Airbag device for a front passenger seat

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9358945-B2
Application number	US-201514812391-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 29, 2015
Priority date	Aug 12, 2014
Publication date	Jun 7, 2016
Grant date	Jun 7, 2016

Abstract

An airbag housed in the housing and inflatable with an inflation gas for deployment rearward in order to protect a passenger in a front passenger seat. The airbag includes a main bag section that includes at its rear surface a front-collision arresting plane for catching the passenger upon a frontal collision, and an auxiliary bag section that includes an oblique-collision arresting section protruding rearward relative to the main bag section. The oblique-collision arresting section includes on its lateral an oblique-collision arresting plane for catching a head of the passenger upon an oblique collision. The oblique-collision arresting section is a high-pressure section which has a higher internal pressure than the main bag section when inflated. The airbag further includes in a front region of the auxiliary bag section a low-pressure section that is in gas communication with the main bag section and partitioned from the high-pressure section by a partition wall.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An airbag device for a front passenger seat adapted to be mounted on an instrument panel of a vehicle in front of a front passenger seat and comprising a housing adapted to be disposed in the instrument panel and an airbag housed in the housing in a folded-up configuration and being inflatable with an inflation gas for deployment rearward in order to protect a passenger seated in the front passenger seat, the airbag comprising:
an inflatable main bag section that includes at a rear surface thereof a front-collision arresting plane for catching the passenger moving forward in the event of a frontal collision of the vehicle;
an auxiliary bag section that is deployable on a lateral in a left and right direction a of the main bag section and inflatable into such a shape as to protrude rearward relative to an edge in a left and right direction of the front-collision arresting plane, the auxiliary bag section including an oblique-collision arresting section that protrudes rearward relative to the main bag section, the oblique-collision arresting section including on a lateral thereof an oblique-collision arresting plane extending rearward in such a manner as to be continuous with the front-collision arresting plane for catching a head of the passenger moving diagonally forward in the event of an oblique collision of the vehicle;
a high-pressure section that is composed of a region of the auxiliary bag section including at least the oblique-collision arresting section and is higher in internal pressure than the main bag section when inflated; and
a low-pressure section that is disposed in front of the oblique-collision arresting section in the auxiliary bag section, the low-pressure section being in gas communication with the main bag section and partitioned from the high-pressure section by a partition wall and having a lower internal pressure than the oblique-collision arresting section.

2. The airbag device for a front passenger seat of claim 1 , wherein:
an inflator is disposed in the housing for feeding an inflation gas to the airbag;
the main bag section is so deployable as to extend rearward from the housing; and
the high-pressure section includes in the partition wall a check valve acting as an inflation gas supply mechanism, the check valve allowing the inflation gas to flow into the high-pressure section from the low-pressure section and preventing the gas from flowing into the low-pressure section from the high-pressure section.

3. The airbag device for a front passenger seat of claim 1 , wherein:
at least two inflators are disposed in the housing for feeding an inflation gas to the airbag; and
the high-pressure section is fed with an inflation gas by one of the inflators via an inner tube that extends from a periphery of the one inflator and acts as an inflation gas supply mechanism.

4. The airbag device for a front passenger seat of claim 1 , wherein:
when viewing the airbag as fully deployed from above,
the partition wall of the airbag extends diagonally forward from a rear end of the partition wall located at a vicinity of a border between the front-collision arresting plane and the oblique-collision arresting plane; and
a front end of the partition wall is located in a front end region of the auxiliary bag section not beyond an intersecting region of the front end region of the auxiliary bag section and a lateral of the auxiliary bag section.

5. The airbag device for a front passenger seat of claim 1 , wherein:
when viewing the airbag as fully deployed from above,
the partition wall of the airbag extends diagonally forward from a rear end of the partition wall located at a vicinity of a border between the front-collision arresting plane and the oblique-collision arresting plane; and
a front end of the partition wall is located at a lateral of the auxiliary bag section.

6. The airbag device for a front passenger seat of claim 1 , wherein, when viewing the airbag as fully deployed from above, the partition wall of the airbag extends from a border between the front-collision arresting plane and the oblique-collision arresting plane in such a manner as to elongate the front-collision arresting plane, and is connected to a lateral of the auxiliary bag section.

7. The airbag device for a front passenger seat of claim 1 , wherein the auxiliary bag section includes at a front end thereof at deployment a support plane that is supported by a rear surface of the instrument panel at airbag deployment.

8. The airbag device for a front passenger seat of claim 1 , wherein the auxiliary bag section is disposed on a lateral of the main bag section deployable facing towards a driver's seat of the vehicle.

9. The airbag device for a front passenger seat of claim 8 , wherein:
when viewing the airbag as fully deployed from above,
the partition wall of the airbag extends diagonally forward and toward the driver's seat from a rear end of the partition wall located at a vicinity of a border between the front-collision arresting plane and the oblique-collision arresting plane; and
a front end of the partition wall is located farther forward relative to a steering wheel disposed in front of the driver's seat.

Assignees

• Toyoda Gosei Kk

Inventors

• Yamada Ikuo
• Komatsu Takanori

Classifications

• B60R21/233 Primary

  comprising a plurality of individual compartments; comprising two or more bag-like members, one within the other (B60R21/232 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B60R21/268

  using instantaneous release of stored pressurised gas {(B60R21/26005 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• B60R21/263

  using a variable source, e.g. plural stage or controlled output (hybrid inflators B60R21/272) · CPC title

• B60R2021/23308

  the individual compartments defining the external shape of the bag · CPC title

• B60R21/205

  in dashboards · CPC title