International Truck Intellectual Property Company, LLC

International Truck and Engine Corporation

Brian M Shaklik

Ronald A Vallette

Thomas R Graham

Erik K Nelson

Gary L Vandermolen

James I Pennington

A vehicle passenger seat with an upholstery cover having a fabric seam designed to absorb energy from a seat occupant upon impact. Means for progressively absorbing energy from the seat belt occupant are disclosed. Use of the fabric seam to absorb vehicle passenger seat occupant energy increases the survivability of an impact for an occupant of a seat with a separate inner and outer seat frame, and relates to compliance with energy absorption requirements for seat-backs of 49 C.F.R. Section 571.222 (FMVSS 222) and seat belt anchorage loading strength requirements of 49 C.F.R. Section 571.209 and 571.210 (FMVSS 209 and FMVSS 210).

Vehicle passenger seat with tear-away upholstery cover

An airbag inflation system for a vehicle utilizes a truck's an ambient air compression system including a holding tank for providing compressed air to vehicle systems and an air pump. An outlet is added to the holding tank with a frangible seal closing the outlet until discharge of the air is required to inflate the airbag. An air line connecting the outlet to the airbag is filled upon activation of a squib for breaking the frangible seal upon detection of a rollover related event.

Rollover air bag system

An occupant compartment of an automotive vehicle contains an instrument panel to the rear of which an occupant of the vehicle may be seated. A knee bolster is disposed below the instrument panel frontally of the occupant's knees and has a through-opening toward the occupant. A movable cover selectively closes and opens the through-opening. When the cover is closed, it covers a key that was inserted into the vehicle ignition switch and turned to operate the switch to turn on the engine while the cover was open. The ignition switch is disposed in a mounting that extends outward when the cover is opened to render the switch accessible for key insertion, key operation, and key removal. When the cover is closed, the mounting and switch retract within the knee bolster.

Integrated knee bolster / ignition switch

The invention relates to a method of vehicle collision severity discrimination for actuating a safety device at an occupant location in the vehicle. The method provides steps for providing a plurality of velocity and load level trigger values, including velocity and load level pairs, indicating a plurality of threshold conditions for actuating the safety device at an occupant location. Vehicle velocity and load are monitored so that at the instant of a collision a severity evaluation may be made, particularly where the potential for vehicle crush ameliorates the potential danger to the occupants. Responsive to selected vehicle conditions, a collision indication signal is generated Responsive to generation of a collision indication signal, vehicle velocity, vehicle load, or both, are compared to threshold conditions for actuation of the safety device.

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Leo, IN, United States of America

Brian M Shaklik