Vehicle curtain airbag device

• US 10,293,776 B2
• Filed: 09/20/2017
• Issued: 05/21/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Ohno, Mitsuyoshi, Toida, Koji, Nezaki, Takuya, Ohashi, Junji, Hayashi, Yusuke
• Primary Examiner(s): Freedman, Laura
• Application Number:
  US15/710,090
• Publication Number:
  US 20180099634A1
• Time in Patent Office: 608 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0004 Frontal collision
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0006 Lateral collision
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0009 Oblique collision
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0048 Head
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/23153 specially adapted for rear seat passengers
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/23386 External tether means
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/23509 Fabric
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/213 in vehicle roof frames or pillars
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/23138 specially adapted for side protection B60R21/23184, B60R21/232 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/232 Curtain-type airbags deploying mainly in a vertical direction from their top edge
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/2338 Tethers
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/235 characterised by their material

Abstract

There is provided a vehicle curtain airbag device including: an inflator; a curtain airbag; a rear seat side impact chamber; a front chamber; and a protective cloth that is configured separately from the curtain airbag, is anchored to at least an upper edge side of the curtain airbag, is disposed ranging from a vehicle width direction inner surface of a front portion of the rear seat side impact chamber to a vehicle width direction inner surface of a rear portion of the front chamber, in the completely deployed state of the curtain airbag, and covers, from a vehicle width direction inner side, a recess portion that has different heights in a bag thickness direction and that is formed between the front portion of the rear seat side impact chamber and the rear portion of the front chamber.

Claims

1. A vehicle curtain airbag device comprising:

an inflator that is activated to discharge a gas at both a time of a side impact and a time of a frontal impact, the frontal impact including at least a small overlap impact and an oblique impact;

a curtain airbag which, when the gas from the inflator is supplied thereto, becomes inflated and deployed in a shape of a curtain in a vehicle downward direction from a vehicle width direction outer end portion of a vehicle ceiling;

the curtain airbag comprising a rear seat side impact chamber configured to be disposed on a vehicle width direction outer side of a head of an occupant who is seated in a rear seat and wearing a three-point seat belt device;

the curtain airbag comprising a front chamber disposed on a vehicle front side of the rear seat side impact chamber with a non-inflating portion being interposed in between, and a thickness of the front chamber, measured inward in the vehicle width direction from the non-inflating portion, in a completely deployed state of the curtain airbag, is thinner than a thickness of the rear seat side impact chamber measured inward in the vehicle width direction from the non-inflating portion; and

a protective cloth that is configured separately from the curtain airbag, is anchored to at least an upper edge side of the curtain airbag, is disposed ranging from a vehicle width direction inner surface of a front portion of the rear seat side impact chamber to a vehicle width direction inner surface of a rear portion of the front chamber, in the completely deployed state of the curtain airbag, and covers, from a vehicle width direction inner side, a recess portion that has different heights in a bag thickness direction and that is formed between the front portion of the rear seat side impact chamber and the rear portion of the front chamber.

2. The vehicle curtain airbag device according to claim 1, wherein the protective cloth is a cloth whose out-of-plane stiffness is higher than that of a base cloth configuring the curtain airbag.

3. The vehicle curtain airbag device according to claim 1, wherein a coefficient of friction of a vehicle width direction outer surface of the protective cloth is set lower than a coefficient of friction of the vehicle width direction inner surface of the rear seat side impact chamber.

4. The vehicle curtain airbag device according to claim 1, wherein the protective cloth is anchored to a lower edge side in addition to the upper edge side of the curtain airbag.

5. The vehicle curtain airbag device according to claim 1, wherein the protective cloth is configured to be partially disposed in an up and down direction central region of the curtain airbag with which the head of the occupant seated in the rear seat comes into abutting contact.

6. The vehicle curtain airbag device according to claim 5, wherein

one end portion of a first strap is connected or joined to an upper edge side of the protective cloth and another end portion of the first strap is anchored to an upper edge portion of the curtain airbag, and

one end portion of a second strap is connected or joined to a lower edge side of the protective cloth and another end portion of the second strap is anchored to a lower edge portion of the curtain airbag.

7. The vehicle curtain airbag device according to claim 6, wherein positions at which the first strap and the second strap are anchored to the curtain airbag are disposed offset in the vehicle rearward direction with respect to positions at which the first strap and the second strap are connected or joined to the protective cloth.