Energy absorbing structure for vehicle body side portion
First Claim
1. An energy absorbing structure for a vehicle body side portion, comprising:
- a pair of vehicle body members constituting two side portions of a vehicle body;
a pair of collision detection means for respectively detecting collisions on two side surfaces of the vehicle body;
one air bag which is mounted in each of said vehicle body members, can be unfolded toward an interior of a passenger room, and can receive at least one passenger who is moved sideways by a side collision in an unfolded state;
timing varying means for changing unfolding timings of the two air bags in accordance with a side-collision direction on the basis of detection results from said collision detection means; and
air bag unfolding means for unfolding the air bags in accordance with the unfolding timings set by said timing varying means.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An energy absorbing structure for a vehicle body side portion, includes a pair of vehicle body members constituting two side portions of a vehicle body, a pair of collision detection sensors for respectively detecting collisions on two side surfaces of the vehicle body, one air bag which is mounted in each vehicle body member, can be unfolded toward the interior of a passenger room, and can receive at least one passenger who is moved sideways by a side collision in an unfolded state, a timing varying unit for changing unfolding timings of the two air bags in accordance with a side-collision direction on the basis of detection results from the collision detection sensors, and an air bag unfolding device for unfolding the air bags in accordance with the unfolding timings set by the timing varying unit.
102 Citations
31 Claims
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1. An energy absorbing structure for a vehicle body side portion, comprising:
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a pair of vehicle body members constituting two side portions of a vehicle body; a pair of collision detection means for respectively detecting collisions on two side surfaces of the vehicle body; one air bag which is mounted in each of said vehicle body members, can be unfolded toward an interior of a passenger room, and can receive at least one passenger who is moved sideways by a side collision in an unfolded state; timing varying means for changing unfolding timings of the two air bags in accordance with a side-collision direction on the basis of detection results from said collision detection means; and air bag unfolding means for unfolding the air bags in accordance with the unfolding timings set by said timing varying means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An energy absorbing structure for a vehicle body side portion, comprising:
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a pair of vehicle body members constituting two side portions of a vehicle body; a pair of collision detection means for respectively detecting collisions on two side surfaces of the vehicle body; a pair of air bags which are mounted in each of said vehicle body members, can be unfolded toward an interior of a passenger room, and can receive at least one passenger who is moved sideways by a side collision in an unfolded state; timing varying means for changing unfolding timings of the four air bags in accordance with a side-collision direction on the basis of detection results from said collision detection means; and air bag unfolding means for unfolding the air bags in accordance with the unfolding timings set by said timing varying means. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. An energy absorbing structure for a vehicle body side portion, comprising:
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a pair of vehicle body members constituting two side portions of a vehicle body; a pair of collision detection means for respectively detecting collisions on two side surfaces of the vehicle body; one air bag which is mounted in each of said vehicle body members, a portion of which can be unfolded toward an interior of a passenger room as a first air bag portion having a standard size, the remaining portion of which can be unfolded as a second air bag portion larger than the first air bag portion, and which can receive at least one passenger who is moved sideways by a side collision in an unfolded state of each of the first and second air bag portions; timing varying means for changing unfolding timings of the four air bag portions in accordance with a side-collision direction on the basis of detection results from said collision detection means; and air bag unfolding means for unfolding the air bag portions in accordance with the unfolding timings set by said timing varying means. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26)
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27. An energy absorbing structure for a vehicle body side portion, comprising:
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a pair of vehicle body members constituting two side portions of a vehicle body; a pair of collision detection means for respectively detecting collisions on two side surfaces of the vehicle body; a pair of large and small air bags which are mounted in each of said vehicle body members, can be independently unfolded toward an interior of a passenger room, and can receive at least one passenger who is moved sideways by a side collision in an unfolded state; timing varying means for changing timings up to fully unfolded states of the four air bags in accordance with a side-collision direction on the basis of detection results from said collision detection means; and air bag unfolding means for unfolding the air bags in accordance with the timings set by said timing varying means. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31)
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Specification