Autoliv Development Ab

Hiroko Yoshikawa

Eiji Maemura

Yukinori Midorikawa

Tatsuya Harada

Junichi Nagatomo

A seatbelt device for preventing a torque limiter mechanism from operating due to inertia force when a gear rotates quickly due to a winding force of an electric actuator, while maintaining satisfactory operating characteristics of the torque limiter mechanism. In the torque limiter mechanism, when a motor is driven to perform a wind-up operation, a prescribed operational torque that is set as a torque at which a limit spring moves from an engaging surface where the limit spring is positioned when a large-diameter side gear and a small-diameter side gear are in an assembled state, to an adjacent engaging surface, is greater than an operational torque at which the limit spring moves from the adjacent engaging surface to a next adjacent engaging surface by means of a shear pin.

Seatbelt device

A clutch includes a clutch housing that rotates with a spindle and has inner teeth; a pair of pawls that can engage with the inner teeth; a gear wheel that is joined to a motor and has a pair of sliding grooves that hold the pawls such that the pawls can move in the sliding grooves between a first position when the motor is not operating, a second position at which the pawls engage with the inner teeth of the clutch housing through operation of the motor, and a third position at which the pawls become positioned on the opposite side to that of the second position across the first position upon operation of the pretensioner; and a return prevention mechanism that prevents the pawls from returning to the first position and the second position after having moved to the third position.

Seat belt retractor

A seat belt retractor may include: a motor that generates a driving force for retracting and unreeling a seat belt by rotating a shaft, a gear case has an interior portion that houses a gear that converts a rotary force of the shaft into a driving force, a harness connected to a side of the motor including the shaft that is disposed opposite the gear case, a motor case having an opening disposed in only one end thereof, and a motor cap disposed on a side of the motor including the shaft opposing the gear case. The motor cap may include a passage portion through which the harness passes to an exterior thereof. The opening in the motor case may be sealed by attaching the motor case to the motor cap and the gear case in a sandwiched manner.

Growing community of inventors

Yokohama, Japan

Hiroko Yoshikawa