Land vehicles – Wheeled – Attachment
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-23
2001-08-07
English, Peter C. (Department: 3619)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Attachment
C180S282000, C701S045000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06270115
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an air bag suppression system and more particularly to a dual stage air bag system dependent on seat position.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well known in the art to provide a supplemental inflatable restraint (SIR) system for the protection of vehicle occupants. A typical SIR system includes a housing, an air bag normally stored in the housing, and an inflator for discharging gas to inflate the air bag. Conventional systems activate the inflator in response to a predetermined amount of deceleration.
Some systems incorporate a dual stage inflator system. These systems control the inflation of the air bags in response to the severity of a collision. A first or low stage inflation having a low volume is activated in a collision with lower deceleration. A second or high stage inflation having an increased volume is additionally activated in collisions with higher decelerations. Typically a deceleration sensor senses the deceleration of the vehicle during a collision. The first inflation stage is triggered in response to the output of the deceleration sensor when the detected deceleration is equal to or greater than a first threshold value. The second inflation stage is triggered in response to the output of the deceleration sensor when the detected deceleration is equal to or greater than a second threshold value higher than the first threshold value.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,491 discloses an air bag disabling system for completely disabling the deployment of the air bag when the seat is in certain forward positions and is hereby incorporated herein by reference. When this air bag system is completely disabled, the air bag system is disabled and does not deploy.
The dual stage air bag provides certain deployment options over the single stage air bag inflation systems. It may be advantageous to control the deployment of the first and second stages, not only upon vehicle deceleration, but also based upon the seat position.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a dual stage air bag suppression system based upon seat position. A deceleration sensor senses the deceleration of the vehicle during a collision. If the deceleration exceeds a first threshold value, and the seat is rearward of a predetermined value, then the SIR controller initiates a first/low stage inflation. If the deceleration exceeds a second higher threshold value, and the seat is rearward of a predetermined value, then the SIR Controller initiates both first/low and second/high stage inflation. If the seat is positioned at a point forward of a predetermined position, then the SIR controller initiates only the first/low stage inflation and suppresses initiation of the second/high stage inflation. Thus the SIR Controller initiates the inflation stages not only based on the severity of the collision or deceleration, but also based on the position of the vehicle seat.
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patent: 5074583 (1991-12-01), Fujita et al.
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patent: 5613702 (1997-03-01), Goetz
patent: 5626359 (1997-05-01), Steffens, Jr. et al.
patent: 5803491 (1998-09-01), Barnes et al.
patent: 5821633 (1998-10-01), Burke et al.
patent: 5967549 (1999-10-01), Allen et al.
patent: 0829398 (1998-03-01), None
patent: 98 36950 (1998-08-01), None
Hardware System And Logic For A tunable SIR System, Research Disclosure, Industrial Opportunities Ltd. Havant, GB, No. 357, 1994, p. 50 XP-425363, the whole document.
Andreen Margaret M.
Barnes William Joseph
Delphi Technologies Inc.
English Peter C.
Marra Kathryn A.
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