Front passenger seat air bag apparatus

• US 7,959,184 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2009
• Issued: 06/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Akashio, Muneo, Fukawatase, Osamu, Kuroda, Tomotaka
• Primary Examiner(s): Dickson; Paul N
• Assistant Examiner(s): ROCCA, JOSEPH M
• Application Number:
  US12/550,606
• Publication Number:
  US 20100052297A1
• Time in Patent Office: 652 Days
• Field of Search: 280/732, 280/739, 280/742, 280/743.1, 280/743.2
• US Class Current: 280/739
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/23388 having ends which are movable or detachable during deployment
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/205 in dashboards
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/2338 Tethers
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/239 characterised by their venting means

Abstract

A passenger seat air bag apparatus includes an air bag which is housed folded inside an instrument panel, and inflates toward a passenger who is seated in a front passenger seat with a supply of gas during a frontal collision, and which has a vent hole that can be opened and closed; a first strap which is connected to both an area around the vent hole and a rear lower portion of a base cloth of the air bag in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, and which closes the vent hole as the air bag inflates; and a second strap which is connected to an edge portion of the vent hole, and pulls on the edge portion of the vent hole and on the first strap around the vent hole so as to open the vent hole when the passenger who is wearing a seatbelt is restrained by the air bag.

Claims

1. A front passenger seat air bag apparatus comprising:

an air bag which is housed folded inside an instrument panel, and inflates and deploys toward a passenger who is seated in a front passenger seat with a supply of gas during a frontal collision of a vehicle, and which has a vent hole of which the state is switched between an open state and a closed state;

a first strap which is connected to both an area around the vent hole and a lower portion of a passenger-side base cloth of the air bag, and which closes the vent hole as the air bag inflates and deploys; and

a second strap which is connected to an edge portion of the vent hole, and pulls on the edge portion of the vent hole and on the first strap around the vent hole so as to open the vent hole when the passenger who is wearing a seatbelt is restrained by the air bag.

2. The front passenger seat air bag apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the front portion of the first strap is connected to the area around the vent hole by a slip knot.

3. The front passenger seat air bag apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

an annular filler cloth is sewn to the edge portion of the vent hole provided in the base cloth of the air bag, and the first strap passes between the base cloth and the filler cloth.

4. The front passenger seat air bag apparatus according to claim 3, wherein

a through-hole is provided in the filler cloth, and the first strap is inserted through the through-hole, passes around the vent hole, and comes back out through the through-hole.

5. The front passenger seat air bag apparatus according to claim 4, wherein

the through-hole includes at least two through-holes, and the first strap is inserted through one of the through-holes and comes out through the other through-hole.

6. The front passenger seat air bag apparatus according to claim 3, wherein

a loop portion is provided at one end of the first strap, and the other end of the first strap passes through the loop portion.

7. The front passenger seat air bag apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a rear portion of the second strap extends in the vehicle width direction along an inside surface of the passenger-side base cloth, at a height position where the passenger who is wearing the seatbelt is restrained by the air bag.

8. The front passenger seat air bag apparatus according to claim 7, wherein:

the vent hole is provided in a side portion of the air bag in the vehicle width direction in a deployed state; and

a guide portion, which provides guidance such that a portion of the second strap which is positioned at the side portion is pulled toward the rear of the vehicle when the passenger who is wearing the seatbelt is restrained by the air bag, is provided on an inside surface of the side portion in a position that is farther toward the rear of the vehicle than the vent hole.

9. The front passenger seat air bag apparatus according to claim 7, wherein

the rear portion of the second strap is positioned at a height where the head of the passenger who is wearing the seatbelt strikes the air bag.

10. The front passenger seat air bag apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the vent hole is provided in a side portion of the air bag in the vehicle width direction in a deployed state; and

a guide portion, which provides guidance such that a portion of the second strap which is positioned at the side portion is pulled toward the rear of the vehicle when the passenger who is wearing the seatbelt is restrained by the air bag, is provided on an inside surface of the side portion in a position that is farther toward the rear of the vehicle than the vent hole.

11. The front passenger seat air bag apparatus according to claim 10, wherein

the guide portion is arranged so as to straddle the second strap in the vertical direction of the vehicle, and both ends of the guide portion in the vertical direction of the vehicle are fixed to the side face of the base cloth.

12. The front passenger seat air bag apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lower portion is disposed rearward in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.