Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Autoliv Asp, Incorporated

Takata Corporation

Yutaka Okamoto

Hiroshi Ikeda

Yuji Kikuchi

Koji Ikeda

Fumiharu Ochiai

Yoshihiro Kobayashi

Koichi Kamiji

Kazutada Sasaki

Ken Nakane

Eric Drake

Sakae Sasaki

Earl Henry Nelson

Bengt Pipkorn

Tadanori Masuda

Koji Honma

An air-bag device in which a deployed air-bag has a complete deployment portion positioned on the longitudinally central side and having a substantially constant diameter and incomplete deployment portions positioned on longitudinally opposite end sides and having a diameter that gradually decreases in going toward a blocking member, the incomplete deployment portion has high rigidity compared with the complete deployment portion and is difficult to deform when there is a collision with a pedestrian, thus degrading the impact absorption performance, but disposing the plurality of vent holes in the incomplete deployment portion at a fixed pitch in the longitudinal direction and the circumferential direction of the air-bag enables the rigidity of the incomplete deployment portion to be lowered and the impact absorption performance to be enhanced, thereby giving uniform impact absorption performance over the entire longitudinal length of the air-bag.

Air-bag device

An airbag () made of metal is disposed between an edge portion () of a windshield () of a vehicle and an outer panel (), projecting toward an outside of a vehicle body beyond the edge portion (), of a front pillar (). Thus, it is possible to install the airbag device without making large design changes to the existing structure of the vehicle body, and to prevent the external appearance from being deteriorated by the installation of the airbag device. Further, once the airbag () made of metal is deployed, the airbag does not shrink. Thus, it is possible not only to reduce the weight and costs by employing an inflator () with a smaller volume, but also to cause the airbag to exert a stable shock absorbing capability irrespective of the difference in the timing of the collision of a pedestrian. Further, a part of the airbag () is a garnish part () forming an outer surface of the vehicle body in cooperation with the outer panel (). Thus, it is possible to reduce the number of parts and costs by making the garnish part () exert the garnish function.

Airbag device

In an airbag system, an airbag obtained by closing each of opposite end portions of a folded metal tube with an end cap is attached to an attachment surface of a front pillar, and the airbag is deployed along the front pillar with a gas produced by an inflator. Therefore, a pedestrian who collides with the front pillar can be protected by the airbag. Since the portion of the airbag, which is away from the end cap toward an intermediate part of the airbag in a longitudinal direction of the airbag by a predetermined distance, is connected to the attachment surface, which is located outside the end cap in the longitudinal direction of the airbag, with a stay being interposed in between, the difficulty in an inflation in a part of the airbag in the vicinity of each end cap, due to the end cap being pressed against the attachment surface when the airbag is inflating, is prevented. Accordingly, the airbag is allowed to inflate uniformly throughout the entire length of the airbag, and the intermediate part of the airbag in the longitudinal direction of the airbag is prevented from bending in a way that the intermediate part thereof moves away from the attachment surface of the front pillar; thus, a portion of the airbag which is located inward in the bending direction is prevented from being buckled. Accordingly, the deployed shape of the airbag can be stabilized, and thus the shock absorbing capability of the airbag is enhanced.

Airbag system

A pedestrian protection airbag device is provided in which an airbag () having a closed cross section is formed by inflating and deploying a front outer panel () and a front inner panel () of a front pillar () by means of high pressure gas generated by an inflator (). This enables the head of a pedestrian to be protected from an impact due to collision with the front pillar (). Furthermore, since impact absorption performance is exhibited by plastic deformation of the deployed airbag (), as long as deployment of the airbag () is completed before restraining the pedestrian, it is unnecessary to subsequently control the internal pressure of the airbag (), and it becomes possible for an effective impact absorption performance to always be exhibited regardless of the vehicle speed at the time of collision or the physique of the pedestrian while simplifying the specification of the inflator () and reducing the cost.

Pedestrian protection airbag device

Opposite end portions of an airbag made of a folded metal plate and formed into a tubular shape are capped by respective end caps and are attached to an attachment surface of a front pillar, and the airbag is deployed along the front pillar by use of gas produced by an inflator, thereby protecting by the airbag a pedestrian that collides with the front pillar. Bolts penetrating through long holes formed in the end portions of the airbag and bolt holes of the end caps are screwed to weld nuts, and thereby the end portions of the airbag are slidably supported by the end caps. Accordingly, when the airbag is deployed the long holes slide with respect to the respective bolts toward inside in a longitudinal direction of the airbag, and a tension in the longitudinal direction of the airbag is prevented from acting on a metal plate of the airbag, thereby enabling the airbag to be deployed reliably near the end caps. Therefore, it is possible to inflate the airbag evenly along its entire length and thereby enhancing the shock absorbing performance when a pedestrian collides.

An air bag device includes a retainer having an opening, a lid for covering the opening of the retainer, an air bag accommodated in the retainer, at least one hinge member connecting the retainer and the lid, and at least one guide plate having a hook-shaped or J-shaped cross section to define a recess. The hinge member is bent at its mid portion along the recess of the guide plate, and one end portion of the hinge member is fixed to a reverse surface of the lid at one side thereof and the other end portion of the hinge member is fixed to the guide plate and sandwiched between the guide plate and the retainer.

Air bag device

A collision object protection device inflates and expands an air bag on a vehicle as soon as a collision of a collision object with the vehicle is detected or predicted. The collision object protection device includes: the air bag having a main body portion that expands along a lower part of a front windshield glass of the vehicle, a pair of pillar portions that expand along front pillars of the vehicle, and a pair of pillar base portions that connect the main body portion and the pair of pillar portions; and at least one inflator for supplying a gas to the main body portion of the air bag. A partition wall having one or more openings is arranged inside the air bag respectively at a boundary between the main body portion and the pillar base portion.

Collision object protection device

In a pedestrian protection airbag system, an airbag module extending in the lateral direction of a vehicle body is disposed between a rear edge of a hood and a front edge of a cowl top, thereby mounting the airbag module without affecting the intake of air into a vehicle compartment or the positioning of wipers; and the left and right ends of the airbag module are supported by upper parts of left and right front wheel damper housings, whereby the damper housings obtain a high rigidity to reliably bear a reaction force during deployment of an airbag without particularly enhancing the rigidity of the cowl top. Thus, it is possible to rigidly support the airbag module in the pedestrian protection airbag system while minimizing the influence on the shape or structure of the cowl top.

Pedestrian protection airbag system

A collision object protection assembly inflates and expands an air bag on a vehicle if a collision with the vehicle is detected or predicted. The collision object protection assembly includes a retainer positioned in a space between a bonnet hood and a front window glass of the vehicle and accommodating the air bag, and a cowl top arranged around the retainer to close the space between the bonnet hood and the front window glass. The retainer has an upper opening to be covered by a lid member. The lid member is a separate member from the cowl top.

Collision object protection assembly

When a small-size dummy has collided against a vehicle and once the head of the small-size dummy hits the deployed external airbag at a pre-determined velocity, the inner pressure of the deployed external airbag is set to a characteristic such that the inner pressure takes a predetermined maximum level value capable of not only preventing the dummy from bouncing off the airbag but also preventing the head of the dummy from hitting the bottom of the airbag. When a medium-size dummy has collided against the vehicle, the inner pressure of the deployed external airbag is set to a characteristic such that the inner pressure decreases away from the maximum level value at a predetermined decrease rate to prevent the medium-size dummy from bouncing off the airbag.

Method for setting inner pressure of vehicular external airbag, and vehicular external airbag system

The present invention provides an airbag device for, upon collision of a vehicle carrying the airbag device with an obstacle, mitigating the impact of collision of the obstacle with an inflated airbag. The airbag device includes a bag housing case and a cover. A main airbag and a cover opening bag are housed in deflated, folded states within the bag housing case. First, the cover opening bag inflates by the inflow of gas, opening the cover. Gas also flows into the main airbag through the cover opening bag, thereby inflating the main airbag. If an obstacle collides with the inflated main airbag, a bag pressure release mechanism provided at the bottom of the bag housing case opens the main airbag, releasing gas within the main airbag and mitigating the impact on the obstacle.

Airbag device and method for inflating the same

An airbag device has a bag housing case, an airbag housed in the bag housing case, a plate member provided within the airbag, and a bag pressure release mechanism. When the internal pressure of the airbag reaches a predetermined pressure, the bag pressure release mechanism opens the airbag to prevent an increase in the internal pressure of the airbag. The plate member covers the bag pressure release mechanism when the airbag is in a deflated state. When the airbag is inflated, the plate member is released from coverage of the bag pressure release mechanism by an inflating force.

An automotive outboard air bag system () is provided in which a belt-like strap () is provided at substantially a center within an air bag () to extend from an upper end portion () to a lower end portion () of the air bag () with sides of the strap () being made to extend in a longitudinal direction of a vehicle body, front and rear side edges () of the strap () are connected to an inner circumference () of the air bag () to thereby form front and rear constricted portions () on front and rear central portions of the air bag (), and left and right convexly curved portions () which can come into contact with an outer surface () of a windshield () and a garnish () of a front pillar (), respectively, are provided on both sides of the rear constricted portion ().

Automotive outboard air bag system

An automotive outboard air bag system () is provided in which an elongate tubular air bag () is inflated to deploy upwardly from the vicinity of a front pillar lower end portion (), the air bag so inflated to deploy is made to extend along an outer surface () of a front pillar (), and a strap () which is shorter than the overall length (L) of the air bag () is allowed to extend from an upper end () to a lower end () of the air bag () so as to face the outer surface () of the front pillar ().

A windshield mounting structure includes A-pillars for mounting a windshield and cracking inducers provided at the A-pillars. The cracking inducers cause cracking in the windshield when an external force greater than a given force acts on the windshield from the vehicle outside. The cracking in the windshield allows the windshield to move in its entirety or in part toward a passenger compartment, absorbing impact in collision.

Growing community of inventors

Wako, Japan

Yutaka Okamoto