Airbag

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9925948-B2
Application number	US-201615276900-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 27, 2016
Priority date	Sep 29, 2015
Publication date	Mar 27, 2018
Grant date	Mar 27, 2018

Abstract

An airbag is inflatable in such a manner as to separate a vehicle-side wall which is deployable towards a vehicle body structure and an occupant-side wall which is deployable towards an occupant for catching the occupant. The airbag is configured to be supported by the vehicle body structure on the vehicle-side wall when catching the occupant with the occupant-side wall. The airbag includes a recessed section on left and right sides of and in a vicinity of the center of the occupant-side wall and a tether that connects the bottom of the recessed section to the vehicle-side wall in order to form the recessed section. Opposing walls of the recessed section press each other in a separable fashion when the airbag is inflated. The tether allows gas communication between a central region of the airbag and a peripheral region of the airbag which surrounds the central region, inside the airbag.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An airbag adapted to be mounted on a vehicle, the airbag being inflatable with an inflation gas in such a manner as to separate a vehicle-side wall, which is deployable towards a vehicle body structure, and an occupant-side wall, which is deployable towards a vehicle occupant for catching the occupant, the airbag being configured to be supported by the vehicle body structure on the vehicle-side wall when catching the occupant with the occupant-side wall, the airbag comprising:
a recessed section that is recessed towards the vehicle-side wall on left and right sides of and in a vicinity of a center of the occupant-side wall as fully inflated;
a tether that connects a bottom of the recessed section to the vehicle-side wall in order to form the recessed section, and the tether is configured in such a manner as to provide gas communication between a central region of the airbag as inflated, which is disposed in a vicinity of the center of the occupant-side wall, and a peripheral region of the airbag as inflated, which surrounds the central region and is disposed in a vicinity of an outer circumferential edge of the occupant-side wall, in an interior of the airbag; and
a pair of opposing walls that extend from the bottom of the recessed section to the occupant-side wall in an opposed fashion and form the recessed section, wherein the opposing walls press each other in a separable fashion when the airbag is fully inflated.

2. The airbag according to claim 1 , wherein the airbag is adapted to be mounted on a boss section of a steering wheel, which is disposed in a vicinity of a generally center of a rim of the steering wheel such that the vehicle-side wall is deployable towards the rim and the occupant-side wall is deployable towards a driver's seat for catching a driver.

3. The airbag according to claim 2 , wherein the recessed section is formed at two positions in left and right regions of the airbag in a separated fashion.

4. The airbag according to claim 2 , wherein the recessed section is formed in an annular fashion around the vicinity of the center of the occupant-side wall.

5. The airbag according to claim 4 , wherein:
the occupant-side wall is composed of the opposing walls which form the recessed section, a peripheral panel which is annular in shape and disposed on an outside of the recessed section, and a central panel which is circular in shape and disposed on an inner side of the recessed section; and
each of the opposing walls of the recessed section is joined to an outer circumferential edge of the central panel and an inner circumferential edge of the peripheral panel.

6. The airbag according to claim 5 , wherein, out of the opposing walls of the recessed section, a center-side wall which is joined to the central panel has a shorter length between the bottom of the recessed section and the outer circumferential edge of the central panel than a length of an outer wall, which is joined to the peripheral panel, between the bottom of the recessed section and the inner circumferential edge of the peripheral panel.

7. The airbag according to claim 6 , wherein the length of the outer wall of the opposing walls between the bottom of the recessed section to the inner circumferential edge of the peripheral panel is within a range of 50 to 200 mm.

8. The airbag according to claim 7 , wherein the length of the center-side wall of the opposing walls between the bottom of the recessed section to the outer circumferential edge of the central panel is within a range of 30 to 80 percent of the length of the outer wall.

9. The airbag according to claim 6 , wherein a diameter of the recessed section is within a range of 200 to 350 mm.

Assignees

• Toyoda Gosei Kk

Inventors

• Hotta Masashi
• Iida Takashi
• Sato Yuji
• Yamada Ikuo
• Hayashi Mikine

Classifications

• B60R21/2037

  the module or a major component thereof being yieldably mounted, e.g. for actuating the horn switch or for protecting the driver in a non-deployment situation (horn switches integrated in steering wheel covers with tear lines B60R21/21658) · CPC title

• B60R21/2338 Primary

  Tethers · CPC title

• B60R21/235

  characterised by their material · CPC title

• B60R2021/23533

  characterised by the manufacturing process · CPC title