Air bag device

• US 5,529,337 A
• Filed: 09/07/1994
• Issued: 06/25/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Takata Corporation (Ningbo Junsheng Investment Group Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Takata Corporation (Ningbo Junsheng Investment Group Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Fujii, Hiroaki, Osada, Nobuya, Takeda, Hideo, Yamanishi, Takahiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Rice, Kenneth R.
• Application Number:
  US08/301,628
• Time in Patent Office: 657 Days
• Field of Search: 280/729, 280/731
• US Class Current: 280/729
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/23324 Inner walls crating separate compartments, e.g. communicating with vents
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/23332 using independent bags, one within the other
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/26058 using a combination of inflators
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/2648 comprising a plurality of combustion chambers or sub-chambers
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/203 in steering wheels or steering columns
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/233 comprising a plurality of individual compartments; comprising two or more bag-like members, one within the other B60R21/232 takes precedence

Abstract

An air bag device is formed of a first air bag accommodated in a steering pad and receiving an occupant by the inflation and deployment at a collision and a second air bag seamed with a portion of the first air bag and being inflatable in a ring shape to cover a surface of a steering wheel facing to the occupant. The first air bag and the second air bag have gas communicating holes at a seaming portion between them. The first air bag is inflated by introducing gas a gas generating device connected to a gas inlet of said first air bag and the second air bag is inflated at the same time by introducing gas through the gas communicating holes.

Claims

1. An air bag device adapted to be attached to a center area of a steering wheel for protecting an occupant of a vehicle, comprising:

a steering pad attached to the center area of the steering wheel,

an inflator situated in the steering pad,

a first air bag retained in the steering pad and having a gas inlet attached to the inflator, said first air bag being inflated by the inflator upon collision of the vehicle to protect the occupant,

a second air bag having an annular shape and fixed around the first air bag at a fixing portion, said second air bag, upon inflation of the first and second air bags, being located between the steering wheel and the first air bag,

a plurality of gas communicating holes formed in the fixing portion for communication between the first and second air bags so that when the inflator is actuated, the second air bag is inflated by gas passing through the gas communicating holes while the first air bag is being inflated, and

a vent hole formed in the first air bag, gas in the first air bag being exhausted through the vent hole while the gas in the second air bag is kept as it is when the occupant hits the first air bag after the first air bag is inflated so that force applied to the first air bag by the occupant is absorbed without a rebound phenomenon by the first air bag and without easing the rebound phenomenon by the second air bag.

2. An air bag device according to claim 1, wherein said second air bag is sewed to the first air bag by annular seams with a predetermined width therebetween, said seams forming the fixing portion.

3. An air bag device according to claim 2, wherein said gas communicating holes are formed between the two annular seams.

4. An air bag device adapted to be attached to a center area of a steering wheel for protecting an occupant of a vehicle, comprising:

a steering pad attached to the center area of the steering wheel,

an inflator situated in the steering pad,

a first air bag retained in the steering pad and being inflated by the inflator upon collision of the vehicle to protect the occupant,

a second air bag fixed to the first air bag and having a gas inlet attached to the inflator, said second air bag, upon inflation of the first and second air bags, being located between the steering wheel and the first air bag,

a plurality of gas communicating holes formed between the first and second air bags so that when the inflator is actuated, the first air bag is inflated by gas passing through the second air bag, and

a vent hole formed in the first air bag, gas in the first air bag being exhausted through the vent hole while the gas in the second air bag is kept as it is when the occupant hits the first air bag after the first air bag is inflated so that force applied to the first air bag by the occupant is surely absorbed without a rebound phenomenon by the first air bag and without easing the rebound phenomenon by the second air bag.

5. An air bag device according to claim 4, wherein said second air bag is formed of an annular cloth with an outer periphery fixed to the first air bag, and includes an annular path to form an annular inflatable portion and crossing paths situated in a middle of the annular path and communicating with the gas inlet, said annular path and crossing paths communicating with each other.

6. An air bag device according to claim 5, wherein said vent hole is situated in an area surrounded by the annular path and the crossing paths.

7. An air bag device according to claim 6, wherein said annular inflatable portion is located inside the first air bag without protruding outwardly from the first air bag.

8. An air bag device adapted to be attached to a center area of a steering wheel for protecting an occupant of a vehicle, comprising:

a steering pad attached to the center area of the steering wheel,

first and second inflators vertically arranged to each other and situated in the steering pad,

a first air bag retained in the steering pad and having a first gas inlet attached to the first inflator, said first air bag being inflated upon collision of the vehicle to protect the occupant, and

a second air bag fixed to an outside of the first air bag at an outer periphery thereof, said second air bag having a second gas inlet attached to the second inflator and, upon inflation of the second inflator, said second air bag being located between the steering wheel and the first air bag and inflated at a pressure greater than a pressure in the first air bag to thereby provide the pressure without easing the rebound phenomenon by the second air bag.

9. An air bag device according to claim 8, wherein said steering pad includes a tear line formed at a center area thereof, a first bending line formed at a peripheral portion of the center area, and a second bending line at a bottom portion thereof, said first and second bending lines establishing a gas path for the second air bag when it is inflated.