Vehicle seat belt device and occupant protection system

• US 9,783,155 B2
• Filed: 07/07/2016
• Issued: 10/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Kondo, Toru, Ohno, Mitsuyoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): GABLER, PHILIP F
• Application Number:
  US15/204,323
• Publication Number:
  US 20170057459A1
• Time in Patent Office: 460 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/753 movable to an inoperative position
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/79 Adaptations for additional use of the arm-rests
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0032 Position of passenger
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0048 Head
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/2074 in head rests
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2022/1818 Belt guides
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2022/1957 characterised by electric actuators
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2022/4808 Sensing means arrangements therefor
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/207 in vehicle seats
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 22/00 Safety belts or body harnesses in vehicles safety belts or body harnesses in general A62B35/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 22/04 Passive restraint systems, i.e. systems both applied and removed automatically, e.g. by movement of the vehicle door
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 22/195 with means to tension the belt in an emergency, e.g. means of the through-anchor or splitted reel typeelectrical circuits for triggering safety arrangements B60R21/01
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 22/26 secured to the seat
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 22/34 Belt retractors, e.g. reels anchoring devices , e.g. guide loops , with means to tension the belt in an emergency B60R22/195
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 22/48 Control systems, alarms, or interlock systems, for the correct application of the belt or harness

Abstract

An occupant protection system includes: arm rests that are disposed on first and second width direction sides of a seat back and are rotatable between a substantially vertical storage position and a substantially horizontal use position; slide members that are slidable along the arm rests and have belt guides; a retractor that takes up webbing of a belt; and an electronic control unit that, (i) in a state before an occupant is seated in a vehicle seat, causes the arm rests to be held in the storage position and causes the slide members to slide in the seat upward direction above the head of the occupant, and that, (ii) when the occupant is seated, causes the arm rests to rotate to the use position, causes the slide members to slide toward base sides of the arm rests, and causes the webbing to be taken up by the retractor.

Claims

1. A vehicle seat belt device comprising:

a pair of arm rests that are disposed on first and second width direction sides of a seat back of a vehicle seat and that are rotatable between a storage position, in which the arm rests extend substantially vertically, and a use position, in which the arm rests are tilted in a seat forward direction from the storage position and extend substantially horizontally;

slide members that are respectively disposed at the pair of arm rests and that are slidable along the arm rests, distal end portions of the slide members having belt guides through which webbing of a belt is passed;

a belt anchor that is disposed on the first width direction side of a lower portion of the seat back, and to which a first end portion of the webbing is attached;

a retractor that is disposed on the second width direction side of the lower portion of the seat back, and that takes up a second end portion of the webbing that has passed through the belt guides on both of the first and second width direction sides; and

an electronic control unit that, (i) in a state before an occupant is seated in the vehicle seat, causes the pair of arm rests to be held in the storage position and causes the slide members to be held in a state in which the slide members have been moved further in a seat upward direction than a head rest of the vehicle seat, and that, (ii) in a state in which the occupant is seated, causes the pair of arm rests to rotate from the storage position to the use position, causes the slide members to slide toward base sides of the arm rests, and causes a predetermined amount of the webbing to be taken up by the retractor.

2. The vehicle seat belt device according to claim 1, further comprising extendable and contractible coupling members that couple the belt guides to the slide members.

3. The vehicle seat belt device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic control unit causes the predetermined amount of the webbing to be taken up by the retractor at a time of a crash of the vehicle or at a time at which a crash of the vehicle is predicted.

4. The vehicle seat belt device according to claim 1, wherein each of the arm rests includes:

a wire extending between a rotating shaft of the arm rest and the slide member, and

a spring that urges the slide member away from the rotating shaft, wherein

a first end portion of the wire is wound about a periphery of the rotating shaft, and

as the arm rest is rotated from the storage position to the use position, the first end portion of the wire is taken up on the periphery of the rotating shaft.

5. The vehicle seat belt device according to claim 1, wherein each of the arm rests includes:

a first gear attached to a rotating shaft of the arm rest,

a pulley having a second gear that has a fewer number of teeth than the first gear and meshes with the first gear,

a wire extending between the pulley and the slide member, and

a spring that urges the slide member away from the rotating shaft, wherein

a first end portion of the wire is wound about the pulley, and

as the arm rest is rotated from the storage position to the use position, the first end portion of the wire is taken up on the pulley.

6. An occupant protection system comprising:

the vehicle seat belt device according to claim 1;

an airbag configured as a single bag that is stored in the head rest of the vehicle seat, and that is inflated and deployed upon being supplied with gas, the airbag deploying in a seat forward direction and in seat sideward directions to cover a head of the occupant; and

an upper body restraining portion that is disposed at a forwardly deploying portion of the airbag on a seat front side of the airbag, the upper body restraining portion configured to restrain at least one of a breast and shoulders of the occupant.

7. A vehicle seat belt device comprising:

a pair of arm rests that are disposed on first and second width direction sides of a seat back of a vehicle seat and that are rotatable between a storage position, in which the arm rests extend substantially vertically, and a use position, in which the arm rests are tilted in a seat forward direction from the storage position and extend substantially horizontally;

slide members that are respectively disposed at the pair of arm rests and that are slidable along the arm rests, distal end portions of the slide members having belt guides through which webbing of a belt is passed;

a first belt anchor that is disposed on the first width direction side of a lower portion of the seat back, and to which a first end portion of the webbing is attached;

a second belt anchor that is disposed on the second width direction side of the lower portion of the seat back, and in which the webbing extending from the first belt anchor is looped after having passed through the belt guides on both of the first and second width direction sides;

a retractor that is disposed on one seat width direction end side of an upper end portion of the seat back, and that takes up a second end portion of the webbing that has been looped through the second belt anchor and passed through the belt guide on the second width direction side; and

an electronic control unit that, (i) in a state before an occupant is seated in the vehicle seat, causes the pair of arm rests to be held in the storage position and causes the slide members to be held in a state in which the slide members have been moved further in a seat upward direction than a head rest of the vehicle seat, and that, (ii) in a state in which the occupant is seated, causes the pair of arm rests to rotate from the storage position to the use position, causes the slide members to slide toward base sides of the arm rests, and causes a predetermined amount of the webbing to be taken up by the retractor.

8. The vehicle seat belt device according to claim 7, further comprising:

a tubular member that is flexible and, in a state in which the arm rests are held in the storage position, extends from the retractor along a side portion of the head rest to a position further in the seat upward direction than the head rest and further on the first width direction end side than the head rest, wherein

the webbing is inserted into the tubular member.

9. The vehicle seat belt device according to claim 7, further comprising extendable and contractible coupling members that couple the belt guides to the slide members.

10. The vehicle seat belt device according to claim 7, wherein the electronic control unit causes the predetermined amount of the webbing to be taken up by the retractor at a time of a crash of the vehicle or at a time at which a crash of the vehicle is predicted.

11. The vehicle seat belt device according to claim 7, wherein each of the arm rests includes:

a wire extending between a rotating shaft of the arm rest and the slide member, and

a spring that urges the slide member away from the rotating shaft, wherein

a first end portion of the wire is wound about a periphery of the rotating shaft, and

as the arm rest is rotated from the storage position to the use position, the first end portion of the wire is taken up on the periphery of the rotating shaft.

12. The vehicle seat belt device according to claim 7, wherein each of the arm rests includes:

a first gear attached to a rotating shaft of the arm rest,

a pulley having a second gear that has a fewer number of teeth than the first gear and meshes with the first gear,

a wire extending between the pulley and the slide member, and

a spring that urges the slide member away from the rotating shaft;

wherein

a first end portion of the wire is wound about the pulley, and

as the arm rest is rotated from the storage position to the use position, the first end portion of the wire is taken up on the pulley.

13. An occupant protection system comprising:

the vehicle seat belt device according to claim 7;

an airbag configured as a single bag that is stored in the head rest of the vehicle seat, and that is inflated and deployed upon being supplied with gas, the airbag deploying in a seat forward direction and in seat sideward directions to cover a head of the occupant; and

an upper body restraining portion that is disposed at a forwardly deploying portion of the airbag deployed on a seat front side, the upper body restraining portion configured to restrain at least one of a breast and shoulders of the occupant.