Land vehicles – Wheeled – Attachment
Reexamination Certificate
2002-10-23
2003-09-16
Dickson, Paul N. (Department: 3616)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Attachment
Reexamination Certificate
active
06619690
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a head protecting air bag apparatus mounted in a vehicle. The air bag of the invention covers a portion of the inside of the vehicle when it unfolds and expands.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional head protecting air bag apparatuses such as the ones disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. Hei. 11-321532 are known. The air bags of this type is folded and housed in the upper edge side periphery of the vehicle's inner side opening and extends over a front pillar portion/roof side rail portion of a vehicle body. A lid exists at the upper edge side of the vehicle's inner side opening.
When this kind of air bag deploys, it opens the lid by pushing outward and covers the vehicle's inner side opening. An attachment portion exists at the upper edge side of the air bag and allows the airbag to attach to the vehicle body. Further, the air bag is folded so that its lower edge side is next to its upper edge side. The attachment portion attaches to the vehicle body, so that the air bag is housed at the vehicle's outer side of the lid (rear side of the lid).
The lid exists above a center pillar portion and a rear pillar portion in such a manner that it extends in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. When the lid is pushed by the expanding air bag, it opens while its bottom is moved toward the inside of the vehicle. A pillar garnish for covering the inside of the vehicle is disposed at the pillar portion. The lower end of the lid is disposed at the vehicle's outer side of the upper end of the pillar garnish.
Thus, when the expanding air bag pushes the lid the lid is hard to open at the position of the pillar portion because, at this position, the lower end of the lid gets over the upper end of the pillar garnish and is moved to the vehicle's inner side, and the lid meets resistance. As a result, the air bag unfolds later at the location of the pillar portion than that at the other locations.
A restraining member exists at the upper position of the pillar portion. To prevent the unfolded and expanded air bag from intruding into the vehicle's outer side of the pillar garnish. This restraining member is structured by a part with a substantially L-shaped section, including a vertical wall portion and a horizontal wall portion extending from the lower end of the vertical wall portion to the vehicle's inner side. The vertical wall portion supports the vehicle's outer side of the folded air bag. The horizontal wall portion supports the lower end side of the folded air bag.
However, if the restraining member is disposed over the pillar portion, there is a case where a part of the air bag disposed at the position of the restraining member is caught by the horizontal wall portion when the air bag unfolds and expands. In that case, the air bag unfolds at the location of the pillar portion later than at other locations.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to address the above problems. More specifically, an object of the present invention is to provide a head protecting air bag apparatus in which the air bag unfolds at the location of a pillar portion quickly.
Further, another object of the present invention is to provide a head protecting air bag apparatus in which even if a restraining member is located at the pillar portion, the air bag will quickly unfold at that location.
The object of the present invention is achieved by a head protecting air bag apparatus having the following structure. The head protecting air bag apparatus includes a lid and an air bag. The lid exists at the periphery of the upper edge side of the vehicle's inner side opening and at the upper part of the pillar portion. The air bag is attached to the vehicle's inner side and is housed on the vehicle's outer side position of the lid in a folded state. When the gas flows into the airbag, it unfolds and expands by pushing and opening the lid. The air bag includes a lower edge, an upper edge, and an attachment portion at the upper edge for attachment to the vehicle body. The air bag is folded so that the lower edge approaches the upper edge, and the attachment portion is attached to the vehicle's body so that it is housed at the vehicle's outer side of the lid. A part of a lower end of the lid is disposed at a vehicle's outer side of the upper end of a pillar garnish covering a vehicle's inner side of the pillar portion.
In the head protecting air bag apparatus, the part of the air bag positioned at the lower end of the lid and at the vehicle's outer side of the upper end of the pillar garnish, the lid pushing part, pushes more forcefully than other parts of the air bag in order to push the lid open. Thus, when the air bag unfolds and expands, the lower end of the lid easily gets over the upper end of the pillar garnish. As a result, the part of the air bag at the pillar portion quickly expands. Accordingly, the whole air bag smoothly unfolds and covers the vehicle's inside opening.
The part of the air bag that pushes and opens the lid can be formed by twisting this part from the rest of the air bag so that this part unfolds and expands in the direction toward the lid.
When the air bag is in a non-expansion and flat unfolded state and is then folded in a bellows fold, in which it is folded substantially in a vertical direction from the lower edge side to the upper edge side, the lid pushing part of the air bag can be formed by twisting this part from the other part of the air bag so that a folding direction is directed toward the lid.
When the lid pushing part of the air bag is formed by twisting this part from the rest of the air bag, the desired structure is achieved. That is, a restraining member for preventing the air bag at the time of unfolding and expansion from intruding into the vehicle's outer side of the pillar garnish exists at the upper position of the pillar portion. The restraining member has a guide surface so that the lid pushing part of the air bag is directed toward the lid when the air bag unfolds and expands. The lower end side of the guide surface is directed toward an upper side of a vehicle's inner side parting portion between the lower end of the lid and the upper end of the pillar garnish. The air bag in the non-extension and flat unfolded state is folded in the bellows fold. The lid pushing part of the air bag is housed at the vehicle's outer side of the lid while its folding direction is made parallel to the guide surface and supported by the guide surface.
In this case, when the air bag unfolds and expands, the lid pushing part unfolds along the guide surface of the restraining member toward the vehicle's inner side, and can properly push and open the lid. Thus, the part of the air bag at the pillar portion unfolds more quickly. That is, the whole air bag unfolds more smoothly to cover the vehicle's inner side opening.
The restraining member may be formed integrally with the vehicle body.
Besides, the restraining member may be formed into a flat plate shape existing substantially in the vertical direction, or may be provided with a part of a substantially L-shaped section as set forth below.
More specifically, the restraining member has the part of the substantially L-shaped section including a vertical wall portion and a horizontal wall portion extending from a lower end of the vertical wall portion toward the vehicle's inner side. The vertical wall portion supports the vehicle's outer side of the folded air bag. The upper surface side of the horizontal wall portion is a guide surface. The lower end side of the lid pushing part of the air bag is supported on the guide surface.
In the head protecting air bag apparatus, the part of the air bag existing at the position of the restraining member (the lid pushing part) is folded along the horizontal wall portion while the bellows fold state substantially in the vertical direction is twisted. Th
Ohno Mitsuyoshi
Tanase Toshinori
Urushi Norio
Yamamoto Takashi
Dickson Paul N.
Fleming Faye M.
Posz & Bethards, PLC
Toyoda Gosei Co,., Ltd.
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