Land vehicles – Wheeled – Attachment
Reexamination Certificate
2002-06-14
2004-06-29
Dickson, Paul N. (Department: 3616)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Attachment
C280S801100, C180S273000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06755437
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a vehicle occupant protection system having a child seat for a motor vehicle including a firing circuit with a firing cap for an airbag unit, a control unit for activating the firing cap, a lockable latching device for attaching a child seat, and a sensor device which prevents the firing cap from being activated when the latching device is locked.
In terms of vehicle occupant protection in motor vehicles, the protection of children traveling in vehicles, in particular small children, is also very important. Child seats have been developed that can be attached to the front passenger seat facing backward with respect to the direction of travel so that a child sitting on the child seat is located near to the mother or father who is driving the vehicle, but in the event of an impact of the vehicle is still protected in particular by the backrest of the child seat itself. A problem that occurs with such a child seat is that an airbag located in front of the front passenger seat must not be allowed to trigger when the child seat is located on the front passenger seat. Triggering of the airbag could constitute an additional risk of injury for the child.
In order to solve this problem, the genus-forming U.S. Pat. No. 5,468,014 issued to Gimbel et al., on which the appended
FIG. 4
is largely based, proposes that a sensor should be used to determine whether or that a child seat is attached to a lockable latching device and to deactivate the triggering of the airbag assigned to the front passenger seat when the latching device is locked. According to
FIG. 4
, latching devices
6
for receiving attachment components
10
formed on a child seat
8
are provided on a front passenger seat
2
in the rear-most region of its seat cushions
4
. The latching devices
6
are rigidly connected to the frame of the front passenger seat
2
, and the attachment components
10
are rigidly connected to a base frame of the child seat
8
, which is embodied as a safety seat. According to Gimbel et al., sensors (not illustrated) are disposed in the latching devices
6
and are connected via lines
12
to a control unit
14
(electronic control unit). The control unit
14
actuates an airbag unit
16
, which is accommodated in the region in front of the front passenger seat
2
in the dashboard
18
of the motor vehicle. The sensors (not illustrated), which are accommodated in the latching devices
6
, may be embodied, for example, as pulse transmitters. The control unit
14
reacts to pulses generated by the pulse transmitters and blocks triggering of the airbag unit
16
. Furthermore, the sensors may be embodied in such a way that when the attachment components
10
are not satisfactorily latched to the latching devices
6
, they emit a signal that triggers a warning indicator in the dashboard.
Another possible way of generating a signal for deactivating the airbag is to accommodate transceiver mats in the front passenger seat
2
and to accommodate in the child seat
8
a transponder that reacts to a transmitted signal with a response signal which is then transmitted from the reception mat to the control unit
14
and triggers blocking of the airbag.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a vehicle occupant protection system having a child seat for a motor vehicle that overcomes the hereinafore-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices of this general type and that obtains a particularly high degree of protection against malfunctions in a simple construction.
With the foregoing and other objects in view, there is provided, in accordance with the invention, a vehicle occupant protection system for a motor vehicle includes a firing circuit, a control unit, a lockable latching device, and a sensor device. The firing circuit includes a firing cap for an airbag unit. The control unit activates the firing cap. The lockable latching device attaches a child seat. The sensor device has a switch and an electrical element connected in parallel to one another. The switch is open when the latching device is locked to prevent the firing cap from being activated. Preferably, the electrical element is a resistor. The control unit can determine an electrical resistance of the firing circuit. This is very useful when the vehicle occupant protection system includes a series of switches, each with a respective resistor connected in parallel to the second switch, because by judging the overall resistance the control unit can determine if all of the switches have been activated. The switch can include a Reed contact. The Reed contact is opened by a magnet that is positioned when the child seat is installed.
In the vehicle occupant protection system according to the invention, actuating the switch influences the effectiveness of the electrical functional element. The switch influences the trip circuit to prevent the functional element that is then electrically active from triggering the airbag.
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in a vehicle occupant protection system having a child seat for a motor vehicle, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.
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patent: 3745523 (1973-07-01), Lewis et al.
patent: 3766612 (1973-10-01), Hattori
patent: 3992028 (1976-11-01), Abe et al.
patent: 5468014 (1995-11-01), Gimbel et al.
patent: 5605348 (1997-02-01), Blackburn et al.
patent: 5683103 (1997-11-01), Blackburn et al.
patent: 5690356 (1997-11-01), Lane, Jr.
patent: 5851025 (1998-12-01), Gamboa
patent: 5882035 (1999-03-01), Munro
patent: 5992879 (1999-11-01), Bogge
patent: 6007093 (1999-12-01), Bechtle et al.
patent: 6145874 (2000-11-01), Modzelewski et al.
patent: 6371516 (2002-04-01), Miyagawa
patent: 6419199 (2002-07-01), Skofljanec et al.
patent: 197 22 734 (1998-12-01), None
patent: 299 03 414 (1999-08-01), None
patent: 0 819 566 (1998-01-01), None
Kraft Ekkehard
Swart Marten
Dickson Paul N.
Draper Deanna
Greenberg Laurence A.
Locher Ralph E.
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
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