Land vehicles – Wheeled – Attachment
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-07
2003-03-11
Zeender, F. (Department: 3627)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Attachment
C280S728200, C280S743100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06530594
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a placement structure for a head-protecting air bag body, wherein a head-protecting air bag body accommodated along a pillar portion and a roof side rail portion unfolds similarly to a curtain due to gas jetted by an inflator when a predetermined high load acts on a side portion of a vehicle body.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has already been proposed a head-protecting air bag device in which, in order to improve the ability to protect the head of a vehicle occupant seated in a front seat when a predetermined high load acts on a side portion of a vehicle body, an air bag body accommodated in a folded state over a region from a front pillar portion to a roof side rail portion is caused to unfold along a side window glass similarly to a curtain. This type of head-protecting air bag device is disclosed in International Publication No. WO 96/26087 and will be described hereinafter.
As shown in
FIG. 7
, a head-protecting air bag device
100
is structured to include, as main components, an elongated duct
106
disposed to extend from a front pillar portion
102
to a roof side rail portion
104
, an air bag body
112
accommodated in the duct
106
in a folded manner and fixed to a vehicle body at a front-end fixed point
108
and at a rear-end fixed point
110
, an inflator
116
, which is connected via a hose
114
to the rear end of the duct
106
and jets out gas when a predetermined high load acts on the side portion of the vehicle body, and a band-shaped strap
118
whose one end is fixed to the vehicle body and other end is fixed to the rear end of the air bag body
112
. The air bag body
112
is formed by a plurality of cells
120
, which are each formed substantially into a cylinder and are disposed with longitudinal directions thereof substantially coinciding with the vertical direction of the vehicle, being connected together.
According to the above-described structure, when a predetermined high load acts on the side portion of the vehicle body, gas is ejected from the inflator
116
. The ejected gas flows into each cell
120
of the folded air bag body
112
via the hose
114
and the duct
106
. As a result, each cell
120
expands substantially into a cylindrical configuration with the longitudinal direction thereof substantially coinciding with the vertical direction of the vehicle. The air bag body
112
is thereby inflated similarly to a curtain along a window glass
122
. Further, the rear end of the air bag body
112
is connected via the strap
118
to the vehicle body, and therefore, the rear-end side of the air bag body
112
is reliably disposed at an inner side of the upper portion of a center pillar portion
124
.
However, in this head-protecting air bag device
100
, the air bag body
112
is disposed over a region from the front pillar portion
102
to the roof side rail portion
104
, and therefore, the air bag body
112
is covered by, for example, a front pillar garnish and a roof head lining. As a result, when the air bag body unfolds, the front pillar garnish and the roof head lining deform, and the air bag body comes out from the respective deformed portions of the front pillar garnish and the roof head lining so as to expand toward the interior of the vehicle. Further, in the head-protecting air bag device
100
, a rear end portion
112
A of the air bag body
112
extends to the rear side of the center pillar portion
124
. For this reason, there is a possibility that the air bag body
112
, which inflates to unfold toward the interior of the vehicle by deforming the end of the roof head lining, contacts an upper end of a garnish for the center pillar portion
124
or falls into a region between the garnish for the center pillar portion
124
and a body panel or catches on the upper end of the garnish for the center pillar portion
124
, thereby resulting in large load acting on the upper end of the garnish.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the above-described circumstances, it is an object of the present invention to provide a placement structure for a head-protecting air bag body, in which a head-protecting air bag body expands so as not to apply large load to an upper end of a center pillar garnish.
A first aspect of the present invention is a placement structure for a head-protecting air bag body which expands similarly to a curtain over a region from a pillar to a roof side rail, comprising: guide means which controls a direction in which the air bag body expands so as to prevent application of large load by the air bag body to an upper end of a center pillar garnish during expansion of the air bag body.
Accordingly, the guide means can prevent application of large load by the air bag body to the upper end of the center pillar garnish during expansion of the air bag body.
A second aspect of the present invention is that, in the placement structure for a head-protecting air bag body according to the first aspect, the guide means is provided in the roof side rail disposed close to the upper end of the center pillar garnish and is formed from a plate material having a wall portion extending from the roof side rail to the upper end of the center pillar garnish.
Accordingly, in addition to the effect of the first aspect, it suffices that slight structural change is made, and the structure of the present embodiment can easily accommodate a case with or without the air bag body mounted and manufacture thereof is simple. Further, there is no possibility that each strength of the pillar and the roof side rail deteriorate.
A third aspect of the present invention is that, in the placement structure for a head-protecting air bag body according to the second aspect, the plate material is a metal plate which can easily be plastically deformable.
Accordingly, in addition to the effect of the second aspect, even if the head of a vehicle occupant abuts against the plate material at the time of collision, the plate material formed from a metal plate easily plastically deforms so as to alleviate shock to be applied to the head of the vehicle occupant.
A fourth aspect of the present invention is that, in the placement structure for a head-protecting air bag body according to the first aspect, the guide means is formed integrally with the upper end of the center pillar garnish and includes a wall portion extending toward the roof side rail.
Accordingly, in addition to the effect of the first aspect, reduction in cost can be achieved with no increase in the number of parts. Further, by devising the shape of the guide means, the guide means can be used as the connection holding means for the roof head lining.
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patent: 9-249089 (1997-09-01), None
patent: 96/26087 (1996-08-01), None
Nakajima Hiroki
Watanabe Toshimitu
Pillsbury & Winthrop LLP
Toyota Jidosha & Kabushiki Kaisha
Zeender F.
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