Mitsubishi Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Junichi Nakamura

Mikiharu Shimoda

Noritaka Nagayama

Tsutomu Ookochi

Kazuya Miwa

Setuko Hatta

Tosiyasu Hatta

Ryosuke Yamamoto

Takeshi Awano

Akira Yoshioka

Masanobu Hatta, Deceased

In a side impact air bag system, a first vent hole and a second vent hole for reducing a pressure of a part opposing a chest portion of a passenger to a lower value than the pressure of a part opposing an abdomen portion of the passenger when the bag is inflated. The vent holes are provided on a side surface of an upper inflation unit opposite to the passenger, whereby regulating gas discharge of the part opposing the chest portion while preventing early discharge of the gas, always obtaining a desired internal pressure and inflation condition, positively inflating the bag and relaxing a shock to the chest portion. Further, the first vent hole and the second vent hole are formed at positions not contacting with vehicle compartment structural members, thereby preventing the vent hole and the second vent hole from being closed even when the vehicle compartment structural members are deformed toward the inside of the vehicle compartment, eliminating disturbance to gas discharge when the bag is inflated, and always obtaining the desired internal pressure condition.

Side impact air bag system

An air bag system having an air bag module 20 including an inflator 22 and an air bag 25 is installed in a seat back 12. When a side collision occurs against a vehicle, the air bag 25 is inflated between a passenger and an inner wall of a vehicle compartment. The air bag 25 has a separator 27 for vertically separating the inside of the air bag 25 into first and second chambers 28 and 29. The separator 27 is extended along a vehicle front-to-rear direction, and defines a communication portion 27a at a vehicle rear side in the air bag 25 for interconnecting the two chambers 28 and 29 and guiding gas blown by the inflator 22 from the first chamber 28 to the second chamber 29.

A seat with a side air bag for a motor vehicle is provided with an air bag module that includes an inflator and an air bag, and is incorporated in a seat back portion of the seat. The air bag is inflated to fill a space between an occupant and a side wall of the vehicle. The seat further includes a first skin member covering each side face of the seat back portion, and a second skin member covering a front face of the seat back portion. The second skin member is sewed to one end of the first skin member. A reinforcing member is provided on at least a part of a rear surface of the first skin member, for controlling a direction in which the air bag expands out of the seat back portion.

Seat with side air bag

In a side impact air bag system, the blowing direction of gas is regulated by connecting a bag to an inflator through a gas intake portion which suppresses the diffusion of the gas. The bag is formed of a main body, a lower inflation unit, and an upper inflation unit having a vent hole. The upper inflation unit and the lower inflation unit are contained with the main body in a shape of bellows when installed. When the bag is inflated by a gas blown out from the inflator, the bag is inflated from a portion of the main body opposing an abdomen portion having a higher shock load resistance than that of a chest portion, thereby improving the restraining condition of a passenger by regulating the inflating condition of the bag into a desired condition. Consequently, a possibility of the bag being obstructed by vehicle structural members in the process of the bag inflated from inner sides of the upper inflation unit and the lower inflation unit is eliminated, thereby positively inflating the bag.

An airbag system provided in a vehicular seat that includes a cushion pad member, comprises an inflator contained in the cushion pad member and adapted to generate gas when a vehicle is subjected to a side impact, and a seat covering member covering the cushion pad member. The covering member is designed to spread out like a bag between an occupant and the body of the vehicle by the gas generated by the inflator.

Airbag system

In a side impact air bag system having a bag comprising a main body, an upper inflation unit, and a lower inflation unit, the boundaries of the main body and the upper inflation unit and the lower inflation unit are joined and temporally sewn by sewn portions. The main body is inflated without having the upper and lower units inflated until the blowing gas from an inflator into the bag reaches a pressure above a predetermined pressure, and when the pressure inside the bag reaches the pressure above the predetermined pressure, the sewn portions are separated therefrom to flow gas into the upper and lower inflation units to deploy the upper and lower inflation units. Thus, the bag is positively inflated in a narrow space between a passenger and a vehicle without excessively increasing impact against a chest portion of the passenger.

In a side impact air bag system, a bag is formed of a main body opposing an abdomen portion of a passenger and an upper inflation unit opposing a chest portion of the passenger, a tip portion in the longitudinal direction of the upper inflation unit is deleted and a connection of a gas intake portion to an inflator is shortened to reduce a length of the upper inflation unit than the length of the main body. This reduces the length of the upper inflation unit to be shorter than the main body when the bag is inflated to relax the shock to the chest portion of the passenger when the bag is inflated, thereby positively inflating the bag in the narrow space between the vehicle body and the passenger's seat without excessively increasing the shock to the chest portion of the passenger.

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Anjo, Japan

Junichi Nakamura