Curtain-shield airbag clip and assemblies using the clip

• US 20050062263A1
• Filed: 07/30/2004
• Published: 03/24/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Newfrey Llc (Stanley Black & Decker, Inc.), Kabushiki Kaisha Toyota Jidoshokki (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Newfrey Llc (Stanley Black & Decker, Inc.), Kabushiki Kaisha Toyota Jidoshokki (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Kubota, Yasushi, Niimi, Hirokazu, Goto, Tatsuya, Kawai, Yasuhiro
• Granted Patent: US 7,273,227 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 280/728.200
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/213 in vehicle roof frames or pillars
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/232 Curtain-type airbags deploying mainly in a vertical direction from their top edge
• CPC Class Codes: F16B 19/1081 fastened by a drive-pin F16B19/109 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F16B 21/071 the socket being integrally formed with a component to be fasted, e.g. a sheet, plate or strip

Abstract

A clip for attaching a curtain-shield airbag to a body panel of a vehicle comprises a bushing and a pin. The bushing has a flange with a leg extending therefrom. A bore extends through the flange and into the leg for receiving the pin. Outer surfaces of the leg have engagement pieces with shoulders for coupling the bushing to edge regions of a body panel hole into which the leg is inserted. The pin and the bushing are capable of being coupled in a provisionally fixed condition or a permanently fixed condition. When the pin is partially inserted into the bore, the engagement pieces are permitted to flex inwardly of the bore, but when the pin is fully inserted, such inward flexing is prevented. The flange has a wall that provides a partition between the main airbag unit and the entrance hole of the bore in the flange.

Claims

1. A clip for attaching an attaching member for a curtain-shield airbag to a body panel, comprising:

a pin, and a bushing for receiving the pin, wherein;

the bushing has a leg that is inserted into an attachment hole in the airbag attaching member and into an attachment hole in the body panel, and a flange integral with the leg for holding the airbag attaching member in cooperation with the body panel;

the bushing has a bore through the flange and the leg into which the pin can be inserted;

the leg has an external flexibly supported engagement piece capable of engaging edge regions of the hole in the airbag attaching member and the hole in the body panel;

the engagement piece is configured so as to be in a permanently fixed condition with flexure thereof toward the inside of the bore prevented when the pin is inserted into the bore to a permanently fixing position, and so as to be in a provisionally fixed condition, with flexure toward the inside of the bore permitted, when the pin is not inserted into the bore to the permanently fixing position; and

a partition plate is integrally formed at a flange edge, so as to stand from the flange edge to form a partition between the main airbag unit of the curtain-shield airbag and part of the flange at which there is an opening to the bore.

2. The clip recited in claim 1, wherein a pawl extends elastically to the inside of the bore at a position adjacent to the flange, the pin has a permanently fixing engagement part for engaging the pawl so as to maintain the permanently fixed condition when the pin is inserted deeply into the bore, and the pin has a provisionally fixing engagement part for engaging the pawl so as to maintain the provisionally fixed condition when the pin is not inserted deeply into the bore.

3. The clip recited in claim 2, wherein the pin comprises a shaft and a head integrally formed at one end of the shaft, the permanently fixing engagement part is a shoulder formed at a position between a tip of the shaft and the head, and the provisionally fixing engagement part is a shoulder formed near the tip of the shaft.

4. The clip recited in claim 2, wherein when the shaft is inserted into an attachment hole in the airbag attaching member of the curtain-shield airbag, in a condition such that the pin and the bushing are coupled by the engagement of the provisionally fixing engagement part and the pawl, the entire clip is pre-attached to the curtain-shield air bag.

5. The clip recited in claim 1, wherein there are a pair of the engagement pieces with one end attached flexibly to the leg and another end free, and the pin part inserted into the bore has the rigidity to prevent flexure of the free end of the engagement pieces toward the inside of the bore.

6. A clip for attaching an attaching member for a curtain-shield airbag to a body panel, comprising:

a bushing having a flange and a leg extending from the flange at one side thereof, the bushing having a bore extending through the flange and into the leg from an opening at an opposite side of the flange, the leg having an opening in a side wall thereof and having a protrusion from the side wall, flexibly mounted on the side wall at a root end of the protrusion remote from the flange, for movement into and out of the bore through the opening in the side wall, the protrusion tapering outwardly of the side wall from the root end to an opposite free end of the protrusion and having a shoulder at the free end for engaging an edge region of a hole in a panel through which the leg is inserted; and

a pin constructed for insertion into the bore of the bushing to a permanently fixed position at which the pin is held in the bore and blocks movement of the protrusion into the bore.

7. A clip according to claim 6, wherein the bushing and the pin have cooperable elements for holding the pin in the bushing at a provisionally fixed position at which the pin does not block movement of the protrusion into of the bore.

8. A clip according to claim 7, wherein the cooperable elements include a provisionally fixing shoulder on the pin and a pawl in the bore.

9. A clip according to claim 8, wherein the pin has a permanently fixing shoulder cooperable with the pawl for holding the pin at the permanently fixing position.

10. A clip according to claim 9, wherein the pin has an outer surface portion that tapers from an end adjacent to the permanently fixing shoulder to a smaller end adjacent to the provisionally fixing shoulder.

11. A clip according to claim 6, wherein the bushing has a partition projecting from an end of the flange in a direction opposite to a direction in which the leg extends from the flange.

12. An assembly comprising the clip recited in claim 6 and an attaching member for a curtain-shield airbag, with the flange of the bushing abutting the attaching member and the partition between a main airbag unit and the opening to the bore, the leg of the bushing extending through a hole in the attaching member, the shoulder of the protrusion adjacent to an edge region of the hole, and the pin inserted into the bore of the bushing to the provisionally fixing position.

13. An assembly according to claim 12, further comprising a body panel having a hole through which the leg of the bushing is inserted after insertion into the hole of the attaching member, wherein the shoulder of the protrusion engages an edge region of the hole in the body panel.

14. An assembly comprising the clip of claim 6, an attaching member for a curtain-shield airbag, and a body panel, with the flange of the bushing abutting the attaching member and the partition between a main airbag unit and the opening to the bore, the leg of the bushing extending through a hole in the attaching member and then through a hole in the body panel, the shoulder of the protrusion engaging an edge region of the hole in the body panel, and the pin inserted in the bore of the bushing to the permanently fixing position.

15. A bushing for use in attaching an attaching member for a curtain-shield airbag to a body panel, wherein the bushing comprises:

a flange and a leg extending from the flange at one side thereof, the bushing having a bore extending through the flange and into the leg from an opening at an opposite side of the flange, the leg having an opening in a side wall thereof and having a protrusion from the side wall, flexibly mounted on the side wall at a root end of the protrusion remote from the flange, for movement into and out of the bore through the opening in the side wall, the protrusion tapering outwardly of the side wall from the root end to an opposite free end of the protrusion and having a shoulder at the free end for engaging an edge region of a hole in a panel through which the leg is inserted.