The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 28, 2002
Filed:
Jun. 30, 2000
Yasushi Kawamura, Wako, JP;
Takahiro Kamei, Wako, JP;
Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
The vehicle occupant protection system can significantly reduce the peak deceleration of the vehicle occupant even with a small vehicle body. The system comprises a seat supported on a vehicle body so as to be slidable in a direction of an input crash load resulting from a vehicle crash; a first member connected to the seat and adapted to deform under the crash load upon occurrence of a vehicle crash; a second member connected to a main part of the vehicle body and adapted to deform under the crash load; and a power actuator for applying a forward force to the seat relative to the vehicle body with a certain time delay after the occurrence of the vehicle crash; the first member being adapted to substantially deform only after the forward force is applied to the seat upon occurrence of a vehicle crash. Thus, in case of a vehicle crash or other high deceleration situations, the seat is accelerated rearward upon the occurrence of a vehicle crash by the first member resisting deformation while the second member deforms so that the restraining capability of the seat belt is enhanced. Thereafter, an acceleration in the opposite direction is applied to the seat by the application of the forward force to the seat relative to the vehicle body so that the equalization of the decelerations of the vehicle body and the vehicle occupant is achieved in an early stage of the crash.