Seatback carrier with deployment hinge points

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11364829-B2
Application number	US-201916594132-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 7, 2019
Priority date	Oct 7, 2019
Publication date	Jun 21, 2022
Grant date	Jun 21, 2022

Abstract

A seatback assembly includes a front carrier module having a mounting portion with an inverted U-shaped outer perimeter edge. A plurality of doors includes individual doors that are hingedly coupled to the outer perimeter edge of the front carrier module. Each door of the plurality of doors is operable between open and closed positions. An airbag carrier module includes an inverted U-shaped raceway with an open front portion. The airbag carrier module is operably coupled to the front carrier module, such that the doors of the front carrier module selectively open and close the open front portion of the raceway of the airbag carrier module.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A seatback assembly, comprising:
a front carrier module having a mounting portion with an inverted U-shaped outer perimeter edge and a plurality of doors hingedly coupled to the outer perimeter edge, wherein each door of the plurality of doors is operable between open and closed positions; and
an airbag carrier module having an inverted U-shaped raceway with an open front portion, wherein the doors of the plurality of doors selectively open and close the open front portion of the raceway.

2. The seatback assembly of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of doors includes a plurality of engagement members.

3. The seatback assembly of claim 2 , wherein the airbag carrier module includes a plurality of receiving apertures disposed along a front edge of the raceway.

4. The seatback assembly of claim 3 , wherein the engagement members of the plurality of engagement members are received in associated receiving apertures of the plurality of receiving apertures to retain each door of the plurality of doors in the closed position.

5. The seatback assembly of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of doors are hingedly coupled to the outer perimeter edge of the front carrier module by living hinges.

6. The seatback assembly of claim 5 , wherein each door of the plurality of doors includes a first portion outwardly extending from the living hinges, and a second portion extending orthogonally from the first portion.

7. The seatback assembly of claim 1 , including:
a back panel having a plurality of clip members disposed along a front edge of the back panel.

8. The seatback assembly of claim 7 , wherein the front carrier module includes a plurality of receiving slots disposed on one or more of the doors of the plurality of doors, wherein the clip members of the plurality of clip members of the back panel are received through the receiving slots of the plurality of receiving slots to releasably retain the one or more doors of the plurality of doors in the closed position.

9. The seatback assembly of claim 1 , wherein the raceway includes a body portion having first and second ends and first and second upwardly extending portions which respectively extend upwardly from first and second ends, and further wherein the body portion of the raceway includes an upper transverse portion which interconnects the first and second upwardly extending portions of the body portion of the raceway.

10. The seatback assembly of claim 9 , including:
an airbag assembly, wherein the airbag assembly is an elongate airbag assembly having first and second ends with a body portion disposed therebetween, and further wherein the first and second ends of the airbag assembly are received in the first and second ends of the raceway.

11. The seatback assembly of claim 10 , wherein the body portion of the airbag assembly is substantially received along an entirety of the body portion of the raceway.

12. A front carrier module for a seatback assembly, comprising:
a first side member having at least one door hingedly coupled to an outer perimeter edge of the first side member, wherein the at least one door of the first side member is operable between open and closed positions relative to the first side member, and further wherein the at least one door of the first side member folds inwardly along a first pivot axis from the closed position to the open position along a first rotational path;
a second side member spaced-apart from the first side member and having at least one door hingedly coupled to an outer perimeter edge of the second side member, wherein the at least one door of the second side member is operable between open and closed positions relative to the second side member; and
a support member positioned above and operably coupled to both the first and second side members, wherein the support member includes an outer perimeter edge having first and second side edges and an upper edge, and further wherein the support member includes at least one door hingedly coupled to the upper edge of the outer perimeter edge of the support member.

13. The front carrier module of claim 12 , wherein the at least one door of the upper edge of the outer perimeter edge of the support member folds downwardly along a second pivot axis from the closed position to the open position along a second rotational path.

14. The front carrier module of claim 13 , wherein the second pivot axis is substantially perpendicular to the first pivot axis.

15. The front carrier module of claim 12 , wherein the at least one door of the second side member folds inwardly along a second pivot axis from the closed position to the open position along a second rotational path.

16. The front carrier module of claim 15 , wherein the first pivot axis and the second pivot axis are substantially upright axes.

17. The front carrier module of claim 15 , wherein the first rotational path and the second rotational path are opposed rotational paths.

18. A seatback assembly, comprising:
a front carrier module having a mounting portion with an outer perimeter edge and a plurality of doors hingedly coupled to and outwardly extending from the outer perimeter edge of the mounting portion, wherein each door of the plurality of doors is independently operable between open and closed positions, and further wherein each door of the plurality of doors includes an engagement member; and
an airbag carrier module having a mounting portion with an outer perimeter edge and a raceway disposed along and outwardly extending from the outer perimeter edge of the mounting portion of the airbag carrier module, wherein the raceway includes a front edge having a plurality of engagement members, and further wherein at least one engagement member of the plurality of engagement members of the raceway releasably engages an associated engagement member of each door of the plurality of doors of the front carrier module to releasably retain each door of the plurality of doors of the front carrier module in a closed position.

19. The seatback assembly of claim 18 , wherein each door of the plurality of doors of the front carrier module selectively provides access to the raceway in the open position.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Berry S M Akbar
• Line Johnathan Andrew
• Dry Alan George
• Kondrad Marcos Silva
• Yilma Benjamin

Classifications

• B60R2021/23386

  External tether means · CPC title

• B60N2/68

  Seat frames · CPC title

• B60R2021/23146

  seat mounted · CPC title

• B60R2021/23161

  specially adapted for protecting at least two passengers, e.g. preventing them from hitting each other · CPC title

• B60R21/207

  in vehicle seats · CPC title