JP2008037276A - Side airbag device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a side airbag device capable of protecting an occupant while suppressing a load applied to the occupant's side part. <P>SOLUTION: An airbag 9 for a leg part inflated and deployed at the time of vehicle collision to press a leg part 2a of an occupant 2 seated on an occupant seat 1 and having a side face opposing to a vehicle side wall part 5 is provided. Due to the pressing, the airbag 9 for the leg part rotates the femoral part 2d of the occupant 2 around the waist part 2e of the occupant 2 in the direction where the knee part 2b of the occupant 2 is separated from the vehicle side wall part 5. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a side airbag device that protects an occupant by inflating and deploying an airbag.

  Conventionally, when a vehicle side wall portion of a vehicle collides, a side airbag device that detects the collision and inflates and deploys the airbag between the vehicle side wall portion and the occupant to protect the occupant has been put into practical use. .

As a conventional technique of this type, for example, as described in Patent Document 1, a collision of a vehicle side wall provided on a side of an occupant seat is detected and inflated and deployed, and a shoulder from an occupant's waist seated on the occupant seat There has been proposed a side airbag device including an airbag that presses a portion reaching the upper portion, that is, an upper body of an occupant. In this prior art, the airbag is inflated and deployed at the time of collision of the vehicle side wall and presses the upper body of the occupant, so that the upper body of the occupant moves away from the vehicle side wall. It is said that the vehicle side wall portion can be prevented from directly hitting the upper body of the occupant even if it is deformed and recessed inward.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2004-330925 (paragraph numbers 0021 to 0023, FIG. 1)

  However, in the prior art described in Patent Document 1 described above, since a load is directly applied to the occupant's abdomen directly from the side, there is a problem that the load applied to the occupant's abdomen is large.

  Then, an object of this invention is to provide the side airbag apparatus which can protect a passenger | crew, suppressing the load concerning a passenger | crew's abdominal part.

  A side airbag device according to the present invention includes a leg airbag that inflates and presses an occupant's leg that is seated on an occupant seat and whose side faces the vehicle side wall in the event of a vehicle collision. The airbag for a part rotates the thigh of the occupant about the waist of the occupant as a fulcrum in a direction in which the knee part of the occupant is separated from the vehicle side wall by the pressing.

  According to the present invention, the lower body of the occupant moves in a direction away from the vehicle side wall by the pressing of the leg airbag, so that the lower body of the occupant can be protected. In addition, the upper part of the occupant is twisted around the waist of the occupant so that the front surface of the occupant moves away from the vehicle side wall by pressing the leg airbag, thus protecting the upper part of the occupant. be able to. At this time, in particular, since the lateral abdominal part of the occupant on the side wall of the vehicle is in an oblique state with respect to the vehicle side wall, the load applied to the abdomen of the occupant can be suppressed.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. This embodiment is an application example to a side airbag for a driver's seat of an automobile. 1 is a side view showing a side airbag device according to this embodiment, FIG. 2 is a front view showing the side airbag device according to this embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a side airbag device according to this embodiment. FIG. In the drawing, a state where the side airbag device is deployed is shown. In addition, a two-dot chain line in the figure indicates an occupant in a normal state before the side airbag device is deployed.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a passenger seat 1 is provided inside the passenger compartment A. A vehicle side wall 5 is provided on the side of the occupant seat 1. This vehicle side wall part 5 is comprised from the door, the frame member, etc.

  The occupant seat 1 is such that the side surface of the seated occupant 2 faces the vehicle side wall 5 and is a driver seat in this embodiment. The occupant seat 1 includes a seat portion 3 on which the occupant 2 sits, a backrest portion 4 supported by the seat portion 3, and a side airbag device 6.

  The side airbag device 6 includes a first airbag module 7 provided on the vehicle sidewall 5 side of the seat portion 3 and a second airbag module 8 provided on the vehicle sidewall 5 side of the backrest 4. Yes.

  The first airbag module 7 is inflated and deployed when the vehicle side wall portion 5 collides, and presses the knee portion 2b constituting the leg portion 2a of the occupant 2 in a direction away from the vehicle side wall portion 5. And a case 10 that accommodates the leg airbag 9 in a normal state.

  The second airbag module 8 includes a shoulder airbag 11 that inflates and deploys when the vehicle side wall 5 collides, and presses the shoulder 2c of the occupant 2 away from the vehicle side wall 5; And a case 12 for storing the air bag 11. In this embodiment, the leg airbag 9 is inflated and deployed earlier than the shoulder airbag 11 by a specified time when the vehicle side wall 5 collides.

  In such a configuration, the leg airbag 9 is housed in the case 10 and the shoulder airbag 11 is housed in the case 12 in the same manner. In this state, for example, when the vehicle side wall 5 collides and a collision detection sensor (not shown) detects the collision of the vehicle side wall 5, the leg airbag 9 is activated by the operation of the inflator (not shown) of the first airbag module 7. Is inflated and deployed from inside the case 10 and presses the knee 2b of the occupant 2 seated on the occupant seat 1 in a direction away from the vehicle side wall 5 (direction indicated by an arrow in FIG. 3). By this pressing, the lower half of the occupant 2 moves away from the vehicle side wall 5. Further, by this pressing, the leg airbag 9 rotates the occupant's thigh 2d with the lumbar 2e of the occupant 2 as a fulcrum in a direction in which the knee 2b of the occupant 2 moves away from the vehicle side wall 5. As a result, the lower body of the occupant 2 moves away from the vehicle side wall 5, and the shoulder 2 c of the occupant 2 on the side of the vehicle side wall 5 moves away from the vehicle side wall 5. 2e is twisted around the vehicle 2 so that the posture of the occupant 2 is slightly turned away from the vehicle side wall 5. Further, after a specified time from the inflation and deployment of the leg airbag 9, the shoulder airbag 11 is inflated and deployed by the operation of an inflator (not shown) of the second airbag module 8, so that the shoulder 2 c of the occupant 2 is attached to the vehicle side wall. Press away from the part 5. As a result, the upper body of the occupant 2 moves away from the vehicle side wall 5. With the above operation, the posture of the occupant 2 changes from the normal state indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIGS. 2 and 3 to the state at the time of the collision of the vehicle side wall portion 5 indicated by the solid line in FIGS. 2 and 3.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the lower body of the occupant 2 moves in a direction away from the vehicle side wall 5 when the vehicle side wall 5 collides by the operation of the leg airbag 9. Can be protected. Moreover, since the upper body of the occupant 2 is twisted about the waist 2e of the occupant 2 so that the front surface of the occupant 2 moves away from the vehicle side wall portion 5 by the pressing of the leg airbag 9, The upper body of the occupant 2 can also be protected. At this time, in particular, the lateral abdominal part of the occupant 2 on the side of the vehicle side wall 5 is inclined with respect to the vehicle side wall 5 (FIG. 3), so that the load applied to the abdomen of the occupant 2 can be suppressed.

  Further, in the present embodiment, by providing the shoulder airbag 11, the shoulder airbag 11 is inflated and deployed in addition to the leg airbag 9 when the vehicle side wall portion 5 collides, and the shoulder of the occupant 2. Since the part 2c is pressed in the direction away from the vehicle side wall part 5, the upper body of the occupant 2 can be more reliably protected when the vehicle side wall part 5 collides.

  The leg airbag 9 and the shoulder airbag 11 press the knee 2b and the shoulder 2c, which are separated from the waist 2e, which is the center of gravity of the occupant 2, respectively. It is easy to control each posture. Further, since the abdomen and chest part of the upper body of the occupant 2 that are particularly resistant are not compressed by the leg airbag 9 and the shoulder airbag 11, the burden on the abdomen and chest part can be suppressed.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the leg airbag 9 is inflated and deployed earlier than the shoulder airbag 11, so that the airbag 9 and 11 are in the order of inflation and deployment at the time of collision of the vehicle side wall portion 5. Compared to the opposite case, the upper body of the occupant 2 can be more reliably twisted about the waist 2e to turn the back slightly toward the vehicle side wall 5.

  The present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and various other embodiments can be adopted without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, in the present embodiment, the case where the occupant seat 1 is the driver's seat is illustrated, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the occupant seat may be a passenger seat or a rear seat.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the example in which the leg airbag 9 presses the knee 2b of the occupant 2 has been described. However, in the leg airbag 9, the knee 2b of the occupant 2 moves away from the vehicle side wall 5. As long as the thigh 2d of the occupant rotates in the direction with the lumbar 2e of the occupant 2 as a fulcrum, for example, the leg airbag 9 pushes the peripheral portion of the knee 2b in the leg 2a. There may be.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the leg airbag 9 is inflated and deployed by the operation of the inflator (not shown) of the first airbag module 7, and the shoulder airbag is operated by the operation of another inflator (not shown) of the second airbag module 8. Although the case where the bag 11 is also inflated and deployed has been illustrated, the leg airbags 9 and 11 may be inflated and deployed from only one inflator via a pipe.

It is a side view which shows the side airbag apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a front view which shows the side airbag apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a top view which shows the side airbag apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Passenger seat 2 ... Passenger 2a ... Leg part 2b ... Knee part 2c ... Shoulder part 2d ... Thigh part 2e ... Waist part 5 ... Vehicle side wall part 6 ... Side airbag apparatus 9 ... Leg part airbag 11 ... For shoulder part Airbag

Claims (3)

A leg airbag that inflates and deploys and presses an occupant's leg, which is seated on the occupant seat and whose side faces the vehicle side wall, in the event of a vehicle collision,
The leg airbag is a side airbag device in which the occupant's thigh is rotated about the occupant's waist as a fulcrum in a direction in which the occupant's knee is separated from the vehicle side wall by the pressing.   The side airbag device according to claim 1, further comprising a shoulder airbag that presses the shoulder of the passenger in a direction away from the vehicle side wall. The side airbag device according to claim 2, wherein the leg airbag is inflated and deployed earlier than the shoulder airbag.

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