Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd.

Tsutomu Ishii

Koji Kawamura

Norio Umemura

Osamu Hirose

Mikine Hayashi

Toshihito Yanagisawa

Kosuke Shigeta

Yuji Sato

Masashi Hotta

Tadashi Yamamoto

Hitoshi Iida

Yuya Suzuki

Kenji Sasaki

Atsushi Nagata

Tadashi Yamada

Wataru Miura

Naohiko Ishiguro

Yoshinori Masatsugu

Michihisa Asaoka

Yoshiteru Banno

Akira Yamashita

Mitsuhiro Kikuta

Ichizo Shiga

Masakazu Asano

Hitomi Takahashi

Takashi Uemura

Masanari Sakamoto

Yoshitomo Kato

Toshihiko Yanagisawa

Akira Tomita

An airbag includes a plurality of base materials made of a sheet body. The base materials include: an occupant side panel; a vehicle body side panel; a front side panel; and a rear side panel. Corresponding edge portions of the occupant side panel, the vehicle body side panel, the front side panel and the rear side panel are configured to be joined to each other by a planar joining operation. Outer peripheral edges of the front side panel and the rear side panel are joined to corresponding edge portions of the vehicle body side panel and the occupant side panel, respectively. The front side panel and the rear side panel are separated from each other on a front-rear direction side, when the inflation is completed, by joining corresponding left and right edges of the vehicle body side panel and the occupant side panel to each other.

Airbag

A steering wheel airbag device includes an airbag and an inflator. The airbag includes: a bag body; and a rectifying member rectifies expansion gas discharged from the inflator. The rectifying member is provided with three gas outlet ports so that the expansion gas can flow out substantially along a ring surface of the ring portion and to left, right, and rear three sides. The rectifying member is configured by partially joining outer peripheral edges of a vehicle body side panel and a driver side panel. The vehicle body side panel is configured to have three joining portions which are joined to corresponding outer peripheral edges of the driver side panel and three non-joining regions between the joining portions arranged on an outer peripheral edge side of the flat surface portion. The gas outlet port is configured by a portion of the non-joining region between the joining portions.

Steering wheel airbag device

An airbag device includes an airbag including: an outer bag; and an inner bag disposed so as to inflate inside the outer bag and having supply ports through which the inflation gas is supplied to the outer bag, the outer hag and the inner hag sharing the inflow opening and the attachment portion. At least one of the supply ports is provided as a lower side supply port disposed in the lower side wall portion, and a gas guide tether that connects a vicinity of an outer edge side of the lower side supply port and the vehicle body side wall portion so as to be able to guide the inflation gas supplied from the lower side supply port to the vehicle body side wall portion side in an inner peripheral surface of the outer bag along a radial direction centered on the inflow opening is provided.

Airbag device

An airbag for an airbag device includes an outer bag and an inner bag inflatable inside the outer bag. The outer bag includes a driver-side wall for receiving the driver and a vehicle-side wall that is supported by a ring surface of a ring portion of the steering wheel at airbag deployment, and includes an inlet port of inflation gas and a mounting portion on the steering wheel. The inner bag includes a supply port for supplying the gas to the outer bag. The inner bag completes inflation prior to the outer bag, and the outer bag is inflated with the gas supplied from the supply port. The inner bag as inflated has such a shape that the rear portion protrudes farther rearward than a rear end of the ring surface, and that a height from the ring surface is greater in the rear portion than in the front portion.

Airbag device for a driver's seat

An airbag device includes a steering wheel a rim portion of which has a longer length in a left and right direction than in a front and back direction, and an airbag mounted on a boss section of the steering wheel. An outer shell of the airbag includes a vehicle-side wall that is configured to be supported by an upper surface of the rim portion when deployed, and a driver-side wall a central region of which is configured to deploy generally vertically for receiving the driver. The airbag as deployed includes, in a rear portion of the vehicle-side wall, a locking inflatable portion that protrudes downward from a vicinity of the upper surface of the rim portion of the steering wheel to be locked by a rear surface of the rim portion and prevent a front portion of the airbag from slipping forward.

An airbag device for a driver's seat adapted to be mounted on a boss of a steering wheel disposed at a center of a rim is disclosed. The airbag device includes an inflatable airbag folded in the form of an airbag package. The airbag includes a vehicle-side wall that includes a gas inlet port and is configured to be supported by the rim when deployed, and a driver-side wall. The airbag, before folded into the airbag package, has a flat initial folded form in which the driver-side wall lies over the vehicle-side wall. The initial folded form includes a folded-in portion in which a front edge portion of the vehicle-side wall is folded inwardly and rearwardly beneath a front edge portion of the driver-side wall, and a folded-back portion in which the front edge portion of the driver-side wall which adjoins the folded-in portion is folded towards the inlet port on the vehicle-side wall.

An airbag includes a mounting portion, a top wall deployable towards a vehicle occupant, and a circumferential wall disposed between the mounting portion and top wall. An airbag base member for forming the airbag includes a top-forming panel for forming the top wall, and at least three circumferential panels that extend generally radially from the top-forming panel and form the circumferential wall by being joined together by adjoining edges thereof. Each of the circumferential panels is formed into a generally band-like contour which has a first and a second curving edges that make the circumferential panel enlarge in width from the leading end towards an intermediate portion and then narrow towards the top-forming panel. When the airbag base member is laid flat, adjoining edges of any two adjoining circumferential panels are generally symmetrical to each other in curving shape with respect to a line disposed there between.

Airbag and method of manufacturing the same

A steering wheel includes: a support member which is inserted into a bag holder of an airbag device; a slider which has a cylindrical shape and covers the support member so as to be slidable in a front-rear direction; a damper holder which has an annular shape and covers at least a part of a region around the slider; an elastic member which has an annular shape and is interposed between the slider and the damper holder, in which the airbag device functions as a damper mass of a dynamic damper and the elastic member functions as a spring of the dynamic damper; and a friction damping unit including: a part provided in a portion between the slider and the elastic member; and a part provided in a portion between the damper holder and the elastic member.

Steering wheel

An airbag device for a steering wheel includes: an inflator for supplying an inflation gas to a folded airbag, the inflator including: a main body having a gas discharge portion on an upper portion side; and a flange portion provided on an outer peripheral surface of the main body which is the outer peripheral surface located further on a lower side than the gas discharge port; an attachment base holding the inflator by making the flange portion be attached to the attachment base; fastening members arranged at a plurality positions in a lower surface side around the inflator and mounted on the steering wheel main body by the fastening members. Each of the fastening members is disposed such that at least a part of the fastening member is disposed so as to vertically overlap the flange portion in a lower side of the flange portion.

A damping system includes: a fixed member; an airbag device including a back holder and disposed on a rear side of the fixed member; an elastic member mounted in a mounting hole of the back holder; and a horn switch mechanism including a support member supported on the fixed member on a front side of the back holder, and a slider disposed between the support member and the elastic member. The airbag device functions as a damper mass of a dynamic damper, and the elastic member functions as a spring thereof. The horn switch mechanism includes an extended portion extending forwards. An engaged portion is formed at a circumferential edge portion of the mounting hole to extend rearwards. The elastic member includes an engaging portion opened in a front surface thereof. The elastic member is sandwiched by the engaged portion fitted in the engaging portion and the extended portion.

Damping system for steering wheel

A steering wheel includes a metal core earthed to a body of a vehicle, an airbag device, an insulator, and a connector. The airbag device includes a bag holder supported by the metal core, wherein the bag holder forms part of a positive electric path connected to a horn device, an airbag coupled to the bag holder by a fastener, and an inflator including a circumferential portion that forms a flange, wherein the flange of the inflator is coupled by the fastener to the bag holder. The insulator insulates the bag holder from at least the flange and the fastener among elements of the airbag device. The connector electrically connects at least the flange, among the flange and the fastener, to the metal core.

A steering wheel includes: a cylindrical slider which is disposed on an outer side of a support member so as to slide in a front-to-rear direction and which is biased to the rear; a cap member which covers at least respective rear end portions of the support member and the slider from the rear; a movable-side contact portion which is provided inside the cap member; an annular damper holder which is mounted inside the cap member; an annular elastic member which is interposed between the slider and the damper holder; a transmitting portion which is provided in an inner circumferential portion of the damper holder; and a movement catch portion which is provided on an outer circumferential portion of the slider so as to be positioned immediately before the transmitting portion and to which a forward movement of the damper holder is transmitted through the transmitting portion.

A support structure for an airbag apparatus includes an airbag apparatus having a bag holder, a pin, a pin holder, a damper holder, an elastic member, a motion transmitting portion, a motion receiving portion, and a noise suppressing portion. The pin includes a shaft portion passed through a mounting hole provided in the bag holder and a flange portion formed at the rear end of the shaft portion. The pin holder slidably covers the shaft portion. The damper holder is mounted to the airbag apparatus while covering the pin holder. The elastic member includes an elastic body portion. A gap is provided inside the motion transmitting portion. The noise suppressing portion is located between the gap and the pin holder, is made of a material softer than the pin holder, and has an inner diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the elastic body portion.

Support structure for airbag apparatus

A steering wheel includes: a support member inserted into a bag holder of an air bag device; a cylindrical slider; an annular damper holder configured to cover a part of the cylindrical slider; and an elastic member including an annular elastic main body interposed between the cylindrical slider and the annular damper holder, wherein: the air bag device configured to act as a damper mass of a dynamic damper; the annular elastic main body configured to act as a spring of the dynamic damper; an annular gap is formed with the elastic member at a portion shifted in the axial direction from the annular elastic main body; and the elastic member further includes elastic restriction portions configured to fill the annular gap to restrict the elastic deformation of the elastic member at the multiple portions of the annular gap spaced from each other in the peripheral direction.

Growing community of inventors

Kiyosu, Japan

Tsutomu Ishii