Rear Impact Occupant Protection Apparatus and Method
First Claim
1. A vehicle including a system for preventing injury to an occupant'"'"'s head and neck during a rear impact, comprising:
- a support structure for supporting the occupant including an upper body support portion for supporting the occupant'"'"'s head and neck, said upper body support portion being partially deformable to support a back, neck and/or head of the occupant during the rear impact.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Vehicle including a system for preventing injury to an occupant'"'"'s head and neck during a rear impact includes a support structure for supporting the occupant including an upper body support portion for supporting the occupant'"'"'s head and neck. The support structure has a deformable upper body support portion which may be filled with a fluid such as air, liquid or a gel and deforms during a rear impact to support the entire back, neck and/or head of the occupant. The upper body support portion may be moved to a support location, regardless of the detection of a crash (a passive mode), or moved only prior to an anticipated impact as determined by a crash sensor (an active mode).
100 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A vehicle including a system for preventing injury to an occupant'"'"'s head and neck during a rear impact, comprising:
a support structure for supporting the occupant including an upper body support portion for supporting the occupant'"'"'s head and neck, said upper body support portion being partially deformable to support a back, neck and/or head of the occupant during the rear impact. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A vehicle including a system for preventing injury to an occupant'"'"'s head and neck during a rear impact, comprising:
a support structure for supporting the occupant including an upper body support portion for supporting the occupant'"'"'s head and neck, said support body support portion having a fluid-filled portion which deforms upon contact of the occupant'"'"'s head and/or neck with said upper body support portion. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for preventing injury to a vehicular occupant'"'"'s head and neck during a rear impact involving the vehicle, comprising:
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detecting or predicting the rear impact;
determining that the occupant'"'"'s head and/or neck require support for the rear impact; and
adjusting a support structure prior to the rear impact such that an upper body support portion of the support structure is closer to and preferably in contact with the occupant'"'"'s head and neck during the rear impact whereby motion of the occupant'"'"'s head and neck relative to the occupant'"'"'s back is thereby reduced and preferably eliminated during the rear impact. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification