Passive shoulder belt

Abstract

According to the invention, a shoulder belt has its inboard end mounted on the vehicle body generally adjacent the hip of the occupant and an outboard end mounted on the roof rail by a shoulder belt retractor. A track extends longitudinally along the roof rail and movably mounts a carriage which slidably receives the shoulder belt intermediate the inboard and outboard ends thereof. A drive cable of fixed length has its rearward end attached to the upper rear corner of the door and a forward end attached to the roof rail adjacent the forward end of the track so that the drive cable assumes a position generally coincident with the track when the door is closed and assumes a position angularly divergent from the track when the door is opened. The drive cable extends slidably through the guide loop to permit rearward retraction of the carriage by the belt retractor as the drive cable converges with the track during door closing movement to establish the belt in the restraining position. During opening movement of the door, the diverging drive cable slides through the carriage to induce forward movement of the carriage and unwind the belt from the retractor to move the shoulder belt to a forward stowed position facilitating occupant ingress and egress.