement detection switch in the circuit and that has a resistance value different from that of the first resistor.

6. The vehicle seat belt system according to claim 3 , wherein the electrical circuit includes:
a circuit that interconnects point A and point B, which are measurement points of the electrical resistance;
a Hall switch that is provided in the circuit, a resistance value of the Hall switch changing depending on whether or not the tongue plate is engaged with the buckle; and
a movement detection switch that is provided in series with the Hall switch in the circuit and becomes disconnected due to movement of the buckle.

7. The vehicle seat belt system according to claim 3 , wherein the electrical circuit includes:
a circuit that interconnects point A and point B, which are measurement points of the electrical resistance;
a Hall switch that is provided in the circuit, a resistance value of the Hall switch changing depending on whether or not the tongue plate is engaged with the buckle;
a movement detection switch that is provided in series with the Hall switch in the circuit and becomes disconnected due to movement of the buckle; and
a resistor that is provided in parallel with the Hall switch and the movement detection switch in the circuit and that has a resistance value different from that of the Hall switch.

8. The vehicle seat belt system according to claim 3 , wherein the electrical circuit includes:
a first circuit that interconnects point A and point B, which are measurement points of the electrical resistance;
a buckle switch that is provided in the first circuit and switches ON and OFF depending on whether or not the tongue plate is engaged with the buckle;
a second circuit that is provided separately from the first circuit and interconnects point C and point D, which are measurement points of the electrical resistance; and
a movement detection switch that is provided in the second circuit and becomes disconnected due to movement of the buckle.

9. The vehicle seat belt system according to claim 3 , wherein the electrical circuit includes:
a first circuit that interconnects point A and point B, which are measurement points of the electrical resistance;
a buckle switch that is provided in the first circuit and switches ON and OFF depending on whether or not the tongue plate is engaged with the buckle;
a second circuit that interconnects point C and point D that measure the electrical resistance separately from the first circuit;
a movement detection switch that is provided in the second circuit and becomes disconnected due to movement of the buckle; and
a resistor that is provided in parallel with the movement detection switch in the second circuit.

10. The vehicle seat belt system according to claim 2 , wherein the warning section is configured to notify the occupant of, without distinguishing between, the second abnormality when the buckle and the tongue plate are not engaged with each other, and the abnormality when the force limiter has been activated.

11. The vehicle seat belt system according to claim 10 , wherein the electrical circuit includes:
a circuit that interconnects point A and point B, which are measurement points of the electrical resistance;
a buckle switch that is provided in the circuit and detects whether or not the tongue plate is engaged with the buckle; and
a movement detection switch that is provided in series with the buckle switch in the circuit and becomes disconnected due to movement of the buckle.

12. The vehicle seat belt system according to claim 1 , wherein the electrical circuit includes an extra length portion that allows the buckle to move.

13. The vehicle seat belt system according to claim 1 , further comprising a cover member that overlaps a side portion of the buckle, wherein an indicator that indicates that the force limiter has been activated is provided as the warning section in the side portion, and the indicator is hidden by the cover member when the force limiter has not yet been activated and appears due to movement of the buckle relative to the cover member.

14. The vehicle seat belt system according to claim 1 , further comprising a cover member that overlaps a side portion of

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ohno Mitsuyoshi
• Sekizuka Makoto
• Imanaka Shigekazu

Classifications

• B60R21/01544

  detecting seat belt parameters, e.g. length, tension or height-adjustment · CPC title

• B60R22/1952 Primary

  Transmission of tensioning power by cable; Return motion locking means therefor · CPC title

• B60R22/19

  with means for reducing belt tension during use under normal conditions {(included in the retractor B60R22/44)} · CPC title

• B60R2022/4866

  Displaying or indicating arrangements thereof · CPC title

• B60R2022/1806

  for buckles · CPC title