Nhk Spring Co., Ltd.

Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Mazda Motor Corporation

Nkh Spring Co., Ltd.

Hiroyoshi Yamaguchi

Makoto Hasegawa

Eiji Shimizu

Hajime Shono

Takeshi Itoh

Takeshi Ito

Masato Ohchi

Tomoharu Ohi

Kou Masuda

Minoru Takakura

Osamu Fukawatase

Hiroshi Tamura

Kenichi Takenaka

Tadanori Hisamoto

Takeaki Kato

Shinichi Horibata

Satoshi Nishikido

Kenzou Yasuda

Hiroyuki Tajima

Akiyoshi Nagano

Masakazu Hashimoto

Shinji Suzuki

Takahiko Sato

Arihiro Furumoto

Masaharu Tanino

Toshiki Takahashi

Yorimitsu Hirata

Takashi Ebisugi

Yuji Niikura

Mitsuru Wakiie

Tomoharu Ooi

Shigeru Yasuda

A waist receiving portion, which is provided at a support member, is curved to form a convex shape toward a front side in a seat front and rear direction in side view. Accordingly, when a waist portion of an occupant is pressed against the waist receiving portion, the change of the shape of lumbar vertebrae is suppressed. For this reason, since it is possible to reduce the difference between a timing when a head portion of the occupant is pressed against a headrest and a timing when a neck portion of the occupant is pressed against a neck receiving portion, it is possible to suppress swing of the head portion of the occupant about the neck portion as a fulcrum in the seat front and rear direction. Therefore, a burden to the neck portion of the occupant is reduced.

Seat back for vehicle and seat for vehicle including the same

A vehicle seatback including a seatback frame provided with a pair of seatback side frame portions and a seatback upper frame portion that connects together upper end portions of the pair of seatback upper frame portions along the seat width direction, and a support member attached to the seatback frame. The support member is provided with a lower neck bearing portion covering the seatback upper frame portion, and a shoulder bearing portion disposed further towards the front than the seatback upper frame portion in the seat front-rear direction. When a load of a specific value or greater acts on the occupant towards the rear in the seat front-rear direction, the shoulder regions of the occupant are pressed against the shoulder bearing portion, suppressing movement of the occupant towards the rear in the seat front-rear direction.

Vehicle seatback and a vehicle seat provided with a vehicle seatback

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

There is provided a headrest apparatus including: a headrest main body provided at a top edge portion of a seatback; a detection section to detect contact between the head of an occupant seated in the seat and the headrest main body; a moving section that moves the headrest main body in the vehicle front-rear direction; and a controller that controls the moving section such that the headrest main body is moved forward until contact between the head of an occupant and the headrest main body is detected by the detection section, and, when contact between the head of an occupant and the headrest main body has been detected by the detection section, controls the moving section to move the headrest main body such that there is a specific amount of back-set separation distance in a horizontal direction between the head of an occupant and the headrest main body.

Headrest apparatus, method of adjusting headrest position, 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

A headrest inclining apparatus for moving a headrest forward by a pressure generated when a passenger moves backward relative to a seat back, in which an energizing device is provided in a support bracket, and the upper part of the support bracket is always energized backward relative to a vehicle. The support bracket is always moved along a fixed path, and is not caught by other parts or devices when moving back into the holder. The support bracket is smoothly and securely returned into the holder.

Headrest inclining apparatus of active head rest

A vehicle seat includes a seat body having a seat back, a pair of left and right legs, a headrest coupled to the seat back at above the seat back through the pair of legs, load detecting means provided on the seat back and having a movable part that displaces in a predetermined direction upon undergoing a load from the front of the seat back; a first interacting member mechanically coupled to one leg of the pair and to the movable part of the load detecting means, to move one leg of the pair in conjunction with a displacement of the movable part caused upon undergoing the load, thereby displacing the headrest frontward, and a second interacting member mechanically coupled to the other leg of the pair and to the first interacting member, to move the other leg of the pair in conjunction with a movement of the first interacting member caused upon moving the one leg of the pair, thereby displacing the headrest frontward.

Vehicle seat

A vehicle seat comprises a head rest tilt mechanism which supports a head rest, a pressure receiving member contained in a seat back, and a speed increasing unit. The pressure receiving member moves rearward when it is pushed by the body of an occupant. The speed increasing unit has a base bracket, first and second arms, a roller, a pulley, etc. A part of a wire is wound in the shape of a U around the pulley. When the pressure receiving member moves rearward, the pulley moves to pull the wire. When the wire is pulled, the head rest tilt mechanism is driven to move a head rest body forward.

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

There is provided a car seat, including a seat body having a seat back and a headrest having a pair of legs for connecting the headrest to the seat back at the upper side; a load detecting section provided in the seat back, including a movable portion that moves in a predetermined direction when receiving a load from the seat front side; an elevating mechanism including a moving body that moves in a predetermined direction by interlocking with the movement of the movable portion, and a pair of interlocking members that respectively engage and interlocking with the moving body, one leg elevating due to the movement of one interlocking member, and the other leg elevating due to the movement of the other interlocking member; and a forward shifting section that shifts the headrest side of the pair of legs forward as the pair of legs elevates.

Car seat

In a knee protection system according to the present invention, a knee protection panel is driven from a standby position surrounded by an interior member to the vehicle rear side to a knee-protecting position in front of the knees of an occupant by a drive mechanism when the vehicle is crashing, whereby the knees moving forward are protected by the knee protection panel thus driven. The drive mechanism includes a holding portion for holding the knee protection panel in such a manner that the knee protection panel is moved rearward. Engagement portions are provided, respectively, at locations where the holding portion and the knee protection panel connect with each other in such a manner as to be brought into engagement with each other. These engagement portions are brought into engagement with each other when the holding portion is moved rearward due to the activation of the drive mechanism in such a manner as to prevent displacement of the knee protection panel relative to the holding portion while moving the knee protection panel rearward, as well as allowing the knee protection panel to be displaced vertically and horizontally relative to the holding portion prior to the activation of the drive mechanism. With the knee protection system according to the invention, the knee protection panel can be disposed at the standby position so as to have a visually attractive break with the surrounding interior member, without deteriorating mounting work efficiency.

Knee protection system

A seat back comprises a support bracket in which a stay of a head rest is inserted, a guide bracket for supporting a rear surface of a vertically intermediate portion of the support bracket on the seat back frame, a head rest tilt mechanism, and a pressure receiving member which moves rearward when pushed by the body of an occupant. The head rest tilt mechanism includes slotted brackets each having a guide hole and slide members which individually movably engage the respective guide holes of the slotted brackets along the longitudinal direction thereof. The head rest tilt mechanism drives the sub-frame so that the head rest body tilts forward while moving upward as the slide members are moved upward along the guide holes when the pressure receiving member is moved rearward.

An actuator includes a hollow cylinder which has a first portion and a second portion. The inner diameter of the first portion is larger than that of the second portion. A piston is inserted in the cylinder. The actuator has a gas generator which supplies a gas into the cylinder to move the piston toward the first portion. The seal member keeps airtightness between the piston and the cylinder when the piston stays in the second portion and flows the gas when the piston stays in the first portion. A hollow stopper is arranged in the first portion and stops the piston. The stopper has a vent groove which is provided on the inner surface and connects the interior of the cylinder to the open end. A piston rod is jointed to the piston and housed in the cylinder. The piston rod moves along the axis with the piston.

Actuator

When a vehicle is rear-ended and a seated user moves rearward in reaction to the rear-end collision, a load movement of a lumbar part of the seated user is sufficiently transmitted from a pressure plate of operating force generating means to an operating force generating mechanism, regardless of an amount of rearward tilting of a seat back. Then, a pressure roller serving as a driven member of the operating force generating mechanism largely deflects and sufficiently pulls inner cables of respective pulling cable devices, thereby smoothly moving both end portions of a headrest frame upward. As a result, the headrest frame is moved upward smoothly and reliably, and a headrest is moved in an upward-forward direction, that is, toward the head of the seated user smoothly and reliably.

In the seat belt pretensioner device according to the present invention, because the buckle is pulled by urging an intermediate point of the cable, it is possible to pull the seat belt and buckle by a required stroke with a relatively small stroke of the power actuator, and this contributes to a compact design of the device. Because the buckle can be pulled via a fixed point of a cable guide, the buckle and, hence, seat belt can be pulled in a stable manner, and a high level of reliability can be achieved. For instance when the power actuator comprises a piston rod that is pushed out by high pressure gas, because a high pressure gas can be produced with a relatively small device, the size and weight of the device can be minimized. By using a cushioning strucgture for gradually absorbing kinetic energy toward the terminal end of the motion of the power actuator, an inadvertent unlatching of the buckle owing to an impulsive movement of the buckle can be avoided, and an excessive reaction force is prevented from being transmitted to the pretensioner device. This reduces the need for a high mechanical strength, and contributes to compact design. Also, impulsive noises at the terminal end of the operation of the device can be minimized and the device can operate in a quite manner.

Growing community of inventors

Yokohama, Japan

Hiroyoshi Yamaguchi