Nippon Soken, Inc.

Nippondenso Co., Ltd.

Kabushiki Kaisha Tokai Rika Denki Seisakusho

Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Kazuo Sakakibara

Toshiaki Shimogawa

Satosi Kuwakado

Masahiro Taguchi

Naoki Nakane

Toshikazu Ina

Yuji Nishimura

Teruhiko Kawaguchi

Akinori Fujiwara

Shigenori Kobayashi

Kazutaka Katoh

Sadahisa Onimaru

Tadashi Ozaki

Masahiko Kato

Toshiaki Matsuhashi

Fumio Matsuoka

Masahiro Iwatsuki

Koji Imai

Akira Hoshino

Masayuki Ohashi

Koji Ohtaka

An airbag device 1 is composed of an inflator 2, a bag 3 and an electronic control unit (ECU) 4 created as a single unit as well as a pad 6 which is attached to the steering unit 5. There is connection from the ignition device 8 of the inflator 2 to the circuit board 18 by means of a connector 8a. The connector 8a realizes short-circuiting by means of external shorting member. In assembly operations of the airbag device, the shorting member can be easily removed to release the short-circuiting of the connector 8a. As a result, when attaching the airbag device to the ECU 4 the connector 8a does not occupy excessive space and there is no reduction in the assembly efficiency of the airbag device.

Airbag device

An inflater and a control unit are integrally formed so that connector cables for electrically connecting the inflater and the control unit can be shortened to the minimum required length. In some cases, the inflater and the control unit are directly connected by soldering their terminals, and a space for disposing the connector cables is not provided in a steering wheel. Thus, the cone depth can be made as small as possible.

Air bag device having a minimized cone depth

An airbag safety module for automotive vehicles is provided. This module includes a box-like cover and a housing. The cover incorporates therein an airbag, an inflator, and an airbag control unit and has a plurality of openings formed in its side wall. The housing includes a base wall on which the airbag and the inflator are mounted and a side wall having thereon a plurality of protrusions engageble with the openings of the cover, respectively to complete the airbag safety module. Each of the protrusions is shaped to allow the housing to be inserted into the cover in an assembling direction of completing the airbag safety module to engage one of the openings of the cover while restricting the cover from being disengaged from the housing in a disassembling direction opposite to the assembling direction.

Airbag safety module for vehicle

A device for moving up and down and tilting a headrest of a vehicle seat having a driven shaft for moving the headrest up and down and a support member for tilting the headrest. The drive shaft is operatively connected to leg members fixed to the headrest, and provided in a backrest of the vehicle seat. The support member is provided below the driven shaft. A drive mechanism drives the driven shaft to move the headrest up and down relative to the backrest, and a tilting mechanism rotates the leg members about the support member to tilt the headrest to a back of the seat backrest.

Device for moving up and down and tilting a headrest of a vehicle seat

A wiper device for a vehicle, has a sub-arm turnably supported by a vehicle body through a supporting shaft provided in a base end thereof. An arm shaft is turnably provided in a tip end of the sub-arm and a base end of a wiper arm is fixed to the arm shaft. The supporting shaft has a cylindrical shape and a drive shaft is inserted into the cylindrical supporting shaft. One end of the drive shaft on the side of the sub-arm, is connected to the arm shaft by a gear mechanism and the other end of the drive shaft is connected to a drive source and is reciprocally turned thereby. To the outer surface of the supporting shaft is fixed a Geneva gear. On a circular plate turnably connected to the drive source is an eccentrically provided pin. When the arm shaft is outside a predetermined turn angle range, the pin is fitted in a notch of the Geneva gear to turn the supporting shaft and when the arm shaft is within a predetermined turn angle range, the pin is disengaged from the notch of the Geneva gear to stop the supporting shaft from turning.

Wiper device for vehicle

Apparatus for controlling a plurality of power seats in a vehicle includes a plurality of power seats, each having adjusting mechanisms for configuring the power seat in a number of different operational states. Operational state detectors then detect the operational state of each power seat. A switching device is provided for adjusting the adjustment mechanisms of the power seats to a desired operational state. Control apparatus is responsive to signals output from the operation state detection devices and the switching device for controlling the adjustment mechanisms of the power seats. The control apparatus causes each power seat to reach its desired operational state in response to the detected operational state of that seat and other power seats to prevent interference among the plurality of moving power seats.

Device for controlling power seats in vehicle

An emergency locking retractor (ELR) for a safety seat belt system provided with a slack-take-up spring operable to instantaneously bias a belt retracting reel to take-up a slack in the seat belt in an emergency situation of the vehicle. The retractor is further provided with a rewinding mechanism including an electric motor for rewinding the slack-take-up spring after the spring energy thereof has been released. Switching circuits for automatically energizing the electric motor are also possible.

Seat belt retractor with powered rewinding arrangement for slack-take-up

A seat belt retractor, a reel of which is rotated by a winding spring and a tightening spring when shock is applied on the automobile body. The winding spring is provided to a reel which winds a seat belt, while the tightening spring is provided to a shaft. In a normal condition, the reel is separated from the shaft by a clutch. Resilient force of the tightening spring is stored to the shaft by a stopper. In a normal condition, the seat belt is retracted only by the winding spring. When shock is applied on the automobile body, the stopper releases the shaft, which rotates by the tightening spring. Then, the clutch connects the shaft and the reel, whereby the seat belt is retracted by the winding spring and the tightening spring.

Seat belt retractor of automobile

In a webbing tension device adapted for use in a webbing retractor, winding means includes a worm rotated by an occupant and a worm wheel to which a rotative operation force to the worm is subjected to reduction to be transmitted, and a rotation force of the worm wheel is transmitted through clutch means to large resilient means biasing a webbing takeup shaft in a direction of a webbing retraction. Accordingly, after a vehicle is released from an emergency situation, the worm can be rotated against a biasing force of the large resilient means so that the large resilient means is wound up.

Growing community of inventors

Okazaki, Japan

Kazuo Sakakibara