Nissan Motor Company Limited

Niles Parts Company, Ltd.

Masaji Kuwahara

Sachiro Kataoka

Seiei Takeoka

Yoichi Iizima

Kazuzi Katsutani

A passive seat belt system for controllably restraining a passenger in an automotive vehicle in response to the opening and closing states of a vehicle door. The passive seat belt system is comprised of a seat belt which selectively takes a passenger releasing position at which the passenger is released from restraint and a passenger restraining position at which the passenger is restrained. A door switch is provided to output first and second signals when a vehicle door is in opening and closing states, respectively. A control circuit is electrically connected to the door switch and arranged to output a third signal in response to the first signal. A driving device is electrically connected to the control circuit and arranged to drive the seat belt in the direction of the passenger releasing position when being supplied with the third signal from the control circuit. Additionally, an interrupting circuit is electrically connected between a line connecting the door switch and the control circuit and another line connecting the control circuit and the driving device. The interrupting circuit is arranged to prevent the third signal from being supplied from the control circuit to the driving device when the first signal is output from the door switch, thereby preventing the seat belt from being driven to the passenger releasing position even under malfunction of the control circuit to output the third signal.

Passive seat belt system

A vehicular voltage regulating system is mounted on an automotive vehicle equipped with an on-board electronic control device which is required to operate even when an ignition switch is turned OFF. The electronic control device is adapted to control operation of a passive seat belt arrangement. The voltage regulating system is comprised of detecting means for detecting starting operation for the electronic control device and outputting a first signal. Voltage regulation commanding means is provided to command voltage regulation by outputting a second signal for a predetermined time from a time at which the detecting means outputs the first signal. Additionally, regulating means for regulating a first voltage supplied directly from an on-board battery of the vehicle into a second voltage at a predetermined level and supplying the second voltage to the electronic control device in response to the second signal from the voltage regulation commanding means, thereby making unnecessary so-called stand-by current to the electronic control circuit thus to prevent overdischarging of the battery.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Masaji Kuwahara