Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Reddy Malapati

Mark Murphy

Chris O'Connor

Rodney Simon

Pardeep Kumar

An attachment assembly for securing a child safety seat to a mounting portion of a vehicle is provided. The attachment assembly may include a guide having a channel, and a metal strap positioned in the channel of the guide in a retracted configuration such that a free end of the metal strap is adjacent to a front face of the guide, a fixed end of the metal strap is secured to a side of the channel, and a body of the strap is bent along a radius so as to double back between the free end and the fixed end. When pulled in tension, the metal strap is configured to transition from the retracted configuration to an extended configuration, and the guide is configured to constrain the strap during this transition so that the strap rolls along the radius within the guide, thereby absorbing energy.

Energy absorbing seat anchor restraint system for child safety seats

An energy absorbing anchor for securing a child safety seat to a mounting portion of a vehicle and coupling to a tether of the child safety seat is provided. The energy absorbing anchor comprises a bracket including a first end having a tether coupling portion, and a tapered hole having a wide portion adjacent to the first end and a narrow portion opposite to the first end; and a protrusion extending through the tapered hole to secure the bracket to the mounting portion of the vehicle wherein the protrusion is positioned to be adjacent to the wide portion of the tapered hole and wherein the narrow portion of the tapered hole is narrower than a width of the protrusion; wherein, when the bracket is pulled in tension, the protrusion is drawn along a length of the tapered hole towards the narrower portion, thereby deforming a portion of walls of the tapered hole to widen the tapered hole, the walls of tapered hole being configured to increasingly absorb energy as a width of the tapered hole decreases.

A child safety seat tether anchor for securing a child safety seat to a mounting portion of a vehicle is provided. The child safety seat tether anchor may comprise a metal strip cooperating with a plurality of vertically offset pins extending from a surface of an engagement structure and positioned along a length of the metal strip. The metal strip is bent by the plurality of pins along a length of the metal strip so that when pulled in tension, the metal strip slides while bending around the pins to absorb energy.

An energy-absorbing deformable structure to attach a child safety seat to a mounting portion of a vehicle comprises a bracket. The bracket includes a base configured to be coupled to the mounting portion of the vehicle, a metal strap positioned in the base such that a first end of the metal strap is configured to be free and coupled to the child safety seat, a second end of the metal strap is separably attached to the base, and a body of the metal strap is bent between the first end and the second end. When the metal strap is pulled in tension, the metal strap tears from the base, thereby absorbing energy.

An energy-absorbing deformable structure to attach a child seat to a mounting portion of a vehicle is provided. The energy-absorbing deformable structure comprises a loop of metal rod including a base end configured to be coupled to the mounting portion of the vehicle, a distal end configured to be coupled to a child safety seat, and a plurality of sinuous deformable portions positioned intermediate to the base end and the distal end, wherein each of the sinuous deformable portions includes an inwardly extending portion that extends inward from a perimeter of the deformable structure to a substantially central interior region of the deformable structure; wherein the sinuous deformable portions of the deformable structure are configured to be deformed when the base end and distal end are pulled in tension, thereby absorbing energy.

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Ypsilanti, MI, United States of America

Reddy Malapati