Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft

Wolfgang Sukopp

Wilfried Schwanz

Holger Schmidt

Albert Thill

A passive safety device for vehicles has a safety belt with at least one upper end associated with the shoulder of the vehicle occupant. This upper end of the safety belt is connectable by a manually-operable belt lock with a shackle. The shackle is held on a slide which can be displaced in a guide rail held on the vehicle body between a release position and a restraining position. The slide can be locked in the restraining position in a receiving means fixed on the vehicle body by a spring-loaded locking latch. If the slide becomes stuck at a position remote from the restraining position, the vehicle occupant can be protected by manually inserting into the receiving means one end of an emergency lock insertion shackle carried separately in the vehicle, and by fastening the belt lock to the other end of the insertion shackle.

Passive safety device

The seats of two-door passenger automobiles are provided with a tiltable backrest and a three-point safety belt. An actuating element for releasing the backrest so it can tilt is designed as a guide element for guiding the end of the safety belt associated with the shoulder of the vehicle occupant into a repository position when it is released by the occupant, which repository position is at a more convenient location than that possible without the guide element.

Growing community of inventors

Wolfsburg, Germany

Wolfgang Sukopp