Autoliv Development Ab

Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Akihiko Narui

Tetsu Mitsuo

Mitsuo Nogami

Hidenori Suzuki

Yoshinori Beppu

Tsubana Nakamura

An object of the present invention is to ensure smooth deployment of an airbag having a turned-back end portion. The present invention is an airbag device that expands and deploys in a curtain shape on a side portion of a vehicle interior in order to protect an occupant of the vehicle interior, where the airbag includes a gas generator for generating an expansion gas and an airbag that deploys when it is expanded by the gas supplied from the gas generator. The airbag is compressed into an elongated shape when stowed and an end portion of the elongated airbag is turned back in a lengthwise direction, thereby forming an airbag main portion that is not turned back and the turned-back end portion. A restricting member is also provided to restrict deployment of the turned-back end portion of the airbag toward a vehicle outer side when the device is activated.

Airbag device

A vertical cell is formed in a forward inflation section of an airbag. The vertical cell extends in a vehicle height direction at the rear of a pillar, and communicates through a bottom end of the vertical cell with a horizontal cell. When the inflation section is deployed, the folded horizontal cell or the lower side part of the airbag is pulled back toward the passenger compartment with respect to the side window opening. Accordingly, the horizontal cell deploys to an area below a bottom edge of the side window opening or a beltline in the passenger compartment on the inner side of a front side door.

Head protecting airbag system

A supplemental inflation part is formed in a portion of an upper-end side inflation section of an airbag, the portion overlapping a B-pillar garnish. The supplemental inflation part has a semicircular shape that forms a push-out part. Folding the push-out part allows the upper-end side inflation section to be inflated largely at the initial stage of deployment of the airbag. Thus, the airbag is pushed toward the passenger compartment with greater force upon its deployment. Therefore, a terminal part of a headliner that covers the folded airbag is largely opened so that the airbag deploys smoothly downward along the side of the vehicle body in the passenger compartment without interference from the top end of the B-pillar garnish.

Growing community of inventors

Yokohama, Japan

Akihiko Narui