Vehicle seat

• US 9,238,425 B2
• Filed: 12/25/2012
• Issued: 01/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Fukawatase, Osamu
• Primary Examiner(s): VERLEY, NICOLE T
• Application Number:
  US14/354,907
• Publication Number:
  US 20140300088A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,120 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/4235 transversal
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/427 Seats or parts thereof displaced during a crash
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0273 automatically movable to an operative position, e.g. in case of collision or impending collision
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/135 automatically during an accident
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/23107 the bag being integrated in a multi-bag system
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/013 including means for detecting collisions, impending collisions or roll-over
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/08 automatically movable from an inoperative to an operative position, e.g. in a collision electrical circuits for triggering safety arrangements B60R21/01
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/13 Roll-over protection electrical circuits for triggering safety arrangements B60R21/01
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/18 the inflatable member formed as a belt or harness or combined with a belt or harness arrangement
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/207 in vehicle seats
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/231 characterised by their shape, construction or spatial configuration

Abstract

A vehicle seat that can effectively restrain a passenger from moving outward in a vehicle width direction in the event of a collision of a vehicle is obtained. The vehicle seat disclosed is equipped with a pop-up bar that is supported displaceably upward, an MGG that is operated to displace the pop-up bar upward, a tension cloth that is connected on an upper end side thereof to the pop-up bar and on a lower end side thereof to a front end side of a seat cushion, and a lateral collision ECU that operates the MGG in a case where a lateral collision of the vehicle is detected or predicted. The tension cloth is deployed such that a tensile force is applied between a connection portion thereof to the pop-up bar and a connection portion thereof to the seat cushion as the pop-up bar is displaced to a popped-up position.

Claims

1. A vehicle seat comprising:

a movable support body that displaces upwardly to a popped-up position with respect to a seat back, the popped-up position being a position such that the movable support body is spaced apart from the seat back;

an actuator that is configured to shift the movable support body upward with respect to the seat back;

a lateral deployment member that is;

(1) connected to the movable support body at an upper end side of the lateral deployment member and connected to a front end side of a seat cushion at a lower end side of the lateral deployment member, (2) accommodated from a lateral portion of the seat cushion to a lateral portion of the seat back, and (3) deployed such that a tensile force is applied between a first connection portion of the lateral deployment member to the movable support body and a second connection portion of the lateral deployment member to the seat cushion when the movable support body is displaced upwardly with respect to the seat back; and

a control device that operates the actuator in a case where a collision of the vehicle is detected or predicted.

2. The vehicle seat according to claim 1, wherein

the lateral deployment member a is planar cloth material or a mesh material that is connected at a vehicle rear end side of the lateral deployment member to a frame of the seat back.

3. The vehicle seat according to claim 2, further comprising

a side airbag device that includes a side airbag that is accommodated in the seat back and is expanded and deployed between the lateral deployment member and at least a breast and a shoulder of a seated passenger in a case where the collision of the vehicle is detected or predicted.

4. The vehicle seat according to claim 3, wherein

the side airbag has a head protection chamber that restrains a head of the seated passenger.

5. The vehicle seat according to claim 4, wherein

the head protection chamber is connected to the movable support body in a state of being accommodated in the seat back.

6. The vehicle seat according to claim 5, wherein

the side airbag has a lower portion that is connected to the frame of the seat back, and an upper portion that includes that region of the head protection chamber which is connected to the movable support body, the lower portion and the upper portion being folded in a longitudinal direction with regard to the vehicle, and a region between the upper portion and the lower portion being folded in a vertical direction with regard to the vehicle, and

that region of the side airbag which is folded in the vertical direction with regard to the vehicle is provided with a ring-shaped member through which at least one of the frame and the movable support body is inserted and which prevents the frame and the movable support body from being displaced relatively to each other in the longitudinal direction while allowing the frame and the movable support body to be displaced relatively to each other in the vertical direction.

7. The vehicle seat according to claim 4, wherein

the lateral deployment member has an overhang portion that overhangs forward with regard to the vehicle from a line that links the first connection portion to the movable support body and the second connection portion to the seat cushion with each other, in a deployed state, and

that region of the head protection chamber which is located on a front end side in an expanded and deployed state is connected to the overhang portion.

8. The vehicle seat according to claim 7, wherein

that region of the head protection chamber which is located on the front end side in the expanded and deployed state and the overhang portion are connected to each other in such a manner as to be separated from each other upon completion of expansion and deployment of the head protection chamber.

9. The vehicle seat according to claim 8, wherein

that region of the head protection chamber which is located on the front end side in the expanded and deployed state and the overhang portion are connected to each other by a tear seam.

10. The vehicle seat according to claim 4, wherein

lateral deployment members and side airbags are provided on both sides in a vehicle width direction respectively,

the side airbag that is arranged on an outer side in the vehicle width direction has a lumbar protection chamber that restrains a lumbar of the seated passenger, and

the side airbag that is arranged on an inner side in the vehicle width direction has an abdomen protection chamber that restrains an abdomen of the seated passenger.

11. The vehicle seat according to claim 10, wherein

at least one of the lumbar protection chamber and the abdomen protection chamber is connected to a lower portion of the lateral deployment member that is arranged on a same side as at least one of the lumbar protection chamber and the abdomen protection chamber in the vehicle width direction, in a vertical direction with regard to the vehicle.

12. The vehicle seat according to claim 3, further comprising

a restraint device that is operated to restrain the seated passenger in such a manner as to restrain the seated passenger from moving forward with regard to the vehicle, and

a control unit that operates the restraint device, the actuator on a collision side, and the side airbag device on the collision side, in a sequence of the restraint device, the actuator on the collision side, and the side airbag device on the collision side, in a case where a minute lap collision of the vehicle is detected.

13. The vehicle seat according to claim 3, further comprising

a restraint device that is operated to restrain the seated passenger in such a manner as to restrain the seated passenger from moving forward with regard to the vehicle, and

a control unit that operates the restraint device, the actuator on a collision side, and the side airbag device on the collision side, in a sequence of the actuator on the collision side, the side airbag device on the collision side, and the restraint device in a case where an oblique collision of the vehicle is detected.

14. The vehicle seat according to claim 12, wherein

the restraint device is configured to include

a movable body that can assume a stored position at which the movable body is stored along a lateral edge portion of the seat cushion or the seat back, and an in-use position at which the movable body is arranged along a vehicle width direction while being spaced apart from an abdomen of the seated passenger forward with regard to the vehicle,

a frontal collision airbag device that is provided on the movable body and deploys a frontal collision airbag between an upper body of the seated passenger and a vehicle structure located in front of the seated passenger upon being supplied with gas,

a lap belt that is retained by the movable body, and is removed from the movable body toward a lumbar side of the seated passenger in an event of reception of a tensile force equal to or larger than a predetermined value, and

a pretensioner that pulls the lap belt in while applying the tensile force equal to or larger than the predetermined value to the lap belt, and

the control unit operates the pretensioner and the frontal collision airbag device in a sequence of the pretensioner and the frontal collision airbag device, in a state where the movable body is located at the in-use position, in operating the restraint device.

15. The vehicle seat according to claim 3, further comprising

a movable body that can assume a stored position at which the movable body is stored along a lateral edge portion of the seat cushion or the seat back, and an in-use position at which the movable body is arranged along a vehicle width direction while being spaced apart from an abdomen of the seated passenger forward with regard to the vehicle,

a frontal collision airbag device that is provided on the movable body and deploys a frontal collision airbag between an upper body of the seated passenger and a vehicle structure located in front of the seated passenger upon being supplied with gas,

a lap belt that is retained by the movable body, and is removed from the movable body toward a lumbar side of the seated passenger in an event of reception of a tensile force equal to or larger than a predetermined value,

a pretensioner that pulls the lap belt in while applying the tensile force equal to or larger than the predetermined value to the lap belt, and

a control unit that operates the pretensioner and the actuator on a collision side in a case where either a minute lap collision or an oblique collision of the vehicle is predicted,

and operates the frontal collision airbag device and the side airbag device on the collision side in a case where either a minute lap collision or an oblique collision of the vehicle is detected.

16. The vehicle seat according to claim 1, wherein

the actuator displaces the movable support body upward with respect to an upper end of a head rest that is provided on the seat back.

17. The vehicle seat according to claim 1, wherein

the actuator displaces the first connection portion of the movable support body to the lateral deployment member upward with respect to an upper end of a head rest that is provided on the seat back.

18. The vehicle seat according to claim 1, wherein

the movable support body has a guided portion that assumes a shape of a circular arc that is convex backward with regard to the vehicle in a lateral view, and

the seat back is provided with a guiding portion that guides the movable support body in the guided portion.

19. The vehicle seat according to claim 18, wherein

the guiding portion and the guided portion are configured such that the movable support body is located more forward in relation to the vehicle after being displaced upward by the actuator than before being displaced upward by the actuator.