Morton International, Inc.

Scott A Meyer

Timothy M Maly

Mark Ludwig Enders

Donald James Paxton

Steven R Pripps

Davin G Saderholm

Timothy M Martersteck

A seat-mounted side impact airbag module deployment door and a vehicle seat having such a deployment door are provided by a deployment door having a fabric outer panel, a fabric inner panel and an intermediate panel of rigid, resilient material, and in which the inner panel has spaced, parallel engagement elements held by retaining elements on the outer surface of sidewalls of a canister housing of an airbag module assembly placed in a seat recess and attached to an internal structural member of the seat. The fabric outer panel of the deployment door matches the adjacent fabric trim cover portion of the seat into which the deployment door is mounted.

Side impact airbag module deployment door for vehicle seat

Assembly is adapted to mount on an internal structural member of a vehicle seat, the seat having a seat body formed with a recess and having a trim cover formed with a frangible opening to said recess. The invention also includes a one-piece resilient plastic deployment door anchored on the structural member and curving over a folded, inflatable airbag cushion and inflator module to comprise a rounded surface smoothly overlayable by the seat trim cover. The door has a distal edge approximately alignable with the frangible access to assist in the opening of the frangible access during deployment of the airbag cushion.

Side-impact airbag assembly

An inflatable air bag cushion for use in a vehicle restraint system that reduces the load experienced on the peripheral seam of a driver or passenger air bag to reduce or prevent combing of the cushion fabric. A sacrificial stitched seam 26 is sewn inboard of the standard peripheral seam 20 on the cushion. Upon inflation, the sacrificial seam tears at a predetermined cushion pressure slightly lower than the maximum. The outer stitched seam, composed of a stronger thread, survives throughout the cushion deployment. The final load experienced by the outer stitched seam and adjacent fabric is reduced. As a result, lower strength fabrics may be utilized which will reduce overall cushion costs.

Growing community of inventors

Orion, MI, United States of America

Scott A Meyer