Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Hubert P Blom

Laura A Hawthorn

Michael John Wolanin

Jack L Jensen

John William Melvin

Laura C Stevenson

David E Pettigrove

An occupant restraint air bag assembly includes an air bag having a base wall portion communicating with an inflator and a face wall for contacting the occupant upon inflation of the bag. A vent opening is provided in the base wall portion of the air bag for venting a portion of the inflation gas from the air bag to the occupant compartment. A valve flap carried by the air bag is operable to a position closing the vent opening to contain the inflation gas within the air bag. A tether has a first end connected to the valve flap and a second end attached to the face wall so that the inflation of the air bag and consequent displacement of the face wall pulls the tether to close the valve flap. The vent opening is preferably a plurality of spaced apart openings and the tether progressively moves the valve flap across the openings to progressively close the vent opening in response to the progressive travel of the face wall toward the occupant. If desired, one or more additional vent openings with flap valves may be provided and operated by tethers of different operative lengths to provide selected and variable control over the venting of inflation gas from the air bag in response to displacement of the bag.

Displacement responsive air bag vent

A seat belt retractor has a winding spring biasing a belt reel in the belt winding direction to pull the belt taut about the occupant. A first inertia-sensing means is adapted to sense a predetermined level of vehicle deceleration and lock the belt reel against belt unwinding rotation to restrain the occupant in the seat. Ratchet teeth carried by the reel in the belt winding direction are selectively engageable by a detent member. A control means is operable to move the detent member to a detenting position engaging ratchet teeth to prevent winding of the reel and thereby relieve the belt tension on the occupant by establishing a slackened belt condition about the occupant. A second inertia-sensing means senses a predetermined level of vehicle deceleration less than the level sensed by the first inertia-sensing means and is adapted to move the detent member to the undetenting position to restore the winding effort of the winding spring and pull the belt taut against the occupant prior to locking of the belt reel against belt unwinding rotation by the first inertia-sensing means.

Inertia release for belt retractor winding prevention mechanism

The inertia locking mechanism for a rotatably mounted belt reel includes a support member mounted for rotation about the axis of reel rotation. A lock bar is pivotally mounted on the support member and has locking teeth on one side adapted to engage the reel and locking teeth on the other side adapted to engage a set of arcuately displayed teeth on the retractor housing so that the lock bar blocks rotation of the reel relative the frame. A pendulum is mounted on the support member and is actuated by inertia stimulus to move the lock bar to the locking position. Gravity causes the support member, lock bar, and pendulum to rotate about the axis of reel rotation so that the pendulum attains its normal vertical depending position irrespective of the mounting orientation of the retractor housing about the axis of reel rotation. Balance weights are added to the support member to control the magnitude and location of the unbalanced mass so that an inertia stimulus does not impart rotation to the support member prior to the actuation of the pendulum by the inertia stimulus to engage the lock bar.

Seat belt retractor with pivoted locking mechanism

A buckle component of a vehicle occupant restraint belt system is slidably disposed on a restraint belt of the system in an improved manner. The buckle component may take the form of a female buckle or a male D-ring that secures the belt in an occupant restraining position. The buckle component includes a housing with an outwardly facing rectilinear locking portion extending transversely with respect to the elongated direction of the belt. An external lock bar extends alongside the locking portion with the belt received therebetween. The lock bar has a slightly greater length than the width of the belt and has end portions extending about the side edges of the belt and back toward each other in generally U-shaped configurations. These end portions are pivotally mounted on the housing of the buckle component. When the buckle component secures the belt in an occupant restraining position, two sides of the belt extend from the lock bar alongside each other and a manually applied tension on one of these sides pivots the lock bar away from the locking portion to permit sliding adjustment of the belt through the buckle component so that the other side is tensioned. This tensioning of the other side of the belt pivots the lock bar toward the locking portion and clamps the belt against the locking portion so that the buckle component is located along the belt and enables the belt to provide its occupant restraining function. The buckle component may be used in the restraint belt system to define the belt into angularly disposed lap and shoulder belt portions. Due to the external condition of the lock bar, the width of the housing may be the same as or less than the width of the belt, and the angularly disposed lap and shoulder belt portions may extend from their common juncture at the lock bar with rectilinear configurations.

Buckle component for a vehicle occupant restraint belt system

A seat adjuster mechanism for a bench-type vehicle seat includes a first adjuster track assembly mounting the driver's end of the vehicle seat to the vehicle and a second adjuster track assembly mounting the passenger's end. The track assemblies are curved about an axis extending transversely of the vehicle so that the pitch and elevation of the vehicle seat are changed as the seat is adjusted fore and aft. First and second swivel mechanisms connect the respective adjuster track assemblies to the vehicle seat. First and second lock pawls are associated respectively with the first and second adjuster track assemblies for selective engagement in notches in a notched lock bar to latch the seat in desired position. A latch operating device is provided which is actuable in one direction to unlatch both the first and second latch means to permit simultaneous bodily fore and aft adjusting movement of the seat on the first and second adjuster track assemblies. The latch operating device is actuatable in the other direction to unlatch only the first lock pawl of the first adjuster track assembly to permit forward adjusting movement of the driver's end only.

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Royal Oak, MI, United States of America

Hubert P Blom