Kabushiki Kaisha Tokai Rika Denki Seisakusho

Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd.

Inoac Corporation

Shoichi Ibe

Keisuke Imai

Yuji Sato

Teruhiko Koide

Kenji Matsui

Jun Sato

Daisuke Yamamura

Kentaro Iwanaga

Naoki Matsuura

An airbag apparatus mountable on a vehicle having a side window, a first pillar adjoining the window and a second pillar adjoining the window on the opposite side is disclosed. The airbag apparatus includes an airbag adapted to be housed in an upper edge of the window, and the airbag includes a shutter section that covers the window. The shutter section includes mounting portions that are located above the first and second pillars, an inflatable region comprised of a first pillar side region, a supporting region and a preventing region, and a thin panel region. The thin panel region includes therein a catching point that is intended to catch a vehicle occupant during a rollover event of the vehicle, and the supporting inflatable region and preventing inflatable region surround the catching point continuously at the lower side and on a side of the second pillar.

Airbag apparatus for a side window

A steering switch assembly structure which facilitates mounting of a pad member and switch assemblies to a metal core of a steering wheel, and which reduces assembly steps and is low in cost. The pad member is disposed between first leg pieces and second leg pieces on a bracket, compression coil springs are arranged between mount pieces of the pad member and the second leg pieces. In this state, the first leg pieces are inserted into mount slots of the switch assemblies. When the mount pieces are moved against elastic force of the springs and brought into contact with horn contacts, a horn device is actuated. The pad member is engaged by bottom surfaces of the switch assemblies, and is prevented from falling off the bracket, which is secured to the metal core, in a direction of separation from the bracket, without use of any further fastening means.

Steering switch assembly structure

A plurality of leg portions for mounting and a pair of engagement portions are formed at a mark. While the leg portions for mounting and engagement portions are being inserted through, the mark is mounted in a recess portion of a pad cover. Thereafter, a spring formed in a substantially annular shape is mounted to the leg portions for mounting, and bent end portions of the spring are resiliently engaged with the engagement portions. Accordingly, as compared with prior structures utilizing heat-caulking and metal-caulking, the mark can be mounted to the pad cover simply and reliably, and costs and the space which is used can be reduced.

Structure for mounting to steering wheel

An airbag apparatus is obtained in which a pad cover can be securely supported onto a base member and the manufacturing work is also facilitated. Hook-shaped engagement protrusions or tongue shaped insertion portions are formed interchangeably on a side wall portion of a bag holder which fixes an inflator and a bag. Correspondingly, engagement openings or support walls are formed interchangeably on the mounting portion of the pad cover which unfolds when the vehicle decelerates rapidly. When both parts are fit together, the engagement protrusions are engaged with the engagement openings and the insertion portions are inserted between the support walls and the mounting portions. As a result, when the pad cover unfolds, the pad cover does not come off from the bag holder and the manufacturing work is facilitated because the support walls and the mounting portions which hold the insertion portions are formed of a resin.

Airbag apparatus

A garnish for housing an air bag in a folded state is mounted in such a manner as to enable the housed air bag to move from a housing position of the air bag near a frame member to a position spaced apart therefrom so as to be inflatable outwards, so that the air bag can expand toward the inside of a vehicle from a portion between the moved garnish and the frame member at the time of inflation of the air bag.

Air bag apparatus

The present invention provides an air bag apparatus in which an inflator is set to be extended in a predetermined use position with no need to make the inflator large. A bag body of the air bag apparatus in a retracted state is disposed along a curved portion of the vehicle, a long strap is disposed within the bag body, and one end portion of the bag body and one end portion of the strap are fixed to the vehicle. In this structure, the other end of the strap is drawn by the activation of an inflator module so as to extend along the curved portion of the vehicle, and, further, gas is injected into the internal space of the bag body which is limited in motion by the strap so as to inflate and expand.

There is provided an air bag device in which a bag body can be inflated smoothly in a predetermined form and reduction in cost can be achieved. The air bag device includes an elongated bag body and a wire passes through the bag body along a longitudinal direction of the bag body. The wire is supported movably by a plurality of mounting hardwares. Each mounting hardware passes through slits, which are formed in the bag body and in a cover with the bag body being accommodated therein, to project outward and is fixed at a predetermined position by a bolt. A widthwise dimension of the mounting hardware is made shorter than a longitudinal dimension of each of the slits. For this reason, when the bag body inflates, the bag body suitably moves along the mounting hardwares and tensile force acting in the longitudinal direction of the bag body due to an internal pressure of the bag body at the time of inflation is thereby made uniform. Accordingly, the bag body can smoothly inflate to expand in accordance with a predetermined expanding progress.

Air bag device

A structurally-simple and inexpensive vehicle occupant crash protector is provided which can be miniaturized in its entirety and cope with an impact which occurs at the side of a vehicle. A folded air bag is disposed in the vicinity of a window of a vehicle. An end of the air bag in the direction in which said bag expands and moves, is pulled out by a wire retracted to a tensile device so that the air bag is expanded and a state of expansion of the air bag is held. Thus, the tensile device rapidly expands the air bag and helps the inflation thereof. Further, the end of the expanded and inflated air bag is supported by the wire retracted to the tensile device so that the expanded state of the air bag is properly held.

Growing community of inventors

Aichi-ken, Japan

Shoichi Ibe