Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Takeru Otsuka

Koji Ikeda

Fumitoshi Yasuhara

Kazuaki Miyamoto

Naoki Kawajiri

Koichi Kamiji

Hitoshi Higuchi

Hidetsugu Okazaki

Kenichi Saito

Nobuyuki Kawamura

Osamu Kyogoku

Masae Sato

An airbag system includes an airbag arrangement being expanded at a side of a vehicle compartment by igniting an inflator based on a signal from a collision-detecting sensor arrangement in the event of a collision of the vehicle, wherein the airbag arrangement includes a front seat-protecting airbag and a rear seat-protecting airbag, the collision-detecting sensor arrangement includes at least a front seat-detecting sensor for detecting a side impact occurring near a front seat and a rear seat-detecting sensor for detecting a side impact occurring near a rear seat, and the front seat-protecting airbag is expanded when the front seat-detecting sensor detects a side impact, the rear seat-protecting airbag is expanded when the rear seat-detecting sensor detects a side impact.

Airbag system

An occupant restraint system includes an airbag and an inflator. The front end of a gas supply pipe, which extends from the inflator housed in a rear pillar to the interior of the airbag and guides the gas generated by the inflator to the airbag, is substantially vertically aligned with front portion of a rear wheel wheelhouse of the vehicle. Since the gas supply pipe can be positioned in an area in which the vehicle body rigidity has been increased by the rear pillar and the wheelhouse, it can be effectively prevented from being damaged due to the impact of a side collision of the vehicle. Moreover, since the inflator is housed in the rear pillar, which is wider and more rigid than a front pillar, it is possible to minimize or effectively prevent damage to the inflator.

Occupant restraint system

A vehicular occupant restraint system is provided with an airbag and an inflator. A front end of the folded airbag is housed within a front pillar garnish covering a side face on the occupant compartment side of a front pillar, and impact absorbing ribs are formed on the inner face of the front pillar garnish only in a section(s) that receives little deformation when the airbag is deployed. Since the front pillar garnish can be easily flexed when the air bag is deployed, there is neither inhibition to the smooth deployment of the airbag nor splitting and scattering of a part of the front pillar garnish. Moreover, since the impact absorbing ribs are formed on the front pillar garnish in the section(s) that receives little deformation, the impact of a secondary collision to an occupant can be absorbed effectively by the impact absorbing ribs.

A folded-up air bag is accommodated in a module cover of a steering wheel, and a peripheral edge of an opening in the air bag is fixed to a retainer supporting an inflator. The folded-up air bag is covered from a rear side of a vehicle to a front side of the vehicle by a deployment-limiting sheet disposed along an inner surface of the module cover and fixed at one end thereof to the retainer. The deployment-limiting sheet is longer than a length of an inner periphery of the module cover in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle body. Thus, it is possible to inhibit the air bag from being expanded rearwards of the vehicle body at an initial stage of deployment by the deployment-limiting sheet, thereby avoiding the early interference with an occupant.

Air bag device

In an occupant protecting device including an expandable bag housed within a belt for holding back an occupant upon collision of a vehicle, an outlet opening,in a buckle-side duct,and an inlet opening,in a tongue-side duct,are opposed to each other through a gap &agr;, and a seal member,made of a rubber and integrally provided with an outer lip portion,and an inner breakable portion,is mounted to the outlet opening,. When a gas generated by an inflater upon collision of the vehicle is supplied to the buckle-side duct, the breakable portion,of the seal member,is broken to bring the lip portion,into close contact with the inlet opening,, so that the gas is supplied from the buckle-side duct,through the tongue-side duct,to a shoulder belt, thereby expanding a bag housed in the shoulder belt. Thus, it is possible to easily and reliably perform the sealing of a gas passage in a connection between a buckle,and a tongue

Growing community of inventors

Wako, Japan

Takeru Otsuka