JP2007137150A - Knee air bag device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a knee air bag device for a vehicle capable of surely protecting legs of an occupant by expanding a knee air bag in front of both knees even if the occupant sits while straddling both the knees. <P>SOLUTION: The knee air bag 18 is not folded in the cross direction and has a width corresponding to both the knees 22 of the occupant from the initial time of expansion, and the operation of the knee air bag 18 when expanding is thereby stabilized. Even if the occupant 12 sits while straddling both the knees 22, the air bag 18 is not expanded between both the knees 22, and normally expanded between an instrument panel 24 and both the knees 22 to surely constrain the legs 14. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a knee airbag device for a vehicle having an inflating portion that inflates corresponding to an occupant's knee.

Disclosed is a configuration in which a knee airbag module, which is configured by storing an airbag that is folded in the left and right and up and down directions in a case together with an inflator, is disposed in the approximate center of both knees of an occupant near the lower end of the instrument panel. (See Patent Document 1).
JP 2004-203226 A

  However, as in the conventional example described above, since the left and right widths of the airbag folded to the left and right are narrow, when the occupant sits with both knees open, they enter between the knees. It was easy to swell in the state, and it was difficult to deploy to the front side of both knees.

  In consideration of the above facts, the present invention can deploy the knee airbag in front of both knees even when the occupant is seated with both knees open so that the legs of the occupant can be reliably protected. The purpose is to.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a module case disposed in an instrument panel, an inflator that operates when a frontal collision of a vehicle occurs, and ejects gas, and is expanded by the gas ejected from the inflator and is in the predetermined deployment direction. And is folded in a deployable manner between the instrument panel and the occupant's knees and stored in the module case. And a knee airbag.

  In the vehicle knee airbag device according to claim 1, the knee airbag is not folded in the width direction, and is folded in a deployable manner between the instrument panel and the knees of the occupant. At the time of a frontal collision, a wide knee airbag quickly deploys between the instrument panel's occupants' knees. For this reason, even if the occupant is seated with both knees open, the knee airbag does not enter between the knees, and the knee airbag deployed in front of the knees can It can be surely protected.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the knee airbag device for a vehicle according to the first aspect, the knee airbag is initially deployed from the module case to the vehicle interior rear side at the time of a frontal collision, and then the instrument panel and It develops downward between the knees of the occupant.

  In the vehicle knee airbag device according to claim 2, after the knee airbag is initially deployed from the module case to the vehicle interior rear side at the time of a frontal collision of the vehicle, the knee airbag device is provided between the instrument panel and the passenger's knees. Expand downward. That is, since the knee airbag is deployed from the upper side to the lower side, the knee airbag can enter between the knees of the occupant and the instrument panel at an early stage. As a result, both knees can be restrained at an early stage, so that the shock absorption for both knees is improved.

  As described above, according to the knee airbag device for a vehicle according to claim 1 of the present invention, even if an occupant is seated with both knees open, the knee airbag is placed in front of both knees. An excellent effect that the occupant's legs can be reliably protected by unfolding the vehicle is obtained.

  According to the knee airbag device for a vehicle according to the second aspect, it is possible to obtain an excellent effect that both knees can be restrained at an early stage, and the shock absorbability to both knees is improved.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, the vehicle knee airbag device 10 according to the present embodiment absorbs an impact mainly on the legs 14 (FIG. 3) of the occupant 12 seated in the passenger seat at the time of a frontal collision of the vehicle 40. And has a module case 20 (FIG. 2), an inflator 16 (FIG. 2), and a knee airbag 18.

  In FIG. 2, the inflator 16 is a gas supply source to the knee airbag 18 that is configured to operate and eject gas at the time of a frontal collision of the vehicle, and is accommodated in the knee airbag 18, or The knee airbag 18 is connected.

  Specifically, when a frontal collision of the vehicle is detected by a front collision sensor (not shown) or a frontal collision is predicted by a front collision pre-crash sensor (not shown), an ignition current from the airbag ECU (not shown) is generated from the inflator 16. A large amount of gas is ejected from the inflator 16 by flowing into an ignition device (not shown) and operating the ignition device.

  In FIGS. 1 to 3, the knee airbag 18 is not folded in the width direction so that it can directly correspond to the knees 22 of the occupant 12 in the seated state when deployed, and between the instrument panel and the knees 22 of the occupant 12. It is a bag body that is folded so as to be unfolded and expands and unfolds with the gas ejected from the inflator 16.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, when the knee airbag 18 is inflated, a lower region from the initial deployment position of the instrument panel 24 in front of the passenger seat is defined in the vehicle width direction. It has a width and length that can be covered over substantially the whole. The knee airbag 18 is initially deployed in a predetermined direction, for example, from the module case 20 to the vehicle interior rear side while maintaining its width, and then downwards between the instrument panel 24 and the knees 22 of the occupant 12. The module case 20 is folded so as to be unfolded and stored in the module case 20.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the knee airbag 18 may be folded by a roll type wound around the width direction of the knee airbag 18 around the lower edge portion 18 </ b> A when inflated, or a bellows type not shown. Good. Moreover, you may combine a roll type and a bellows type suitably. Further, the manner of winding the knee airbag 18 stored in the module case 20 is not limited to the illustrated one. However, it does not fold in the width direction, and has a width corresponding to both knees 22 of the occupant 12 before inflation. For this reason, even when the occupant 12 is seated with both knees 22 open at the time of inflation, the knee airbag 18 is deployed to the front side of the knees 22.

  As shown in FIG. 4, a strap 26, a sewing portion, and the like are provided in the knee airbag 18, and when the knee airbag 18 is inflated by the strap 26, the module case 20 moves to the rear side in the vehicle interior. After the initial deployment, the space between the instrument panel 24 and the knees 22 of the occupant 12 is deployed downward.

  In FIG. 4, the module case 20 is a container having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped box shape, for example, which is disposed in the instrument panel 24 and stores the knee airbag 18 in which the inflator 16 is provided. Specifically, the module case 20 is arranged such that the rear side in the vehicle interior opens at a position substantially above the knees 22 of the seated occupant 12 above the glove box 28 that can be opened and closed by the hinge 28A. It is installed so that the longitudinal direction is the vehicle width direction, and is closed by a lid 30 provided on the instrument panel 24 during normal use, for example. The inflator 16 is fixed to, for example, the back surface 20A of the module case 20.

  As described above, the vehicle knee airbag device 10 is configured such that the knee airbag 18 can be interposed between the instrument panel 24 and both knees 22 of the occupant 12 in the event of a frontal collision of the vehicle.

  In consideration of the case where the vehicle collides with the front face with the glove box 28 open, for example, a gas supply source (not shown) is operated at the same time as the knee airbag 18 is inflated or earlier than the knee airbag 18 is inflated. Then, the glove box 28 may be forcibly closed.

(Function)
3 and 4, in the vehicle knee airbag device 10, when a frontal collision of the vehicle is detected by the front collision sensor or a frontal collision is predicted by a front collision pre-crash sensor (not shown), the airbag ECU From this, an ignition current is supplied to the ignition device of the inflator 16, and the ignition device is operated, so that a large amount of gas is ejected from the inflator 16. Accordingly, when the internal pressure of the knee airbag 18 increases, the lid 30 of the instrument panel 24 is opened by the pressure, and the knee airbag 18 is initially deployed from the module case 20 toward the vehicle interior rear side. The opening method of the lid 30 is not limited to the illustrated one.

  Thereafter, the deployment shape of the knee airbag 18 is restricted by the strap 26, and the knee airbag 18 is lowered between the instrument panel 24 and both knees 22 of the occupant 12, more specifically between the glove box 28 and both knees 22. The direction is rapidly expanded in the direction of arrow D1 and further in the direction of arrow D2. At this time, as shown in FIG. 4, for example, even if there is an accessory 32 between the leg 14 of the occupant 12 and the instrument panel 24, the knee airbag 18 is deployed by the knee airbag 18 that is deployed. For example, toward the foot of the occupant 12 that is outside the 18 deployment region, it can be eliminated, for example, in the direction of arrow E.

  Further, since the knee airbag 18 is not folded in the width direction and has a width corresponding to both knees 22 of the occupant 12 from the initial stage of deployment, the behavior of the knee airbag 18 at the time of inflation is stabilized. Even if the occupant 12 is seated with both knees 22 open, the knee airbag 18 does not inflate between the knees 22, and the instrument panel 24 and the knees 22 The leg 14 that moves forward due to inertia can be reliably restrained.

  Further, since the knee airbag 18 is deployed from the upper side to the lower side, the knee airbag 18 can enter between the knees 22 of the occupant 12 and the instrument panel 24 at an early stage. In addition, since it can be restrained reliably, the impact absorbability with respect to the leg portion 14 is enhanced.

  The inflation of the knee airbag 18 is completed when it is fully deployed to the lower edge portion 18A, and the knee airbag 18 is interposed between the instrument panel 24 and both knees 22 of the occupant 12. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the knee airbag 18 is deployed from the initial stage of deployment so as to widely cover the instrument panel 24 located on the passenger seat side with respect to the center console 34. As shown in FIG. 4, regardless of the state of both knees 22, the knee airbag 18 can reliably protect the legs 14 of the occupant 12.

  By using the vehicle knee airbag device 10, the leg portion 14 of the occupant 12 can be restrained at an early stage, thereby narrowing the protection area by the passenger seat airbag device (not shown). The airbag device can be miniaturized and the cost can be reduced.

  Since the vehicle knee airbag device 10 is disposed near the knees 22 of the occupant 12 seated above the glove box 28, the knees 22 of the occupant 12 can be quickly restrained. Since both knees 22 of the occupant 12 have a high restraining effect, it is possible to reduce the capacity without deploying the knee airbag 18 to the position close to the ankle as shown in the drawing. As the capacity of the knee airbag 18 is reduced, the capacity of the inflator can also be reduced, and the cost can be reduced and the size can be reduced.

  Further, in the above embodiment, the knee airbag 18 is described as being deployed downward from the module case 20 after initial deployment to the vehicle interior rear side, but the deployment direction of the knee airbag 18 is not limited to this. In the case of the vehicle knee airbag device according to the first aspect, the module case 20 may be provided in the lower part of the instrument panel 24 so that the knee airbag 18 is deployed from the lower side to the upper side. .

It is a perspective view which shows the state which the knee airbag apparatus for vehicles act | operated and the knee airbag expand | deployed in the vehicle interior. It is a perspective view which shows the knee airbag and inflator which were stored in the module case. It is a perspective view which shows the state which expands the front side of a passenger | crew's both knees downward after initial deployment of a knee airbag to the vehicle interior back side. It is sectional drawing which shows the state which expand | deploys below between an instrument panel and a passenger | crew's knees, after a knee airbag is initially deployed by the vehicle interior back side.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Vehicle knee airbag apparatus 12 Crew 14 Leg part 16 Inflator 18 Knee airbag 20 Module case 22 Both knees 24 Instrument panel

Claims (2)

A module case placed in the instrument panel;
An inflator that is activated during a frontal collision of the vehicle and ejects gas;
Both the instrument panel and the occupant are not folded in the width direction so that they can be expanded as they are expanded by the gas ejected from the inflator and deployed in the predetermined deployment direction, and can directly correspond to both knees of the seated occupant during deployment. A knee airbag folded in a deployable manner between the knee and stored in the module case;
A vehicle knee airbag device comprising:   2. The knee airbag is initially deployed from the module case to the vehicle interior rear side at the time of a frontal collision, and is then deployed downward between the instrument panel and the knees of the occupant. The vehicle knee airbag device described in 1.

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