Land vehicles – Wheeled – Attachment
Reexamination Certificate
2002-09-11
2004-03-30
Dickson, Paul N. (Department: 3616)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Attachment
C280S752000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06712385
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an airbag designed to protect the occupants of a vehicle during a collision. More specifically, the invention relates to a rigid knee airbag that is dent and vibration resistant.
2. Technical Background
Inflatable airbags enjoy widespread acceptance as passive passenger restraints for use in motor vehicles. This acceptance has come as airbags have built a reputation of preventing numerous deaths and injuries over years of development, testing, and use. Studies show that in some instances, the use of frontally placed vehicular airbags can reduce the number of fatalities in head-on collisions by 25% among drivers using seat belts and by more than 30% among unbelted drivers. Other statistics suggest that in a frontal collision, the combination of a seat belt and an airbag can reduce the incidence of serious chest injuries by 65% and the incidence of serious head injuries by up to 75%. These numbers, and the thousands of prevented injuries they represent, demonstrate the life-saving potential of airbags and the need to encourage their use, production, and development.
Airbags are often installed in the steering wheel and in the dashboard on the passenger side of a car. These airbags are used for the primary deceleration of a vehicle occupant since, in a large percentage of collisions, the occupant is accelerated forward within the vehicle. Such airbags are generally housed within the dashboard, steering wheel, or other similar interior panels of a vehicle, and are covered by a trim cover panel. The trim cover panel covers the compartment that contains the airbag module. Such airbag covers are typically made of rigid plastic, and are configured to be opened by the pressure created by the deploying airbag. During deployment of the airbag, it is preferable to retain the airbag cover in at least partial attachment to the vehicle to prevent the airbag cover from flying loose in the passenger compartment.
Airbags are generally linked to a control system within the vehicle that triggers their initiation when a collision occurs. Generally, an accelerometer within the vehicle measures the abnormal deceleration caused by the collision event and triggers the ignition of an airbag inflator. This control system is often referred to as an electronic control unit (“ECU”). The ECU includes a sensor that continuously monitors the acceleration and deceleration of the vehicle and sends this information to a processor that uses an algorithm to determine whether a collision has occurred.
When the processor of the ECU determines that the vehicle is experiencing a collision, the ECU transmits an electrical signal to an initiator assembly, which is connected to an inflator that is coupled to the airbag module. The initiator activates the inflator. An inflator is a gas generator that typically uses a compressed or liquefied gas or a mixture of gases, a solid fuel, or some combination of the two, to rapidly generate a large volume of inflation gas. The gas is then channeled, often through a segment of specialized tubing called a gas guide, into the airbag. The gas inflates the airbag, thus placing it in the path of the vehicle occupant and allowing it to absorb the impact of the vehicle occupant.
As experience with the manufacture and use of airbags has progressed, the engineering challenges involved in their design, construction, and use have become better understood. First, most airbag systems are designed to rapidly inflate and provide a cushion in front of or alongside an occupant based on a presumption that the occupant will be in a predetermined position. Problems have been noted to occur when the occupant is “out of position” with regard to this presumed placement when a collision. event occurs and the airbag deploys. Similarly, problems may occur when the occupant, though possibly at first in the predicted position, strikes a glancing blow to the airbag, and is then deflected away from the airbag before proper deceleration can occur.
Out-of-position injuries may be attributed in part to the fact that most airbag systems have been primarily designed for deployment in front of the torso of an occupant. More specifically, such airbags are disposed for deployment between the upper torso of an occupant and the windshield and instrument panel. During a front-end collision, there is a tendency for an occupant, particularly one who is not properly restrained by a seat belt, to slide forward along the seat. This results in poor kinematics and positioning when the occupant interacts with a frontal airbag, such as a driver's side or passenger's side airbag.
In order to avoid such dangers to occupants, knee airbag systems have been developed. These airbags deploy during a collision event and engage an occupant's knees or lower legs. This holds the occupant in place on the seat, and improves the kinematics of the occupant.
Such knee airbag systems include a knee airbag and a panel, referred to as a knee bolster panel, which is disposed in front of the knee airbag. The addition of a knee bolster panel to the airbag provides a more rigid surface area to better engage and decelerate the knees or legs of an occupant and thereby restrain the occupant's lower body. Additionally, the knee bolster panel allows some degree of deformation to minimize the impact of an occupant.
Such knee airbag systems, like many other airbag systems, suffer from high costs and engineering problems. Specifically, knee airbags are difficult to mount in the tight spaces available under the steering column or dashboard. Further, many current knee airbag systems use an inflator located at a remote location. Such systems require the use of costly gas guides suitable for conducting hot inflation gases from the inflator to the airbag. Additionally, the airbags themselves must be treated with various coatings to protect the fabric of the airbag itself from the heat of the gas. Also, in some specific applications, such as mounting an airbag in the door of a glove box of a vehicle, fabric airbags have proven very difficult to install.
To both automobile manufacturers and consumers, aesthetic aspects of a knee airbag system are also important. For example, the visible portion of a stored knee airbag module in a vehicle must be both durable and attractive prior to deployment of the airbag. Otherwise, automobile manufacturers will be slow to incorporate these types of airbags into their vehicles and may seek out alternative technologies that do not adversely impact the appearance of the vehicle. Furthermore, if a stored airbag module vibrates during operation of the vehicle in which it is located, the vibration may produce undesired noise. Automobile owners may believe that the generated noise indicates that something is mechanically wrong with the vehicle. Of course, automobile manufacturers would quickly discontinue using an airbag module that generates unwanted vibrations and noise.
Thus, it would be an advancement in the art to provide an inflatable rigid knee airbag system to protect a vehicle occupant in collision events in a wide variety of situations. Specifically, it would be an advancement in the art to provide a knee airbag suitable for mounting in a vehicle under the steering column or dashboard, including mounting in a glove box door. It would also be an advancement in the art to provide a knee airbag system that permits direct mounting of the inflator to the airbag. Additionally, it would be an advancement in the art to provide a knee airbag system having a visible portion which is both durable and aesthetically pleasing. It would also be an advancement in the art if the knee airbag system is resistant to vibration and thus does not produce unwanted noise.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The apparatus and method of the present invention have been developed in response to the present state of the art, and in particular, in response to problems and needs in the art that have not yet been fully solved by currently available airbag systems. M
Autoliv ASP Inc.
Brown Sally J.
Dickson Paul N.
Erickson James D.
Fleming Faye M.
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