JP2006088833A - Occupant protecting device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an occupant protecting device for a vehicle allowing an air bag to inflate smoothly without provision of any member for guiding the inflation of the air bag. <P>SOLUTION: The folded up air bag body 10 is installed along a roof side rail 5. A roof lining 7 covers the folded-up air bag body 10 from inside the cabin. Over a B-pillar 6, the roof lining 7 is arranged so that the bottom edge 7a is overlapping on the top face 6a of a B-pillar garnish 6. The bottom edge 7a of the roof lining 7 has a smaller thickness than its portion adjacent to the bottom edge, and the bottom edge part 7a has a low strength. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle occupant protection device for protecting a vehicle occupant head, and more particularly to a vehicle occupant protection device having an airbag that inflates along a window of a side door or the like at the time of a side collision or rollover of the vehicle.

  As an air bag for protecting the head of a vehicle occupant, it is arranged near the intersection corner between the ceiling and the side surface of the vehicle interior, and is inflated along the side door window or the like by the gas introduced from the gas inlet. There is a curtain airbag configured as described above.

  In a vehicle equipped with a vehicle occupant protection device having this curtain airbag, when the vehicle receives a side collision or rolls over, the curtain airbag is placed on a side surface of the vehicle interior (for example, a door or a pillar). Along the bottom of the vehicle body to protect the occupant's head and prevent the occupant from being thrown out of the vehicle when the window is open.

In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-104160, in order to prevent the curtain airbag from being caught by the upper end portion of the B pillar garnish when the curtain airbag is inflated, it is referred to as a jump stand below the folding body of the curtain airbag. It is described that a plate for guiding the expansion direction is provided.
JP 2003-104160 A

  It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle occupant protection device in which an airbag is inflated smoothly without providing a member for inflating the airbag, such as a jump base.

  A vehicle occupant protection device according to the present invention (Claim 1) includes a folded airbag installed along a roof side rail, an inflator for inflating the airbag, and the folded airbag. In the vehicle occupant protection device, in the upper part of the center pillar, the lower edge of the roof lining overlaps the upper end surface of the center pillar garnish. The lower edge portion has a lower strength than a portion adjacent to the lower edge portion.

  The vehicle occupant protection device of claim 2 is characterized in that, in claim 1, the thickness of the lower edge portion of the roof lining is smaller than the thickness of the portion adjacent to the lower edge portion.

  A vehicle occupant protection device according to the present invention (Claim 3) includes a folded airbag installed along a roof side rail, an inflator for inflating the airbag, and the folded airbag. In the vehicle occupant protection device, the lower edge of the roof lining is provided at the upper part of the center pillar, and the lower edge of the roof lining overlaps the upper end surface of the center pillar garnish. A boundary portion between the portion and a portion adjacent to the lower edge portion is a fragile portion.

  The vehicle occupant protection device according to claim 4 is characterized in that, in claim 3, the boundary portion is a weak portion by providing a small hole or a groove.

  In the vehicle occupant protection device of the present invention (Claim 1), the inflator is actuated when the vehicle collides or rolls over, and the airbag starts to inflate. The airbag inflates into the vehicle compartment while pushing open the roof lining, and then inflates and deploys along the side of the vehicle compartment (for example, a window opening or a center pillar).

  In this vehicle occupant protection device, the lower edge portion of the roof lining that overlaps the upper end surface of the center pillar is lower in strength than the portion adjacent to the lower edge portion. When the lining is pressed indoors, the lower edge is quickly deformed and detached from the upper end surface of the center pillar garnish. As a result, roof lining is smoothly opened to the indoor side, and the airbag is quickly deployed in the vehicle interior.

  As described in claim 2, by making the thickness of the lower edge portion of the roof lining smaller than the thickness of the portion adjacent to the lower edge portion, the lower edge portion can be reduced in strength.

  In the vehicle occupant protection device of the present invention (Claim 3), the boundary portion between the lower edge portion of the roof lining and a portion adjacent to the lower edge portion is a fragile portion. Therefore, also in this vehicle occupant protection device, when the airbag starts to inflate and the roof lining is pressed to the indoor side by the inflating airbag, the fragile portion is quickly deformed and the lower edge portion Comes off from the upper end surface of the center pillar garnish. As a result, roof lining is smoothly opened to the indoor side, and the airbag is quickly deployed in the vehicle interior.

  As described in claim 4, by providing a small hole or a groove along the boundary between the lower edge of the roof lining and the portion adjacent to the lower edge, the fragile portion can be provided.

  In the present invention, the center pillar refers to a pillar such as a B pillar existing between the frontmost pillar and the rearmost pillar of the vehicle.

  Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vehicle interior provided with a vehicle occupant protection device according to an embodiment of claim 1, and FIG. 2 (a) is a sectional view taken along line II-II in FIG. FIG. 2B is a sectional view of the same part as FIG. 2A when the airbag is inflated. In the following description, “front and rear” matches the front and rear of the vehicle body.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a vehicle body equipped with this vehicle occupant protection device includes an A pillar 2, a B pillar 3 as a center pillar, a C pillar 4, a roof side rail 5, and the like. A B pillar garnish 6 is attached to the B pillar 3. A roof lining 7 is provided along the ceiling of the vehicle body.

  This vehicle occupant protection device includes an airbag 10 that is folded into an elongated shape and an inflator 20 for inflating the airbag 10.

  The airbag 10 extends from the vicinity of the upper portion of the A pillar 2 to the vicinity of the upper portion of the C pillar 4 via the roof side rail 5. A plurality of ear-shaped projecting pieces 11 project from the upper side of the airbag 10 at a predetermined interval. The projecting pieces 11 are attached to the roof side rail 5 by fastening tools 8 such as bolts and rivets. It is fastened. A gas inlet 12 extends from the rear portion of the airbag 10 and is connected to the inflator 20. The airbag 10 has a size capable of covering substantially the entire window opening of the side door from the vicinity of the A pillar 2 to the vicinity of the C pillar 4 when inflated.

  The roof lining 7 covers the folded body of the airbag 10 from the vehicle interior side along the roof side rail 5. As shown in FIG. 2 (a), in the roof lining 7, the lower edge portion 7 a of the roof lining 7 overlaps the upper end surface 6 a of the B pillar garnish 6. As shown in the drawing, the lower edge portion 7a of the roof lining 7 has a smaller thickness and lower strength than a portion adjacent to the lower edge portion 7a (a portion not overlapping the upper end surface 6a of the B pillar garnish 6). ing.

  In the vehicle occupant protection device configured as described above, the inflator 20 is actuated when the vehicle collides or rolls over, and the airbag 10 starts to inflate. The airbag 10 inflates into the vehicle interior while pushing the roof lining 7 open, and then inflates and deploys along the side surface of the vehicle interior (window opening and B pillar garnish 6).

  In this vehicle occupant protection device, when the roof lining 7 is pressed indoors by the inflating airbag 10, the lower edge 7 a is quickly deformed and detached from the upper end surface 6 a of the B pillar garnish 6. . As a result, the roof lining 7 is smoothly opened to the indoor side, and the airbag 10 is inflated and deployed smoothly and quickly into the vehicle interior.

  Therefore, in this vehicle occupant protection device, the airbag is inflated smoothly along the side of the passenger compartment, without providing an inflating direction guide member for the airbag such as a jump stand. Further, since the air bag inflation direction guide member is unnecessary, various costs such as component costs and assembly costs can be reduced, or the weight of the apparatus can be reduced.

  3 and 4 are perspective views of the roof linings 7A and 7B of the vehicle occupant protection device according to the third and fourth embodiments, respectively.

  In the roof lining 7A of FIG. 3, it is arranged in the vehicle front-rear direction at the boundary between the lower edge portion 7a 'overlapping the upper end surface 6a of the B pillar garnish 6 and the portion adjacent to the lower edge portion 7a'. A number of small holes 7b are formed.

  Further, in the roof lining 7B of FIG. 4, a groove 7c extending in the vehicle front-rear direction is formed at the boundary between the lower edge portion 7a ′ and a portion adjacent to the lower edge portion 7a ′. ing.

  In these roof linings 7A and 7B, the lower edge portion 7a 'has substantially the same thickness and strength as the portion adjacent to the lower edge portion 7a'.

  In these roof linings 7A and 7B, the boundary between the lower edge portion 7a 'and the portion adjacent to the lower edge portion 7a' is a fragile portion by the small hole 7b or the groove 7c. . Therefore, when a pressing force is applied to the roof linings 7A and 7B from the inflating airbag 10, the lower edge portion 7a 'is quickly bent and deformed from the fragile portion to cause the B pillar garnish 6 Is detached from the upper end 6a. As a result, the roof linings 7A and 7B are smoothly opened to the vehicle interior side, and the airbag 10 is also inflated and deployed smoothly and quickly into the vehicle interior.

  Each of the above embodiments shows an example of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to each of the above embodiments.

  In the above embodiment, the B pillar is shown as the center pillar, but in the case of a vehicle having four pillars A, B, C and D, both the B pillar and the C pillar correspond to the center pillar. In a limousine or the like having five or more pillars, three or more pillars excluding the front pillar and the rear pillar correspond to the center pillar.

It is a perspective view of a vehicle interior provided with a vehicle occupant protection device according to an embodiment. It is sectional drawing which follows the II-II line of FIG. It is a principal part perspective view of the vehicle occupant protection device which concerns on another embodiment. It is a principal part perspective view of the vehicle occupant protection device which concerns on another embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

2 A pillar 3 B pillar 4 C pillar 5 Roof side rail 6 B pillar garnish 7 Roof lining 7a, 7a 'Lower edge 7b Small hole 7c Groove 10 Air bag

Claims (4)

A folded airbag installed along the roof side rail;
An inflator for inflating the airbag;
A roof lining that covers the folded airbag from the indoor side,
In the upper part of the center pillar, in the vehicle occupant protection device, the lower edge of the roof lining overlaps the upper end surface of the center pillar garnish.
The vehicle occupant protection device, wherein the roof lining has a lower strength at a lower edge portion than a portion adjacent to the lower edge portion.   The vehicle occupant protection device according to claim 1, wherein a thickness of a lower edge portion of the roof lining is smaller than a thickness of a portion adjacent to the lower edge portion. A folded airbag installed along the roof side rail;
An inflator for inflating the airbag;
A roof lining that covers the folded airbag from the indoor side,
In the upper part of the center pillar, in the vehicle occupant protection device, the lower edge of the roof lining overlaps the upper end surface of the center pillar garnish.
A vehicle occupant protection device, wherein a boundary portion between a lower edge portion of the roof lining and a portion adjacent to the lower edge portion is a fragile portion.   4. The vehicle occupant protection device according to claim 3, wherein the boundary portion is a weak portion by providing a small hole or a groove.

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