Land vehicles – Wheeled – Attachment
Reexamination Certificate
1998-02-26
2001-03-13
Mar, Michael (Department: 3611)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Attachment
C280S730200, C701S049000, C297S216120
Reexamination Certificate
active
06199900
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention relates to headrests, and more particularly to a headrest system having the standard adjustment features that allow a headrest to be adjusted to the desired height of a driver or passenger, while further including a collision activated firing mechanism coupled with an airbag system which inflates between the headrest and the seat. Specifically, the invention is a safety collision headrest system that includes a collision activated actuation or firing mechanism for substantially instantaneously moving the headrest from any manually adjusted position to an upper position upon the occurrence of a collision or similar event, and an airbag which inflates to fill the gap formed between the headrest and seat when the headrest is moved to an upper position, whereby the combination of the headrest, actuation mechanism, and airbag provides for a safety system in which the head and neck of the driver or passenger seated in the front, middle or rear seat is protected from whiplash, neck, head or spinal related injury due to an improperly designed and/or positioned headrest. Additionally, the airbag or an additional airbag may inflate in the rear or middle of a front seat to further provide a back seat passenger airbag to protect back seat passengers from being injured upon the occurrence of a collision or similar event.
The safety collision headrest system may also include sensors in each seat thereby allowing the airbags to be selectively fired only when a passenger is in the specified seat and if that passenger is over a predetermined weight set point. The safety collision headrest system also improves driver visibility by allowing smaller headrests to be used since the airbags and not the headrest are being relied upon for protection of the passenger. This in turn improves overall safety for passengers of all types of vehicles, including, but not limited to automobiles, trucks, vans, sport utility vehicles and so on.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Personal injury claims from head and neck injuries due to automobile accidents and collisions amount to billions of dollars per year. For this reason, any system that would function to prohibit and/or reduce such injuries has been long sought after by the automobile, medical, and insurance industries.
For the better part of history, most automobile seats were bench-type seats which extended upward from the floor of the vehicle only to approximately the mid-section or upper section of an adult's back. This substantially vertical back portion of the seat provides support for the body of the passenger allowing the passenger to be seated in a relatively upright position. However, these standard bench seats do not provide support for the neck and head of the passenger.
One of the reasons that seats do not extend to the full sitting height of a passenger is that such a structure would obstruct the view of the driver during vehicle operation. In addition, seats extending to the fall sitting height can interfere with the driver hearing conversations within the vehicle causing the driver to strain or concentrate his or her attention elsewhere rather than on the road. Furthermore, each and every passenger is of a different sitting height. It would be very difficult to size and design a seat which comfortably and safely accommodates all potential passengers. The headrest system of the present invention substantially increases driver visibility by allowing smaller headrests to be used throughout the vehicle without sacrificing passenger safety.
In more recent years, headrests and particularly adjustable headrests have attempted to solve this problem of accommodating drivers and passengers (hereinafter collectively referred to as passengers) of different sizes. Basically, an adjustable headrest is a vertically adjustable padded body against which the passenger may rest his or her head. The padded body may be adjusted vertically upwardly from the top of the seat along one or two adjustment posts, supports or rods. In use, the specific passenger is required to move the headrest up or down to properly position the headrest behind his or her head.
Literally hundreds of prior art patents exist in this area of technology which, in theory, should substantially reduce the quantity of head and neck injuries. However, in reality, most passengers improperly position the headrest with reference to his or her individual body size or fail to adjust the headrest at all. Often, the headrest remains at its lowermost position against the top side of the seat. In some cases, to improve visibility, the headrest is removed from the vehicle altogether.
As a result, these headrests not only fail to prevent head and neck injuries, in many instances additional injuries have been incurred due to improperly positioned head rests. For instance, a headrest that is positioned too high will cause the passenger to not only miss the headrest when his or her neck is forced back towards the seat, but the passenger's head and neck will make contact with the rigid supports upon which the headrest is supported resulting in further injuries which would not have occurred had the headrest not been adjustable. Any contact with these rigid support structures, which are typically made out of metal or hard plastic, can cause significant injury to the head and/or neck, particularly when the head and/or neck makes contact with the support structures following an abrupt stop or a collision.
Clearly, the invention of the adjustable headrest is an advancement in the area of safety to the head and/or neck during the operation of or riding in an automobile, but this advancement is only applicable when the headrest is used properly. That is, the adjustable headrest is only effective when it is properly adjusted for each individual's height. Since such an adjustment is generally not properly done, further safety precautions are clearly needed.
Additionally, in certain vehicles individual or bucket seats have replaced the bench seat. These bucket seats often have a built-in headrest which is, in effect, an extension of the seat upward beyond the mid to upper section of the back. This extension acts to provide some head and neck support but a large percentage of visibility is lost due to the upward extension which creates a blind spot in relation to oncoming passing vehicles. In addition, these bucket seats are generally of a standard height such that very tall passengers are still at risk for head and/or neck injuries because height of the passenger exceeds that of the bucket seat. Furthermore, the general design of the bucket seat is such that the head and/or neck are generally several inches to a foot away from this upper part of the seat whereby a collision of the vehicle still causes rapid acceleration of the head and neck toward the seat. Due to this rapid acceleration and non-optimal design of the headrest portion of the bucket seat, injuries still occur.
Several headrest systems have been developed which attempt to properly position a passenger's headrest behind the passenger's neck or attempt to cushion the rearward thrusting of the passenger's head and neck. Examples of these prior art headrest systems include U.S. Pat. No. 3,397,991 which discloses an automobile safety device having a spring loaded headrest and a pendulum which senses a sudden stopping or collision of the vehicle. When the pendulum springs forward the springs are released to force the headrest upwardly.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,586,366 discloses a inertia-responsive retractable head restraint device which rotates to an erect and supportive position when the headrest senses a sudden stop or collision of the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,779,577 discloses a safety installation for the passengers of vehicles especially passengers of motor vehicles. The headrests of the front seats includes front and rear airbags which inflate upon sudden stopping or collision of the vehicle. One airbag inflates towards the front seat passenger to cushion the rearward thrust of the front seat passenger and the othe
Jasmin Lynda
Mar Michael
Oldham & Oldham Co. L.P.A.
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