Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd.

Toyota Gosei Co., Ltd.

Toyota Jidosha Kabuhsiki Kaisha

Nissin Chemical Corporation

Yuichi Adachi

Kazuaki Bito

Osamu Fukawatase

Akiyoshi Sanada

Kenji Imamura

Tomoyuki Moro

Shigeru Hoshino

Shinsuke Shimiya

A knee airbag device includes a column cover that covers a rear end portion of a steering column from below; and an airbag module. The airbag module is disposed in a column lower cover and includes a gas generation portion that generates gas and a knee airbag that is housed in the airbag module in a folded state, and is inflated and deployed by the gas supplied by the gas generation portion. The airbag module is connected to the steering column by a snap-fit action.

Knee airbag device and connecting method thereof

An airbag of an airbag apparatus includes a bag body, a supplementary bag, a communication hole that communicates the bag body and the supplementary bag, an open/close element that opens and closes the communication hole and a connecting element extending from the open/close element. The connecting element is connected at the leading end to an anchor mechanism that regulates the operation of the open/close element under control of a control device. The open/close element keeps closing the communication hole while the anchor mechanism holds the connecting element whereas opens the communication hole when the anchor mechanism releases the connecting element such that inflation gas is fed into the supplementary bag.

Airbag apparatus

A knee airbag device includes an airbag module and an airbag door. The airbag module, which is provided inside a column cover that covers the rear end portion of a steering column, includes a gas generation device that generates gas when a collision occurs, and a knee airbag that is inflated and deployed from a folded state when the knee airbag receives the gas from the gas generation device. The airbag door, which is provided in the lower portion of the column cover, is opened when the inflation pressure of the knee airbag is equal to or higher than a predetermined value. When the knee airbag is deployed, at least a portion of the airbag door is positioned between an interfering object that is positioned in an area on the side of the column cover, and at least a portion of the knee airbag.

Knee airbag device

The knee-protecting airbag apparatus includes an airbag folded and housed in a lower area inside the column cover. The airbag pushes and opens a door section on the column cover upon deployment. When the door section is thus opened, a door of the door section blocks off an allowance gap formed between an outer circumference of the column cover subjected to position adjustment and a lower area of a peripheral region of an installation opening on a dashboard for installing the column cover by locating a rear edge region of the door to abut on a rear side of the dashboard or the lower area of the peripheral region of the installation opening on the rear side of the dashboard.

Knee-protecting airbag apparatus

A steering column device with a knee airbag device includes a steering column provided with a telescopic mechanism; a column cover that covers the rear end portion of the steering column; an airbag module, provided inside the column cover, which includes a gas generation device that generates gas, and a knee airbag that is inflated and deployed by the gas; an airbag door that is provided in the column cover, and that is opened when the airbag door receives the inflation pressure of the knee airbag; a collision prediction device that predicts that a vehicle will have a collision with a collision object; and a control device that operates the telescopic mechanism so that each of the column cover and the airbag module is moved rearward to a predetermined position, when the collision prediction device predicts that the vehicle will have a collision with the collision object.

Steering column device with knee airbag device

In a knee protecting airbag device of the present invention, in the lower area inside a column cover, a case housing an airbag is attached to a steering column. The steering column includes a movable member for moving toward the front side of a vehicle along the axial direction of the column at the time when an impact on the front of the vehicle acts, and an unmoving stationary member, so that the column can absorb the impact when the movable member moves. The case is attached to such an area of the movable member that the case hits the stationary member when the moving member moves and absorbs impact, and the case can be deformed before or at the time of hitting the stationary member so that the moving stroke of the movable member is preserved when it moves.

Knee protecting airbag device

A knee protecting air bag apparatus Mis mounted to a column coverfor covering a column coverfor covering a steering column. In operating the apparatus M, a contained air bagis supplied with an expanding gas G and is projected from the column coverto be able to protect the knee of a driver while being expanded to develop. The column coverincludes a door portionopened by being pressed by the air bag to be able to form a projecting openingof the air bagat two left ad right side facesfrom a side of a lower face. Inside of the air bagis arranged with a gas flow restricting membersuch that the expanding gas G is made to flow to a left door portionand a right door portionof the door portionby being directed in outer directions of both left and right sides.

Knee protecting air bag apparatus

The knee-protecting airbag apparatus is mounted on a lower region of a column cover covering a steering column of vehicle projecting rearward from an instrument panel. The airbag () folded and housed in a housing emerges and spreads in four directions from the housing for deployment in front of knees of a driver when fed with inflation gas from an inflator () that is stored inside the airbag () and disposed to the rear side of the housing. Folding of the airbag () before being stored in the housing is such that left and right areas of a region () attached to the housing is folded on the side of the column side wall () to reduce the lateral width Lof the airbag () without superimposing the left and right areas of the mounting region () on the inflator () in the vertical direction and a folded region () on the front side of the mounting region () is located in parallel with and in front of the inflator ().

In a steering column provided with a knee airbag device to a vehicle, an airbag module, which is integrally provided on an airbag door formed separately from a column lower cover, is fitted to a column tube after a steering column body is assembled, and before a steering lock is fitted to the column tube. Then, after the airbag module is fitted to the column tube, a steering column sub-assembly, which is formed by fitting at least the steering lock to the column tube, is fitted to an instrument panel provided in a vehicle at a predetermined position. After the steering column sub-assembly is fitted to the instrument panel, the column lower cover and a column upper cover, which cover a rear end portion of the steering column, are fitted to the steering column.

Knee airbag device, and method of fitting steering column provided with knee airbag device to vehicle

A knee airbag device includes a knee airbag that is disposed in a folded state inside a steering column cover inside which a projection body that projects downward toward one side in a vehicle-width direction is disposed in a rear area, and a cylindrical inflator that supplies the gas to the knee airbag to deploy the knee airbag. The inflator is disposed inside the steering column cover such that at least a portion of the inflator is positioned in the rear area inside the steering column cover. The inflator is disposed in substantially parallel with an axis of a column tube such that the inflator is positioned below the column tube. The end portion of the inflator, in which a gas injection port is formed, faces toward a rear of the vehicle.

The steering column includes a column body, a column cover formed into a generally tubular contour and mounted around the column body and an airbag apparatus. The column cover includes an upper cover and a lower cover. The lower cover is separable from the upper cover and is split into a front section disposed proximate the airbag apparatus and a rear section disposed proximate a combination switch unit disposed at the rear of the airbag apparatus inside the column cover. The rear section is configured separable from the front section as is secured to the column body.

Steering column including an airbag apparatus

When a knee airbag is deployed, a lid, which is provided in a column cover that covers a steering column, is opened by the deployment pressure of the knee airbag. Thus, an opening, through which the knee airbag expands, is formed to extend in the lower wall portion and the right and left side wall portions of the column cover. At this time, an opening amount regulation portion regulates the opening amount of the lid so that the knee airbag is deployed toward areas on right and left sides of the column cover.

In a leathered steering wheel, a leather layer is so arranged as to cover a covered layer of a ring part, and the leather layer is formed by stitching, along the circumferential direction of the ring part, a plurality of leather materials to one another, and the end portions of the leather material are structured with thin portions formed by thinning the back sides of the end portions such that thickness around stitching portions is lowered, wherein a length Lfrom the stitching portion to the end face of each leather material is set to be substantially equal to or slightly smaller than a thickness tof a main portion of the leather material, and the end face is brought into abutment to the covered layer.

Growing community of inventors

Nishikasugai-gun, Japan

Yuichi Adachi