Nhk Spring Co., Ltd.

Nissan Motor Company Limited

Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Mazda Motor Corporation

Eiji Shimizu

Hiroyoshi Yamaguchi

Takeshi Ito

Satoshi Nishikido

Makoto Hasegawa

Kou Masuda

Tomoharu Ohi

Minoru Takakura

Kenzou Yasuda

Arihiro Furumoto

Kenzo Yasuda

Toshiki Takahashi

Atsushi Kageyama

Shinji Uehara

Toshihiro Yoshitake

Yorimitsu Hirata

Masami Takayama

Takashi Ebisugi

Tomoharu Ooi

Shigeru Yasuda

Mitsuru Wakiie

A headrest including: a headrest body that supports a head portion of an occupant; a pair of side frame sections that supports the headrest body, the side frame sections extending along a seat height direction and disposed at a separation from each other along a seat width direction; and an inclined wall portion that is provided between the side frame sections, that is inclined towards a seat front-rear direction front side with respect to the side frame sections such that a lower end portion of the inclined wall portion is positioned further to the seat front-rear direction front side than an upper end portion of the inclined wall portion, and that bears load acting on the headrest body from a seat front-rear direction rear side.

Headrest and vehicle seat provided with the same

There is provided a headrest device including: a headrest main body that is provided at an upper end portion of a seat back of a seat in which a passenger sits; a pressure/flexure detecting section that is provided at a vehicle front side of the seat back; a headrest moving section; and a control section that estimates a current back-set, that is a distance between a head portion of a passenger and the headrest main body in a horizontal direction, on the basis of at least one of pressure and flexure detected by the pressure/flexure detecting section and a predetermined relationship between back-set and the at least one of pressure and flexure, and controls the headrest moving section to move the headrest main body such that the back-set becomes a predetermined amount.

Headrest device, method of adjusting headrest position, and vehicle seat

A headrest device comprises a headrest body which includes a headrest rear portion supported with respect to a seatback of a seat on which a passenger of a vehicle sits, and a headrest front portion that is movable within a predetermined range from a fully closed position that is closest to the headrest rear portion to a fully open position that is farthest from the headrest rear portion; a detection unit which detects a running state or an operation state of the vehicle; a prediction unit which predicts a possibility of a rear vehicle collision with the vehicle on the basis of the running state or the operation state of the vehicle detected by detection unit; and a control unit which controls, in a case in which the possibility of the rear vehicle collision is predicted by the prediction unit, movement of a position of the headrest front portion so that a backset becomes smaller than a backset at the time of the prediction, the backset being a horizontal distance between the headrest front portion and a head of the vehicle passenger.

Headrest device

The actuator mechanism of the present embodiment comprises the first cylinder, a rod protruding from the first cylinder to lift a hood and lock balls arranged along the outer periphery of the rod and digging into the rod when the rod is pushed back. The diameter of the lock balls and the lapping amount of the lock balls are within specific ranges.

Actuator mechanism for lifting a hood of a motor vehicle

A vehicle safety device () includes an actuator () which thrusts a hood () upward from underside at a point close to a rear end of the hood () to raise the same by a specific amount when an obstacle is detected, and a mechanical connector () which connects the rear end of the hood () to the vehicle body (), the mechanical connector () being structured such that, when the actuator () raises the rear end of the hood (), the mechanical connector () extends while swinging about a pivot (P) by which the mechanical connector () is joined to the vehicle body (). The mechanical connector () includes a rod (), and a locking part () having a through hole () in which the rod () is inserted. The locking part () engages with the rod () in such a manner that the rod () can move in only one direction in which the rod () is extracted from the locking part (), and the rod () is disengaged from the locking part () when turned about a longitudinal axis.

Vehicle safety device

In a vehicle occupant restraint system provided in association with a vehicle seat for preventing a vehicle occupant from slipping forward under a seat belt in an impact situation such as a vehicle crash, a pair of support members are provided on either side of the seat frame, and pivotally support a pair of arms across which a cross member extends. The cross member comprises an energy absorbing structure adapted to undergo a controlled deformation under a load occurring as the front part of the seat bottom is raised. The energy absorbing structure may consist of a relatively deformable member wrapped around the cross member or a feature for controlling a mode of deformation of the cross member. When the cross member consists of a pipe member, the energy absorbing structure may comprise a relatively deformable member filled inside the pipe member or perforations formed in the pipe member.

Anti-submarine vehicle occupant restraint system

In a vehicle occupant restraint system provided in association with a vehicle seat for preventing a vehicle occupant from slipping forward under a seat belt in an impact situation such as a vehicle crash, a pair of casings are provided on either side of the seat frame, and pivotally support a pair of arms across which a cross member extends. A power unit pivotally incorporated in at least one of the casings raises the arms and cross member in an impact situation. The casing is formed by a main member having a vertical section and a pair or flanges extending from upper and lower ends of the vertical section, and a lid member attached to the free ends of the flanges. The hollow structure of the casing provides a high level of mechanical strength, and the two piece structure of the casing allows the assembly work to be performed in a simple manner because the components can be installed from sideways one after another in a relatively simple manner.

In a seat belt pretensioner device, comprising a seat belt buckle which is supported in a moveable manner, a power generator for moving the buckle in a direction to increase a tension of the seat belt, and a reverse preventing device for preventing the reversal of the movement of the buckle, the reverse preventing device consists of a ball-type one-way clutch defining a plurality of chambers between an inner race and an outer race, each of said chambers narrowing in a rotational direction and receiving a ball and a spring urging the ball toward a narrower part of the corresponding chamber, and the springs are formed by bending a plurality of projections integrally formed in a peripheral part of a single disk shaped plate member into a wavy form. Thus, the multitude of springs are formed by a single member, and not only the management of component parts is simplified but also the assembly work for the one-way clutch is facilitated even when the one-way clutch is not adapted to be formed as a subassembly.

Seat belt pretensioner device

Disclosed is a seat belt pretensioner device for moving a moveably supported seat belt buckle in a direction to increase the tension of a seat belt with a power generating device so as to automatically increase the tension of the seat belt in case of an impact situation. such as a vehicle crash. The power generator comprises a bladder-like member that can be pressurized for expansion, and a chamber defined for guiding the direction of the expansion of the bladder-like member. The buckle of the seat belt can be moved in the direction to increase the tension of the seat belt by pushing a member supporting the buckle with the bladder-like member.

Pretensioner for seat belts

In a pretensioner device for automatically increasing a tension of a seat belt in case of a vehicle crash which uses a piston and cylinder arrangement as a power generator, a spring member resiliently urges the piston assembly in the direction of actuation so that any play that may be present in each connecting potion of the path of power transmission can be eliminated. Therefore, collision between component parts at the time of activating the power generator can be prevented, and the loss of energy which could arise from such collision can be avoided. The piston assembly may comprise a piston main body slidably received in the cylinder, and a piston rod having a base end abutting an opposing end of the piston main body and a free end projecting out of the open free end of the cylinder while the cylinder is provided with an inwardly directed radial flange for preventing the piston main body from being projected out of the cylinder. Thus, the piston rod may be kept removed from the assembly during transportation and storage so that an inadvertent activation of the power generator would only cause the movement of the piston main body inside the cylinder, and the handling of the assembly can be therefore simplified.

In a pre-tensioner assembly for automatically increasing a tension of a seat belt in case of a vehicle crash, an arm is pivotally attached to a base plate at its one end and to a part of a seat belt, and a cylinder and piston device is attached to the base plate to selectively rotate the arm from a rest position to an operative position. Typically, the cylinder and piston device comprises a linear cylinder having a propellant placed in a bottom end thereof. The rotary arm for displacing a buckle or other part of the seat belt can be substantially directly connected to the piston of the actuator, and because the piston rod is pushed out of the cylinder when actuating the rotary arm, the pressure receiving surface of the piston can be maximized. Therefore, the power transmission efficiency is improved, and the required amount of the propellant can be reduced with the result that the size and the cost of the assembly can be minimized.

Growing community of inventors

Yokohama, Japan

Eiji Shimizu