Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd.

Matsuo Industries, Inc.

Hitoshi Iida

Osamu Hirose

Tadashi Yamamoto

Naohiko Ishiguro

Mikine Hayashi

Kenji Sasaki

Tadashi Yamada

Yoshiteru Banno

Norio Suzuki

Tsutomu Ishii

Koji Sakurai

Hirohisa Yokoyama

Atsushi Nagata

Kazuaki Bito

Koji Kawamura

Yoshiaki Goto

Norio Umemura

Ryotaro Ishida

Michihisa Asaoka

Masakazu Asano

Chisato Masuya

Kosuke Shigeta

Yoshinori Nonoyama

Hayato Abo

Akira Urayama

Tomoki Okada

Nobuaki Okamura

An airbag device for a driver's seat adapted to be mounted on a boss of a steering wheel disposed at a center of a rim is disclosed. The airbag device includes an inflatable airbag folded in the form of an airbag package. The airbag includes a vehicle-side wall that includes a gas inlet port and is configured to be supported by the rim when deployed, and a driver-side wall. The airbag, before folded into the airbag package, has a flat initial folded form in which the driver-side wall lies over the vehicle-side wall. The initial folded form includes a folded-in portion in which a front edge portion of the vehicle-side wall is folded inwardly and rearwardly beneath a front edge portion of the driver-side wall, and a folded-back portion in which the front edge portion of the driver-side wall which adjoins the folded-in portion is folded towards the inlet port on the vehicle-side wall.

Airbag device for a driver's seat

A completely folded body of an airbag includes: a front-side folded portion; and a rear-side folded portion, wherein: the front-side folded portion has such a folded shape that a tip separated longitudinally from the mounting portion of the front overlapped portion is stored in a dent portion, in which a front side is open and a rear side is dented, between a mounting-portion-side folded portion near the mounting portion and a central folded portion between the tip and the mounting-portion-side folded portion; the tip of the front overlapped portion includes a leading edge separate longitudinally the farthest from the mounting portion, and a tip root-side portion connected to the leading edge; and the leading edge is provided on an upper side of the tip root-side portion in the front-side folded portion to be inverted rearward to a central side of the mounting portion.

Completely folded body of airbag and folding method of the same

An airbag cover includes a ceiling wall portion provided on a steering wheel, and covered an airbag. The ceiling wall portion has an attaching door portion and a non-attaching door portion opened to the left and the right, causing a predetermined fracture portion to facture by the inflating airbag. The attaching door portion has an ornament retained on an attaching seat. In the predetermined fracture portion, the common portion positioned at the center of the right and left door portions has a bypass portion on the circumference of the attaching seat. The attaching door portion is slightly opened toward the rear.

Steering wheel airbag cover

An airbag of an airbag apparatus includes a vent mechanism. The vent mechanism includes a vent hole, a belt member including a cover portion for covering the vent hole and two connecting sections extending from both sides of the cover portion and serving as tethers, an outer panel located on an outer side of the cover portion, an inner panel located on an inner side of the cover portion and provided with an inner opening. The vent hole is formed on the outer panel. The connecting sections are run through the guide section so as to move toward the vent hole and let the cover portion loosen and open the vent hole when an occupant side wall of the airbag catches an occupant and moves toward a vehicle body side wall. The guide section also holds the connecting sections such that the connecting sections serve as the tethers.

Airbag apparatus

An airbag apparatus, which is incorporated in a steering wheel, includes a bag holder in the longitudinal direction of the steering wheel. An inflator is elastically supported by the bag holder with elastic support portions. A retainer includes an annular bag attachment portion. The retainer is fastened to the bag holder such that the periphery of the airbag opening is held between the bag attachment portion and the bag holder. The retainer further includes arch portions and bag encompassing portions. The arch portions extend rearward in the longitudinal direction of the steering wheel from the inner rim of the bag attachment portion, and surround the inflator. The bag encompassing portions extend inward in a radial direction of the steering shaft from the inner rim of the bag attachment portion, and encompass the periphery of the airbag opening.

The invention provides an airbag apparatus including an airbag that is folded toward an inflator attaching part and that is accommodated within a pad functioning as a case such that the airbag is provided with first and second folded parts arranged on a cabin side from an inflator. A tear line is formed on the pad at a position deviated from a center of the inflator toward the first folded part and divides the case into a first door and a second door. In the airbag apparatus, the second folded part that is covered by the first door is folded in a bellows shape.

An airbag cover including a front door located in a front area of the airbag cover so as to be openable forward and an ornament located on a top face of the front door. The front door includes a mounting section for mounting the ornament thereon, and the mounting section partially protrudes rearward from the rear edge of the front door. The front door further includes an auxiliary breakable portion that is located at the front edge of the mounting section so as to be breakable when an obstacle contacts with the ornament, and a pair of second hinges located at left and right ends of the auxiliary breakable portion. The mounting section bends about the second hinges relative to the front door in an opposite direction to an opening direction of the front door at breakage of the auxiliary breakable portion.

Airbag cover

A horn switch mechanismhas a securing pinserving as a support member, a movable memberserving as an insulating portion, a compression coil springserving as an urging member, and a contact terminalserving as a movable contact. The securing pinis fixed to a metal coreof a steering wheel bodyand supports a bag holderin such a manner that the bag holderselectively proceeds toward and retreats from the metal core. The movable memberis arranged between the securing pinand the bag holderand electrically insulates the securing pinand the bag holderfrom each other. The coil springurges the bag holderaway from the metal core. The contact terminalmoves together with the bag holder. When the bag holdermoves toward the metal coreagainst the urging force of the compression coil spring, the contact terminalcontacts the securing pinand permits conduction between the contact terminaland the securing pin. This activates a horn deviceof the vehicle.

Steering wheel with airbag device

In an airbag-equipped steering wheel, a plurality of horn switch mechanisms assembled to a bag holder each have a securing pin, which is inserted into a corresponding one of through holes formed in a metal core. A clip is engaged with a locking groove of each securing pin, so that each horn switch mechanism is fastened to the metal core. The through holes include one or more normal through holes that restrict inclination of the corresponding securing pins, and a special through hole that has an inclination permitting portion. The inclination permitting portion permits the corresponding securing pin to be inclined about the corresponding clipserving as a fulcrum. In the special through hole, the securing pin is permitted to be inclined about the clip serving as a fulcrum only when the clips are disengaged from the securing pin in all the normal through holes.

Airbag-equipped steering wheel device

A folded airbag is accommodated between a bag holder, to which horn switch mechanisms are secured, and a pad secured to the bag holder. The horn switch mechanisms are installed by being inserted in attachment holes formed in the bag holder. The pad has switch support portions for supporting the horn switch mechanisms.

Steering wheel with airbag device and method for assembling the same

A bag holder has a plurality of engagement holes about parts to which an airbag device is attached. Each engagement hole has a first long inner wall surface and a second long inner wall surface that extend along a substantially tangential direction of a circle the center of which coincides with the central axis of the bag holder, or of an opening. Engagement claws of a pad cover each include an insertion portion inserted into one of the engagement holes and a claw portion protruding from the lower end of the insertion portion toward the first long inner wall surface. The bag holder has integrally formed fastening pieces, each of which includes a support portion and a pair of coupling portions. The support portion is located in the vicinity of one of the engagement holes, and the coupling portions connect the support portion to the corresponding second long inner wall surface at several positions. Each fastening piece is bent at the coupling portions so as to contact a side surface of the insertion portion on which no claw portion is provided.

Pad cover fastening structure

An air bag system of the invention includes an air bag having a discharge port which discharges part of inflation gas when it opens and an opening and closing control unit which enables the control of opening and closing of the discharge port. The air bag includes a bag main body, a discharge portion provided in the bag main body, and a connecting member which is provided within the bag main body and which is connected to the discharge portion on a bottom portion side thereof and connected to the opening and closing control unit on a tip end side thereof. The discharge portion is withdrawn into the bag main body by the connecting member with the connection of the connecting member with the opening and closing control unit maintained, so as to maintain the discharge port in a closed state, while with the connection of the connecting member with the opening and closing control unit canceled, the discharge portion is made to protrude from the bag main body, so as to open the discharge port.

Air bag system

The airbag apparatus includes an airbag having a tether including an occupant side tether belt and a vehicle body side tether belt. An intermediate portion of the vehicle body side tether belt is held at the side of a housing of the airbag by a retaining mechanism. At full inflation of the airbag, the clearance between the side of the housing and the occupant side tether belt is reduced when the vehicle body side belt is retained by the retaining mechanism whereas the clearance is enlarged when the vehicle body side tether belt is released from the retaining mechanism. The occupant side tether belt and the vehicle body side tether belt are linked with each other so that a central area of a protection plane of an occupant side wall of the airbag in the former case is generally parallel to the central area in the latter.

An airbag of an airbag device for the driver's seat of the invention is stored in a way that a carbody-side wall part and a driver-side wall part are overlapped and spread flat, and the airbag is folded in three steps so that widths between opposing outer edge portions with a gas opening as the center are reduced. In the first step of the folding, the carbody-side wall part and the driver-side wall part are overlapped and spread flat, and then right and left edge portions are folded toward the carbody-side wall so that wound regions are provided. In the second step of the folding, areas by front and rear edge portions are folded toward the driver-side wall, so that two regions that have been folded each cover approximately half the gas opening. In the third step, areas by the right and left edge portions that have been folded in the second step are folded in such a manner as to be bent upward. The airbag device for the driver's seat of the invention can secure thickness of the neighborhood of a center of the airbag in the initial stage of expansion of the airbag.

Airbag device for driver's seat

In an airbag system for a steering wheel according to the invention, an airbag is folded through a first step and a second step after the airbag is unfolded flatly with a driver side wall and a vehicle body side wall superposed each other. Before the first step, the airbag is folded through a preliminarily-folding step to fold back a front edge side region to the vehicle body side wall along a folded line in a transverse direction. In the preliminarily-folded airbag, the folded front edge side is arranged within a range of 20% of the inner diameter of the ring part in each of opposite directions in the front-rear direction from a reference point on the inner peripheral edge of the front part of the ring part.

Growing community of inventors

Aichi-ken, Japan

Hitoshi Iida