Safety seat

Details Safety seat Safety seat

2001-11-13

2003-09-30

Dickson, Paul N. (Department: 3616)

Motor vehicles

With means for promoting safety of vehicle, its occupant or...

C280S748000, C297S216160

Reexamination Certificate

active

06626259

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the constructional design of a seat, in particular a safety seat for an automotive vehicle. The invention refers to the design of the seat shape, to the mounting of the seat on the car body structure of the vehicle and to the equipment of the seat.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
When persons are transported in automotive vehicles, in particular when automotive vehicles are used in motor sports events, there is an increased risk of injury for the occupants of the vehicle because of the high drive speeds and the associated risks of accidents or collisions.
In particular in motor sport racing, such as in touring car racing carried out with roadable vehicles, which are not exclusively conceived for racing, there is the risk that in case of an accident or collision a racing driver or his co-driver will suffer severe injuries.
This is in particular the case when the vehicle is laterally hit by another vehicle and when the passenger compartment is thereby deformed. Also in case of roll-over or when the vehicle catches fire, the occupants of the vehicle are put at a very great risk.
Also in case of a lateral impact the passenger is put at a great risk by lateral body parts penetrating into the passenger compartment because the body structure available for energy absorption is normally very limited.
In known seat systems there is also the risk that the seat moves with the upper part of the occupant towards the vehicle center but that the legs remain in their original position because of the car body structure, whereby the passenger is bent in the area of his pelvis and spine, as shown in
FIG. 7
a.
In addition, a combined lateral and frontal impact with actuation of the airbag effects a displacement of the position of the occupant's trunk relative to the position of the steering wheel, in particular, due to the lateral displacement of the seat position, so that the effect of the airbag is considerably restricted or prevented. This happens preferably when there is first a lateral impact and then a frontal impact, as shown in
FIGS. 6
a
and
7
a.
Also in case of roll-over and a subsequent d formation of the roof structure, the survival room for the occupant is minimized.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a safety seat which offers optimum protection to the occupants of a vehicle against the consequences of an accident.
This object is achieved according to the invention by a safety seat, in particular for an automotive vehicle, comprising a shell element
2
which is secured to a vehicle body
30
and has integrally formed therein a foot area
4
, a seat area
3
and a backrest area
1
, the safety seat being displaceable as a whole relative to the vehicle body
30
upon loads acting thereon.
Thanks to the above-described design of the safety seat according to the invention, the passive safety of an occupant in a vehicle is considerably increased; in particular, injuries caused by different types of accidents such as frontal collision, side collision, roll-over or fire are kept to a minimum or prevented altogether.
Since the safety seat is designed such that the foot space is surrounded by a high-strength box-shaped structure which forms a unit with the seat shell proper, it is ensured in the case of a frontal crash that the occupant's legs are protected from injuries and a penetration of vehicle parts into the foot area is ruled out
Since a pedal system is also firmly connected to the seat structure, and since a displacement of the pedals relative to the occupant is ruled out, the risk of typical injuries caused by the pedals penetrating into the foot area is reduced.
In the case of a side impact the passive safety is also increased by a safety seat according to the invention because although the body structure for absorbing energy upon a side impact is normally small, the occupant is further protected by the high-strength structure surrounding this person, in particular the side shell of the safety seat which prevents the penetration of lateral body parts into the survival room of the occupant.
Likewise, shear effects between the lower extremities and the upper part of the occupant are prevented by the safety seat in that the foot area is reinforced in box-like configuration and the seat shell proper forms an integral closed structure of a high strength with the foot area, said structure being only displaceable as a whole unit within the vehicle structure in case of a lateral impact.
Due to the integration of a longitudinal column mounting in the structure of the safety seat, the geometrical assignment between the occupant's head and the airbag position is maintained at any rate even upon a combined frontal and lateral impact.
Moreover, the backrest of the safety seat of the invention projects upwards over the occupant's head, so that a sufficient survival room is guaranteed by the structural strength of the seat for the occupants in case of a deformation of the roof structure as a result of a roll-over action.
For preventing extreme lateral head movements of the occupant and for preventing the head from hitting against body parts, an additional lateral head protection is integrated into the seat structure which, like the area of the spine on the seat element, is cushioned with a shock-absorbing foam.
The invention is particularly suited for land, water and air vehicles, i.e. generally for passenger-carrying means. In particular, the invention refers, inter alia, to race boats and aircrafts which only provide a very limited structural protection for occupants due to their extremely lightweight construction.


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