Takata Corporation

Yoshiyuki Ichida

Tadayuki Asako

Masahiko Nagahama

A seatbelt apparatus that is capable of improving seatbelt wearing operability may comprise a webbing, a tongue plate moveably attached to the webbing, which are provided with a grip portion to be gripped by an occupant and an engagement portion extending from the grip portion, and a buckle that receives and releases the engagement portion of the tongue plate for engagement and disengagement. A leather cover is applied to a front surface (corresponding to the palm of the occupant's hand for gripping) of the grip portion of the tongue plate.

Seatbelt apparatus

During ordinary use (i.e., a non-collision state) a webbing guide and a locking bar are biased in the counter-clockwise direction by the biasing force of the bar spring and are held in their initial positions so that spaces are set. Since a webbing passes through the spaces, a tongue can smoothly slide relative to the webbing. During a vehicle collision, a pulling force exceeding a predetermined value is applied to the webbing in the direction of an occupant's lap and shoulder. By this pulling force, the webbing guide rotates in the clockwise direction and the locking bar rotates in the counter-clockwise direction and linearly moves rightward. Therefore, the webbing is clamped between the locking bar and the tongue body. The clamping force at this point includes a force pulling the webbing and the biasing force of a bar spring so that a large clamping force can be obtained.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Yoshiyuki Ichida