Air bag apparatus

• US 5,988,674 A
• Filed: 10/23/1997
• Issued: 11/23/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Kimura, Takao, Okazaki, Hidetsugu, Utsumi, Hidetoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Rice, Kenneth R.
• Application Number:
  US08/956,649
• Time in Patent Office: 761 Days
• Field of Search: 280/728.3, 280/730.2
• US Class Current: 280/730.2
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0006 Lateral collision
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/207 in vehicle seats
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/2176 the air bag components being completely enclosed in a soft or semi-rigid housing or cover

Abstract

A module case is provided in which an air bag module is housed. The air bag module is arranged inside of a seat back of a seat of a motor vehicle and the lid of the module case is opened by a pressure of an air bag which inflates at the side collision of the motor vehicle, so as to deploy the air bag from the lid into a passenger compartment of the vehicle. Even when the lid has become unopenable due to the depression thereof by a door deformed by the shock of the collision, tear lines formed in a case body of the module case are torn to turn a front wall of the case body in a direction towards the front of the vehicle, and hence, the air bag can be deployed from the front wall part of the case body into the passenger compartment without hindrance.

Claims

1. An air bag apparatus comprising:

an air bag module which is housed in a case body of a module case and which is arranged inside of a seat back of a seat of a vehicle;

a lid which covers an open part of said case body and which is opened by a pressure of an air bag which inflates from within said air bag module; and

a sewn portion, at which a front covering member and a side covering member cover a front surface and a side surface of the seat back, respectively, are integrally sewn up, is torn by said pressure, wherein said air bag is deployed into a vehicle passenger compartment through an opening which has been formed at said sewn portion, and wherein a wall of said case body is formed with tear lines, which are torn by said pressure of said air bag when said air bag is inflated, whereby said wall can be opened in a direction different from an opening direction of said lid.

2. An air bag apparatus comprising:

an air bag module arranged inside of a seat back of a seat of a vehicle; and

a sewn portion, at which a front covering member and a side covering member cover a front surface and a side surface of the seat back, respectively, are integrally sewn up, is torn by a pressure of an air bag which inflates from within said air bag module, said air bag being deployed into a vehicle passenger compartment through an opening which has been formed at said sewn portion, wherein end parts of said front covering member and said side covering member, which are opposite to said sewn portion, are coupled with a seat frame which forms a skeleton of said seat back.

3. An air bag apparatus comprising:

an air bag module arranged inside of a seat back of a seat of a vehicle;

a front covering member and a side covering member which cover a front surface and a side surface of said seat back, respectively, wherein said front covering member and said side covering member are each constructed of a trim cover located on an outer side thereof, a wadding cover located on an inner side thereof, and a wadding sandwiched in between said trim cover and said wadding cover; and

a sewn portion at which said front covering member and said side covering member are integrally sewn up, said sewn portion being torn by a pressure of an air bag which inflates from within said air bag module, wherein said air bag is deployed into a passenger compartment of said vehicle through an opening which has been formed at said sewn portion and wherein said wadding cover of each of said front covering member and said side covering member is formed of a same material as a material of said trim cover.