Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd.

Takashi Naito

Yuji Sato

Michio Inoue

Daisuke Yamamura

Atsushi Nagata

Toshinori Tanase

A side airbag apparatus is provided with an inflator, and an airbag. The airbag is stored in a vehicle seat, is inflated and deployed by gas from the inflator, breaks the vehicle seat so as to jump out, and is inflated and deployed between a body side portion of a vehicle and the vehicle seat. In this side airbag apparatus, a controller predicts a side collision of the vehicle, and makes the inflator start an actuation in advance of the side collision in response to the prediction. Further, in the airbag inflated and deployed in accordance with the actuation start of the inflator, a deploying speed of the airbag is lowered in comparison with the deploying speed at a time of starting the actuation of the inflator after the side collision, at least outside the vehicle seat.

Side airbag apparatus

A side airbag apparatus has an airbag assembly that protects a passenger seated on a seat in a passenger compartment by being inflated and deployed at a side wall portion of the passenger compartment corresponding to the seat in a collision of a vehicle. The airbag assembly includes a main airbag and an auxiliary airbag that inflate and deployed in a state arranged along a lateral direction of the vehicle. If the body size of the passenger is greater than or equal to a predetermined size, the main airbag is inflated and deployed and the auxiliary airbag is not inflated or deployed. If the body size of the passenger is smaller than the predetermined size, the main airbag and the auxiliary airbag are both inflated and deployed. Thus, in the latter case, the airbag assembly in the inflated and deployed state has a great thickness in the lateral direction of the vehicle compared to the case in which the body size of the passenger is greater than or equal to the predetermined size.

In a vehicle to which a side airbag apparatus is applied, a rear frame portion of a seat frame is arranged near a rear end of an intermediate portion in a seat back, and an intermediate pad portion of a seat pad is arranged near a front end of the intermediate portion. An airbag is provided with a main airbag and an auxiliary airbag. The main airbag is inflated between a body side portion of the vehicle and an occupant by shooting out forward from an outer side portion of the seat back by a gas jetted out of an inflator. The auxiliary airbag presses a position near the outer side portion of the intermediate pad portion forward by being inflated between the rear frame portion and the intermediate pad portion by the gas jetted out of the inflator.

Growing community of inventors

Aichi-ken, Japan

Takashi Naito