Device for counteracting uncontrolled activation of air bags

• US 5,997,028 A
• Filed: 11/07/1997
• Issued: 12/07/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sunpro AB
• Original Assignee: Sunpro AB
• Inventors: Lenz, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): English, Peter C.
• Application Number:
  US08/952,202
• Time in Patent Office: 760 Days
• Field of Search: 280/727, 280/750, 280/731, 74/558
• US Class Current: 280/727
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/162 Means for diverting, destroying or blocking the bag in case of dangerous deployment, e.g. during rescue operations or use of rear-facing children seats
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/16 Inflatable occupant restraints or confinements designed to inflate upon impact or impending impact, e.g. air bags protective garments with automatically inflatable shock-absorbing means A41D13/018; connection of valves to inflatable elastic bodies B60C29/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 74/2087 Rim grips and covers

Abstract

An apparatus for counteracting uncontrolled activations of air bags inflated by a pyrotechnical charge following a strong deceleration such as a crash. The apparatus has a pair of center plates having at least three arms displaced in relation to each other and having bent over hooks which engage the steering wheel ring of a vehicle and can be locked against the steering wheel. The center plate and the arms make it impossible to inflate the air bag which is mounted on the steering wheel of the vehicle.

Claims

1. Air bag protection apparatus for eliminating accidents in case of unintentional inflating of an air bag mounted to a steering wheel of a vehicle and being inflated by a pyrotechnical charge following a strong deceleration, said apparatus comprising at least one center plate and means for mounting the center plate over a ring of the steering wheel of the vehicle in front of the air bag, said mounting means comprising at least three arms which can be adjusted and locked in relation to each other and can be locked against the steering wheel and which are formed with bent in hooks at ends thereof adapted to engage an outer periphery of said steering wheel ring, the apparatus also being formed with a protection bag mounted so that it can receive at least part of the gas which is issued by an air bag which is accidentally released, and which is wide enough to be able to be pulled rearward and downward over the mounting arms and the steering wheel.

2. Air bag protection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the protection bag is formed of a polyamide fabric.

3. Air bag protection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the protection bag, at a free end thereof, is formed with a strapping by means of which the protection bag can be strapped or clamped against a steering wheel column behind the mounting arms and the steering wheel.

4. Air bag protection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one center plate comprises a lower center plate and an upper center plate which is displaceable relative to the lower center plate, one of said center plates carrying one or two of said mounting arms and the other center plate carrying two of said mounting arms, which mounting arms are arranged at mutual angles of about 120°

or 90°

, and wherein one of the plates is formed with a central bore for a locking bolt and the other center plate is formed with a slot in which the locking bolt can be displaced to facilitate mounting of the protection apparatus on the steering wheel.

5. Air bag protection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said mounting arms are three or more angular locking arms having threaded ends receiving nuts and extending through bores or slots in the center plate, and angular ends which are rotatable to a position beneath the steering wheel and which can be locked against the steering wheel by means of the nuts engaging the threaded ends of the locking arms.

6. Air bag protection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a surface of the center plate facing the steering wheel is formed with several small knives adapted to prick or cut holes in the air bag in the event that the air bag is unintentionally inflated.

7. Air bag protection apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the knives of the center plate are formed as several triangular bodies punched downwards from the center plate and having their points facing the air bag.

8. Air bag protection apparatus according to claim 1 for a car having an air bag at both the driver side and the passenger side, wherein the protection apparatus includes a driver protection apparatus which has a connection tube for a bar extending in the transverse direction of the car, and wherein the bar carries a passenger protection apparatus in front of the passenger'"'"'s air bag.

9. Air bag protection apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the connection bar for the two protection apparatus is secured at the passenger side of the car and wherein an outer end of the bar is connected to the driver'"'"'s protection apparatus by a wire extending around a windshield of the car.