Vehicle occupant protection system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9409540-B2
Application number	US-201514953242-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 27, 2015
Priority date	Dec 3, 2014
Publication date	Aug 9, 2016
Grant date	Aug 9, 2016

Abstract

A vehicle occupant protection system includes: an outside airbag; reinforcement cloths that are attached to a reverse surface of a seat cover, in a region at a the vehicle width direction outer side, and a region at a seat front side, of the outside airbag, the reinforcement cloths being attached from an outside splitting portion; an inside airbag; webbings that are secured to a side frame (a frame) of a seat back, with each having an end portion fastened to an inside splitting portion; an outside inflator that supplies a gas for inflation to the seat outside airbag; an inside inflator that supplies a gas for inflation to the seat inside airbag; and a control unit which, at a time of a side crash, actuates the inside inflator later than the outside inflator.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle occupant protection system, comprising:
an outside airbag that is housed in a side portion at a vehicle width direction outer side of a seat back of at least one of a driver seat or a front passenger seat;
reinforcement cloths that are attached to a reverse surface of a seat cover, in a region at a vehicle width direction outer side, and a region at a seat front side, of the outside airbag, the reinforcement cloths being attached from an outside splitting portion that splits open in conjunction with inflation and deployment of the outside airbag, and the reinforcement cloths not stretching as easily as the seat cover;
an inside airbag that is housed in a side portion at a vehicle width direction inner side of the seat back;
webbings that are secured to a frame of the seat back and that are disposed at least at a vehicle width direction outer side and a vehicle width direction inner side of the inside airbag, each having an end portion fastened to an inside splitting portion that splits open in conjunction with inflation and deployment of the inside airbag, the webbings not stretching as easily as the seat cover;
an outside inflator that is disposed in correspondence to the outside airbag and supplies a gas for inflation to the outside airbag;
an inside inflator that is disposed in correspondence to the inside airbag and supplies a gas for inflation to the inside airbag; and
a control unit which, at a time of a side crash, actuates the inside inflator later than the outside inflator when inflating and deploying the outside airbag and the inside airbag of a seat on the crash side.

2. The vehicle occupant protection system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the seat cover has an outside side cover that is disposed on a vehicle width direction outer side of the outside airbag from the outside splitting portion, and an outside front side cover that is disposed on a seat front side of the outside airbag from the outside splitting portion;
the reinforcement cloths have a vehicle width direction outer side reinforcement cloth and a seat front side reinforcement cloth;
the vehicle width direction outer side reinforcement cloth is sewn to a reverse surface of the outside side cover;
the seat front side reinforcement cloth is sewn to a reverse surface of the outside front side cover; and
in the outside splitting portion, the end portions of the outside side cover and the vehicle width direction outer side reinforcement cloth and the end portions of the outside front side cover and the seat front side reinforcement cloth are sewn to each other.

3. The vehicle occupant protection system according to claim 2 , wherein:
a reaction force plate is attached to the frame;
the reaction force plate is secured to the frame at a rear portion of the reaction force plate, wraps around the vehicle width direction outer side of the outside airbag from a seat rear side of the outside airbag, and extends toward the seat front side;
a front portion of the reaction force plate is positioned at a side of the outside inflator; and
the vehicle width direction outer side reinforcement cloth is positioned at a side of the front portion.

4. The vehicle occupant protection system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the seat cover has an inside side cover that is provided on a vehicle width direction inner side of the inside airbag from the inside splitting portion, and an inside front side cover that is provided on a seat front side of the inside airbag from the inside splitting portion;
the webbings has an inside webbing that is disposed on a seat width direction inner side of the inside airbag, and an outside webbing that is disposed on a seat width direction outer side of the inside airbag;
one end of the inside webbing and one end of the outside webbing are secured to the frame; and
in the inside splitting portion, an end portion of the inside side cover, the other end of the outside webbing, an end portion of the inside front side cover, and the other end of the inside webbing are sewn to each other.

5. The vehicle occupant protection system according to claim 4 , wherein:
the outside webbing is not fastened to the inside side cover except for the inside splitting portion; and
the inside webbing is also not fastened to the inside front side cover except for the inside splitting portion.

6. The vehicle occupant protection system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the seat cover has an inside side cover that is provided on a vehicle width direction inner side of the inside airbag from the inside splitting portion, and an inside front side cover that is provided on a seat front side of the inside airbag from the inside splitting portion;
in the inside splitting portion, both ends of the webbing are respectively fastened to the reverse surface of the inside side cover and the reverse surface of the inside front side cover; and
the both ends of the webbing, the inside side cover, and the inside front side cover are sewn to each other in a four-layer overlay.

7. The vehicle occupant protection system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the outside airbag is disposed at the driver seat and the front passenger seat;
when the inside airbag inflates and deploys, a bottom portion of the inside airbag inflates and deploys at a position on a vehicle lower side of an upper surface of a console disposed between the driver seat and the front passenger seat; and
at the time of a side crash, when inflating and deploying the outside airbag of the seat on the crash side and the inside airbag of the seat on the opposite side from the crash side, the control unit simultaneously actuates the outside inflator of the seat on the crash side and the inside inflator of the seat on the opposite side from the crash side.

8. The vehicle occupant protection system according to claim 7 , wherein the inside airbag is disposed at the driver seat or the front passenger seat.

9. The vehicle occupant protection system according to claim 8 , wherein:
in a case where the side crash has occurred on a side of the seat having the inside airbag, the outside inflator of the seat on the crash side is actuated, then the inside inflator is actuated after the elapse of a predetermined delay time with respect to an actuation timing of the outside inflator; and
in a case where the side crash occurred on the side of the seat not having the inside airbag, the outside inflator and the inside inflator of the seat on the crash side are simultaneously actuated.

10. The vehicle occupant protection system according to claim 7 , wherein the inside airbag is disposed at both the driver seat and the front passenger seat.

11. The vehicle occupant protection system according to claim 10 , wherein:
in a case where the side crash has occurred on the driver seat side, the outside inflator of the driver seat and the inside inflator of the front passenger seat are simultaneously actuated, and the inside inflator of the driver seat is actuated after an elapse of a predetermined delay time with respect to an actuation timing of these inflators; and
in a case where the side crash has occurred on the front passenger seat side, the outside inflator of the front passenger seat and the inside inflator of the driver seat are simultaneously actuated, and the inside inflator of the front passenger seat is actuate d after the elapse of a predetermined delay time with respect to the actuation timing of these inflators.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Fujiwara Yusuke

Classifications

• B60R21/013

  including means for detecting collisions, impending collisions or roll-over · CPC title

• B60R21/207 Primary

  in vehicle seats · CPC title

• B60R2021/01286

  Electronic control units · CPC title

• B60R21/263

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

• B60R21/2165

  characterised by a tear line for defining a deployment opening · CPC title