Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Seats with body modifications
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-18
2001-02-13
Pape, Joseph D. (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Seats with body modifications
C297S216100, C297S216160, C297S216180
Reexamination Certificate
active
06186574
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a vehicle occupant protection system, and in particular to a vehicle occupant protection system which can reduce a deceleration acting upon a vehicle occupant at the time of a vehicle crash.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In recent years, various proposals have been made in regard to automotive vehicle body structures to maximize the protection of vehicle occupants at the time of a vehicle crash. For instance, proposals have been made to minimize the deceleration of the part of the vehicle body occupied by vehicle occupants by properly selecting the deformation of the remaining part of the vehicle body, and preventing the former part of the vehicle body from deforming (see Japanese patent laid open publication No. 7-101354, for instance).
When a vehicle occupant is restrained to the seat by a seat belt, the forward inertial force acting upon the vehicle occupant at the time of a vehicle crash starts rising only after the vehicle occupant is fully restrained by the seat belt. Because the seat belt inevitably has a certain resiliency, the deceleration acting on the vehicle occupant reaches a maximum level when the vehicle occupant is thrown forward, and the maximum elongation of the seat belt has occurred. The maximum level is higher as the forward movement of the vehicle occupant under the inertial force increases, and is known to substantially exceed the average deceleration of the vehicle body. Therefore, to minimize the impact which the vehicle occupant receives at the time of a vehicle crash, it is necessary to minimize the time delay in the rise in the deceleration of the vehicle occupant with respect to the deceleration of the vehicle body.
However, it is generally impossible to integrally attach a vehicle occupant to a vehicle body, and is therefore difficult to reduce the deceleration of the vehicle occupant in the case of small passenger cars which do not provide adequate deformation strokes of the parts of the vehicle body other than the part occupied by the vehicle occupant only with conventional approaches which essentially consist of attempts to reduce the deceleration of the passenger compartment by controlling the deformation mode of the vehicle body.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of such problems of the prior art, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle occupant protection system which allows the peak deceleration acting upon a vehicle occupant at the time of a vehicle crash to be minimized for a given deformation stroke of the vehicle body.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle occupant protection system which allows the deceleration acting upon the vehicle occupant at the time of a vehicle crash to be spread over time so as to minimize the peak deceleration acting upon the vehicle occupant.
A third object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle occupant protection system which allows the peak deceleration acting upon the vehicle occupant to be minimized even though the size of the vehicle body is limited.
A fourth object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle occupant protection system which is simple in structure, and may consist of strictly passive elements.
According to the present invention, these and other objects can be accomplished by providing a vehicle occupant protection system, comprising: a seat which is fitted with a seat belt, and supported on a vehicle body so as to be slidable in a direction of an input crash load resulting from a vehicle crash; a first member which is connected to the seat and adapted to deform under the crash load while supporting an inertial force of the seat upon occurrence of a vehicle crash; a second member which is connected to a main part of the vehicle body and adapted to deform under the crash load while supporting an inertial force of the vehicle body; and means for applying a forward force to the seat relative to the vehicle body with a certain time delay after the occurrence of the vehicle crash; the first member being adapted to substantially deform only after the forward force is applied to the seat upon occurrence of a vehicle crash.
Because the second member deforms upon the occurrence of a vehicle crash while the first member resists deformation during an early phase of the crash, the restraining capability of the seat belt is enhanced by applying to the seat a deceleration higher than the vehicle body deceleration during the early phase of the vehicle crash. Thereafter, a force opposite in direction to the crash load is applied to the seat so that the forward inertial force acting on the vehicle occupant is canceled, and the equalization of the decelerations of the vehicle body and the vehicle occupant is achieved in an early stage of the crash.
In a preferred embodiment only consisting of passive elements, the forward force applying means comprises a stopper provided in the vehicle body, and adapted to abut the seat when the second member has deformed by a prescribed stroke. Alternatively, the forward force applying means comprises an actuator which, for instance, may be activated by a signal from a deceleration sensor. The seat is typically fixedly mounted on a moveable floor which is connected to the first member. The first member may comprise a side beam, and the second member may comprise a main frame.
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Patent Abstracts of Japan, 07101354, Apr. 18, 1995, http://www2.ipdljpo-miti.go.jp/dbpweb/connecter/guest/DBPquery/ENGDB/wdispaj.
Kamei Takahiro
Motozawa Yasuki
Tsuruta Makoto
Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
MacPherson Alan H.
Pape Joseph D.
Patel Kiran
Skjerven Morrill & MacPherson LLP
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