Land vehicles – Wheeled – Attachment
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-03
2001-09-25
Dickson, Paul N. (Department: 3618)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Attachment
C280S730200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06293580
ABSTRACT:
This invention relates to an air bag system having an air bag module mounted within an upholstery material, such as a side-impact air bag mounted within a vehicle seat.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Some side-impact air bag modules are currently secured to an internal frame of a vehicle seat and are concealed within the seat by the seat cover. Upon being deployed, the air bag is supposed to expand through a frangible seam in the seat cover at a predetermined location to protect the occupant's head and torso at the event of a side impact sufficient to cause deployment. The timing of air bag deployment in the event of crash conditions is critical in terms of providing the maximum safety benefit thereby, and delays in deployment even on the order of fractions of a second can impair the safety functioning of the air bag. Where the air bag is contained within a seat, it therefore must not experience delays in the time from firing of the air bag to the time the air bag breaks through the intended seam of rupture. However, seat covers are usually of a stretchable material, and in some instances, it has been found that rather than having a proper and timely break through the seam, the air bag will start to inflate the stretchable seat cover prior to emerging from the seam thus delaying the desired time of rupture and bag inflation exterior of the seat. Accordingly, a more predictable path of deployment for an air bag that deploys from within a seat and through an intended seam of rupture is needed to obtain maximum safety benefits with the bag.
Sometimes a new special frangible seam is provided in the seat cover adjacent a bolster seam in the upholstery seat cover material through which the air bag is to be deployed. It is usually preferred that the air bag module be mounted in the seat so that its location is invisible to the seat occupant; and, to this end, the air bag is preferably deployed through a conventional bolster seam joining together adjacent, vertical edges of adjacent panels of the seat cover. If a new deployment seam is used, it is often located near the bolster seam to allow the air bag to deploy at an angle which is not possible with the use of the existing bolster seam. The use of a special seam for air bag deployment detracts from the appearance of the seat and adds additional cost and time to manufacture the seat having an air bag module hidden therein.
To ensure that the air bag properly deploys in a predictable or repeatable path to protect the seat passenger, a chute of fabric material has been wrapped about the air bag module and is fastened to the back of the air bag module by a zipper or threaded fastener. The fastening of the chute behind the air bag is difficult; and, in some instances, so difficult that it has caused the seat manufacturer to use a separate hard plastic panel at the back of the seat rather than the usual upholstery cover fabric at the back of the seat. The hard plastic back panel adds weight and cost to the seat.
Another suggested approach to guide the air bag to deploy through a frangible upholstery seam involves the use of a rigid plastic sheet attached to the foam seat pad and having a slit in the plastic sheet through which the rigid expanding air bag will proceed. The use of the chute or the hard plastic sheet on the foam pad may result in sink marks in the seat deployment seam when the fabric is pulled tight and stitched together. This is especially true where the chute is connected or integral with the seat upholstery material stitched together to form the seam. The appearance of the seam and seat cover are very important and any such air bag sinks or location marks in the fabric are undesirable.
Thus, it will be seen that these chute systems are costly in terms of manufacturing due to the added complexity of the chute and the labor to properly install the chute and air bag module, particularly where the chute fastening is difficult and where it has led to the use of a more costly, hard plastic back seat panel, as above described. Moreover, if a special new seam is required to deploy the air bag at a particular angle, this results in a variety of seat covers each being specific to certain vehicle or vehicle location. Thus, there is a need to eliminate the chute, and/or the special deployment seam in the seat cover, upholstery material.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention, an air bag system and method of making the same are provided including a reinforced cover for a vehicle seat having an air bag module hidden therein. The reinforced cover includes cover material that is stretchable and a backing reinforcement material that is stiffer than the cover material. The reinforcement material is attached to the cover material to provide a repeatable deployment path for the air bag as it inflates so that the air bag breaks through the seat cover at a preferred location thereon, e.g. bolster seam. The reinforced cover will not expand as the bag inflates as its stiffness or rigidity as provided by the reinforcement material will cause the bag to seek out the area of greater weakness in the cover at the bolster seam which the reinforcement material does not block. As the reinforcement cover provides the repeatable deployment path for the air bag to the bolster seam, there is no need for complicated and expensive modifications to the air bag module for proper and timely deployment thereof simplifying the installation of the present air bag system.
Accordingly, a new and improved air bag system is achieved by using a reinforcement, such as a fabric sheet, associated with the upholstery cover material in a manner to direct the expanding air bag to deploy through an adjacent, frangible seam. In the illustrated and preferred embodiment of the invention, an outboard end of the air bag is positioned adjacent a bolster seam in the seat cover and a girdle of reinforcing fabric is attached to seat upholstery material reinforcing the same to reduce or minimize elongation of the seat cover as the air bag expands within the seat. This concentrates the expanding force to break the adjacent bolster seam and to deploy the air bag therethrough. The preferred reinforcing fabric is sewn to the seat cover material and may be a low elongation material such as a fabric sheet of silicone-coated nylon fabric.
In the preferred embodiment of the invention, an opening or cavity is formed in the seat foam pad to receive the air bag module with the outboard end of the folded, air bag essentially flush with the seat foam pad about the air bag module. The outboard end of the folded air bag may be positioned against a portion of bolster seam through which it is to deploy without the use of a chute or use of a hard plastic piece. Thus, the labor and cost of the chute system is eliminated with the present invention.
In another aspect of the invention, a method of making a side-impact air bag installation is provided including providing a seat frame, providing a seat pad material on the seat frame, positioning an air bag module in the seat pad material adjacent the seat upholstery, providing a seat cover upholstery material with a reinforcing fabric thereon at selected portions to cause the inflating air bag to be directed to expand at a predetermined location for air bag deployment, and stitching together adjacent panels of the reinforced upholstery material to form a bolster seam at the predetermined location and through which bolster seam. the air bag deploys. In the preferred method, there is an encircling of the air bag module by the reinforcing fabric.
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Boumarafi Mohammed
Genslak Brian K.
Hurford Jonathon P.
Lachat Michael J.
Dickson Paul N.
Fitch Even Tabin & Flannery
Takata Restraint Systems, Inc.
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