Land vehicles – Wheeled – Attachment
Reexamination Certificate
2002-05-09
2004-04-06
Jordan, Charles T. (Department: 3644)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Attachment
C280S743100, C280S735000, C280S753000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06715789
ABSTRACT:
CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
The present application claims priority to Japanese patent application of Takimoto et al., filed May 21, 2001, No.2001-150478, and Japanese patent application of Takimoto et al., filed May 21, 2001, No.2001-150484, and Japanese patent application of Totani et al., filed May 21, 2001, No.2001-151516, and Japanese patent application of Mizuno et al., filed Dec. 21, 2001, No.2001-390263, and Japanese patent application of Totani et al., filed Jan. 23, 2002, No.2002-14616, the entirely of each is hereby incorporated into the present application by this reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a knee protecting airbag device capable of protecting the knees of a passenger with an airbag, which extends and expands when filled with an inflating gas.
In the prior art, a device for protecting the knees of a passenger is exemplified by an airbag device having a construction, disclosed in Unexamined Published Japanese Patent Application No. 9-123862. This airbag device is arranged at a position below a steering column to protect the knees of a driver. The airbag device comprises an airbag, an inflator for feeding an inflating gas to the airbag, a case for housing the airbag and the inflator, and an airbag cover for covering the housed airbag and for allowing the airbag to protrude. The airbag extends and expands, when activated, toward the lower face of the upper portion of a column cover.
In the airbag device thus constructed, a strong reaction force pushing the case forward is applied to the case when the airbag extends and expands with the inflating gas from the inflator. Therefore, the case has to be mounted and fixed on a highly rigid structural member such as a steering column so that the case is not moved by the reaction.
At positions below the steering column, where the airbag device of the aforementioned construction is located, however, there are usually arranged not only the steering column but also a tilt mechanism, a telescopic mechanism, a parking brake device and so on, thereby leaving just a narrow space for accommodating the airbag device. Therefore, the space for mounting and fixing the case on the steering column is so narrow that the installation requires a long time.
In order to protect the knees of a passenger seated on the front seat next to the driver, or the passenger seat, on the other hand, it is conceivable to arrange the knee protecting airbag device in front of the passenger seat. In front of the passenger seat, where such an airbag device would be installed, however, there are closely arranged a main airbag device , which includes an airbag for extending and expanding between the windshield and the passenger to protect the passenger, the duct of an air conditioner, a, glove box and so on. Therefore, the space for installing this airbag device is narrow as in the case of the driver's seat, and the space for mounting and fixing the case is narrow.
In the airbag device thus constructed, moreover, it is also conceivable to arrange a case or the like on a plate-shaped holding member such as a knee panel (or a knee bolster) to be arranged in front of the seated passenger.
The knee panel is connected to a movement energy absorber, which is located in front of the knee panel. Such a panel would face a large portion the front side of the seated passenger. The knee panel receives the forward moving knees of the passenger at the time of a front collision of the vehicle and moves forward together with the knees, to deform the kinetic energy absorber in front. In short, the knee panel acts to dampen the shock on the knees of the forward-moving passenger.
When the airbag and the inflator are to be housed in the plate-shaped holding member or knee panel, the airbag cover for covering the folded airbag also has to be mounted on the holding member.
This airbag cover is desirably constructed to widely cover the rear side of the holding member such as the knee panel to avoid degradation in appearance. The airbag cover is desirably formed not separately of but integrally with a door portion, which covers the folded airbag but is opened when pushed by the expanding airbag. In this construction, therefore, the door portion is formed integrally with the rest of the airbag cover by providing a breakaway in its periphery.
When the airbag cover having the integrated door portion is mounted on the aforementioned holding member, however, there arises a problem that the breakaway portion is smoothly broken to open the door portion.
In the airbag device thus constructed, the airbag module, which includes the airbag, the inflator, the case and the airbag cover, is mounted and fixed on the vehicle body by supporting it on a mounting bracket.
When an airbag that has completed its extension and expansion cannot completely absorb the kinetic energy of the knees, the aforementioned mounting bracket of the airbag device is constructed to deform and buckle plastically, to absorb the kinetic energy of the knees.
In short, the airbag device is constructed to absorb the kinetic energy of the knees by buckling the mounting bracket. For this, the mounting bracket has a structure in which it is extended generally forward from the airbag module and is fixed at a predetermined portion of the vehicle body. As a result, the forward extension of the mounting bracket requires space.
If the distance between the airbag module and the portion of the vehicle body for rigidly fixing the module is short, therefore, the structure having the aforementioned mounting bracket is not acceptable, and the conventional device has a low degree of freedom with regard to locating the device.
In addition, if the airbag device of the aforementioned construction is mounted on a vehicle, the distance from the steering column cover or the instrument panel to the knees of the passenger is usually short when the passenger is seated. In the case of the driver, the driver is frequently depressing the brake pedal when the airbag device deploys, so that the distance from the column cover to the driver's knees is shorter. Therefore, the airbag has to quickly expand in order for it to protect the knees properly.
In addition, if the airbag device of this kind is arranged at the driver's seat, the steering column, the tilt mechanism, the telescopic mechanism, the parking brake and so on are close to the location of the airbag device. Therefore, it is difficult to provide a large housing space for locating the knee protecting airbag device. Especially in recent years, it has been difficult to make space to accommodate the width of the airbag device in the directions perpendicular to the axis of the case when a glove box or the like is arranged below the column cover. It is, therefore, desired to make the airbag device compact by making the width as small as possible in the directions perpendicular to the case axis.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A first object of the invention is to provide a knee protecting airbag device that can be easily mounted in a vehicle.
A second object of the invention is to provide a knee protecting airbag device, in which a door portion can be pushed and smoothly opened even if an airbag cover having the an integral door portion is mounted on a plate-shaped holding member located in front of the knees of a seated passenger.
A third object of the invention is to provide a knee protecting airbag device that can absorb the kinetic energy of the knees, if not fully absorbed by the airbag, and that can improve the degree of freedom in locating the device.
A fourth object of the invention is to provide a knee protecting airbag device that can extend the airbag quickly enough to protect the knees of the passenger properly.
A fifth object of the invention is to provide a knee protecting airbag device that is reduced in width in the direction perpendicular to the axis of a case so that it can be located in a narrow space.
The first object of the invention can be achieved by a knee protecting airbag device having the following construction.
T
Ando Hikaru
Hosokawa Takeshi
Koyama Toru
Mizuno Yoshio
Suzuki Kazumasa
Hayes Bret
Jordan Charles T.
Posz & Bethards, PLC
Toyoda Gosei Co,., Ltd.
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