Guide loop height adjustment for vehicle passenger seat belts

• US 5,862,876 A
• Filed: 03/12/1997
• Issued: 01/26/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Key Safety Systems, Inc. (Ningbo Junsheng Investment Group Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Alliedsignal Inc. (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Foster, Howard James, Gordon, Ian Alexander
• Primary Examiner(s): Rice, Kenneth R.
• Application Number:
  US08/793,988
• Time in Patent Office: 685 Days
• Field of Search: 180/268, 280/801.2, 280/808
• US Class Current: 180/268
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2022/208 by automatic or remote control means
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 22/201 with the belt anchor connected to a slider movable in a vehicle-mounted track for passive restraint systems B60R22/06

Abstract

A guide loop height adjustment arrangement for a driver'"'"'s seat belt has a drive that raises and lowers a guide loop in response to a sensed change in the position of the driver'"'"'s mirror. The change in the mirror position is indicative of the presence of a seat occupant with a different shoulder height from the preceding seat occupant and therefore causes the guide loop height to be adjusted.

Claims

1. A guide loop height adjustment arrangement for a vehicle drivers'"'"' seat belt comprising a drive means operable to raise and lower a guide loop having means operable to sense a change of position of a drivers'"'"' mirror and means responsive to such change indicative of the presence of a seat occupant of different shoulder height from a preceding seat occupant to activate said drive means to reposition said guide loop.

2. A guide loop height adjustment arrangement according to claim 1, comprising means for sensing the positions of adjustable nearside and offside rear view driving mirrors, means for sensing the position of an adjustable drivers seat and computation means responsive to the outputs of said sensing means to calculate a drivers shoulder height and to activate said drive means to position said guide loop in accordance with the calculated shoulder height.

3. A guide loop height adjustment arrangement according to claim 2, wherein the means for sensing the position of the adjustable'"'"' drivers seat senses the fore and aft seat position and the seat height where this is adjustable.

4. A guide loop height adjustment arrangement according to claim 2, wherein the mirror position sensing means detects the angles of tilt and swing of the nearside and offside rear view driving means.

5. A guide loop height adjustment arrangement according to claim 2, wherein the output of any one of the said sensing means is disregarded by the computation means if it does not alter with changes in the outputs of the other sensing means.

6. A guide loop height adjustment arrangement according to claim 1 comprising means for sensing a departure of the tilt angle of an interior rear view mirror from a nominal average setting and computation means responsive to changes in output of said sensing means to calculate a drivers shoulder height and to activate said drive means to position said guide loop in accordance with the calculated shoulder height.

7. A guide loop height adjustment arrangement according to claim 1, comprising means for sensing the actual position of the guide loop, and comparator means for comparing the sensed position of the guide loop with the output of the computation means to provide a difference signal which activates the drive means to reposition said loop.

8. A guide loop height adjustment arrangement according to claim 3, wherein the mirror position sensing means detects the angles of tilt and swing of the nearside and offside rear view driving means.

9. A guide loop height adjustment arrangement according to claim 3, wherein the output of any one of the said sensing means is disregarded by the computation means if it does not alter with changes in the outputs of the other sensing means.

10. A guide loop height adjustment arrangement according to claim 4, wherein the output of any one of the said sensing means is disregarded by the computation means if it does not alter with changes in the outputs of the other sensing means.