Kabushiki Kaisha Tokai Rika Denki Seisakusho

Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Shigeru Kotama

Yoshio Mizuno

Hideki Kato

Katsuya Shimazu

Fuminori Teraoka

Yasutaka Watanabe

Shigekazu Imanaka

Yusuke Hirao

Yasuaki Kosugi

Daiki Furukawa

Hikaru Ikefuji

Kimihiro Ouchi

A seat belt device includes a buckle provided on a side portion of a seat for a vehicle, and configured such that a tongue plate is inserted into the buckle; a buckle force limiter mechanism connected to the buckle via a connecting member having an elongate shape, the buckle force limiter mechanism being configured to allow the buckle to move in a pulling direction when a tensile load equal to or larger than a predetermined tensile load is applied to the buckle; and a case covering the connecting member from an inner side in a seat width direction, the case having a corner at an upper end portion of the case, the corner facing the connecting member, and the corner having an arc shape.

Seat belt device

A webbing take-up device provided with a clutch disposed between a take-up shaft and a motor, the clutch coupling and releasing coupling of the take-up shaft to the motor. When a gear wheel of the clutch is rotated in a take-up direction by the motor, a friction spring mounted to a spring housing portion of the clutch housing moves a pawl with a first protrusion of the friction spring, causing the pawl to mesh with a ratchet wheel. Relative rotation of the gear wheel with respect to the ratchet wheel (spool) in the take-up direction is thereby restricted, and the spool rotates with the gear wheel in the take-up direction. Since the pawl is directly moved by the friction spring mounted on the clutch housing, the configuration for moving the pawl can be simplified.

Webbing take-up device

A preloader in which one end of a wire, which is connected to a webbing take-up shaft via a clutch unit when a vehicle is abruptly decelerated, is fixed to a piston in a cylinder. The cylinder has a pair of through holes defined therethrough. The through holes are defined further toward a base of the cylinder than the piston is located, when the piston is held in abutment against a leading end of the cylinder. When the vehicle is abruptly decelerated, a large quantity of gas is generated by a gas generator and is introduced into the cylinder, thereby moving the piston to abut against the leading end of the cylinder. In this condition, the gas, which has been introduced into the cylinder, passes through the through holes so as to be discharged from the cylinder to an outside. Accordingly, the high pressure gas does not act on the piston.

Preloader

A preloader adapted to forcibly pull a webbing in a taking-up direction when the vehicle suddenly decelerates, so as to allow the webbing to be applied closely around an occupant. A clamp member for clamping the webbing is provided to prevent a subsequent tight winding of the webbing. The clamp member is constantly urged in a webbing-clamping direction by an urging member, and is normally held in a position spaced apart from the webbing against an urging force of the urging member. As the holding is canceled after the forcible taking up of the webbing, the clamp member is capable of clamping the webbing.

A preloader for use in a webbing retractor for allowing a webbing to be fitted closely around a vehicle occupant at the time of an emergency of a vehicle. The preloader includes a gas generating device for generating a gas instantaneously at the time of an emergency of the vehicle; a moving member adapted so as to be moved by the pressure of the gas; a force converting/transmitting device connected to the moving member and adapted to move together with the moving member so as to convert the moving force of the moving member into a torque acting in a webbing taking-up direction and transmit the torque to a takeup shaft of the webbing retractor; and a force transmission preventing device for preventing the moving force of the moving member from being transmitted to the force converting/transmitting device when a load exceeding a predetermined value is applied by the force converting/transmitting device to the moving member. When a force exceeding the predetermined value is applied by the force converting/transmitting device to the moving member with the webbing fitted closely around the occupant, the moving force of the moving member is prevented from being transmitted to the force converting/transmitting device by means of the force transmission preventing device. Hence, it is possible to prevent the webbing from being pulled excessively, that is, beyond a desired state in which the webbing is fitted closely around the occupant with an appropriate tightness, thereby preventing discomfort from being imparted to the occupant.

Growing community of inventors

Aichi, Japan

Shigeru Kotama