Curtain airbag

• US 8,714,587 B2
• Filed: 05/27/2011
• Issued: 05/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Joyson Safety Systems Japan K.K.
• Original Assignee: Takata Corporation (Ningbo Junsheng Investment Group Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Nakamura, Kenji, Sugimori, Sakae
• Primary Examiner(s): Beck, Karen
• Application Number:
  US13/117,421
• Publication Number:
  US 20110291393A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,075 Days
• Field of Search: 280/730.2, 280/742, 280/743.2, 280/749
• US Class Current: 280/730.2
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/161 characterised by additional means for controlling deployment trajectory
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/213 in vehicle roof frames or pillars
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/232 Curtain-type airbags deploying mainly in a vertical direction from their top edge
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/2338 Tethers
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/237 characterised by the way they are folded

Abstract

The curtain airbag includes: a curtain bag section configured with cloth panels joined in a bag shape, housed prior to use in a folded state in a vehicle roof side edge section and deploying and inflating downwards when injected with deployment gas; a collision detector for detecting a collision and/or signs of an imminent collision of the vehicle; a gas generator for supplying the deployment gas to the curtain bag section in response to a detection result of the collision detector; and a guide member configured with a cloth panel, rolled up from the bottom of the curtain bag section that has been folded prior to use, via the vehicle width direction inside towards the top of the curtain bag section, the guide member being disposed at a position overlapping with the vehicle front-rear direction position of an interior member provided inside the vehicle compartment.

Claims

1. A curtain airbag comprising:

a curtain bag section configured with cloth panels joined to each other, the curtain bag section being housed in a folded state within a side edge portion of a roof of a vehicle before a deployment gas is injected into the curtain bag section, wherein the curtain bag section deploys and inflates downwards from the roof of the vehicle when the deployment gas is injected into the curtain bag section;

a collision detector configured to detect at least one of a collision of the vehicle and signs of an imminent collision of the vehicle;

a gas generator configured to supply the deployment gas to the curtain bag section in response to a detection result of the collision detector; and

a tension panel joined to the curtain bag section and configured with a cloth panel, wherein the curtain bag section when inflated has upper and lower portions, and the tension panel has upper and lower portions when the curtain airbag section is inflated that are connected to the corresponding upper and lower portions of the curtain bag section, the curtain bag section having a height in the up-down direction before inflation that is larger than a corresponding height of the tension panel in the up-down direction, the curtain bag section being folded to reduce the height thereof to generate a lower slack portion of the tension panel that extends below the folded curtain bag section with the lower slack portion of the tension panel being rolled up to extend up from the curtain bag section lower portion to extend over the upper portion thereof to cover the folded curtain bag section that has been folded before deployment and inflation of the curtain bag section, when viewed from a vehicle width direction, wherein the tension panel is housed within the side edge portion of the roof together with the curtain bag section before deployment and inflation of the curtain bag section,

wherein the curtain bag section deploys and inflates downwards from the roof of the vehicle such that tension panel guides the curtain bag section, when the deployment gas is injected into the curtain bag section,

wherein a position of the tension panel in a vehicle longitudinal direction is overlapped with a position of an interior member of the vehicle in the vehicle longitudinal direction, and

wherein the tension panel has a pair of slits spaced from each other in the vehicle longitudinal direction and extending in the up-down direction and a guide section between the slits such that when the curtain bag section is deployed, the tension panel slack portion including the guide section flops down so that the guide section covers the interior member, and upon inflation of the curtain bag section, an intermediate portion of the curtain bag section between the upper and lower portions thereof extends further into the vehicle in the vehicle width direction than do the upper and lower portions of the curtain bag section.

2. The curtain airbag of claim 1, wherein before deployment and inflation of the curtain bag section,

the upper portion of the curtain bag section is folded up into concertinas, and

the lower portion of the curtain bag section is wound up in a roll shape together with the tension panel.

3. The curtain airbag of claim 1, wherein the interior member is a pillar trim.