JP2577963Y2 - Automotive airbag equipment - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle airbag device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, many automobiles have an airbag device for deploying an airbag toward a vehicle interior at the time of a collision, from the viewpoint of improving the safety of occupants due to the collision. Among such airbag devices, there has been proposed a so-called side airbag device in which a side airbag is deployed between a side door and an occupant at the time of a side collision.

[0003] By the way, the airbag device is inflated.
An airbag unit is formed by housing the airbag and the folded side airbag in a casing, and the airbag unit is mounted at an appropriate position on the vehicle body. Although this airbag unit will be quite large,
As disclosed in JP-A-117957, it has been proposed to house an airbag unit in a side airbag device in an armrest formed on an inner surface of a side door. That is, the airbag unit is to be disposed by utilizing the extra space in the armrest, and the side airbag has a lid portion formed on a vertical wall portion extending substantially vertically in the armrest. It can be pushed open and deployed almost horizontally to the inside of the vehicle.

[0004]

In order to protect the occupant by the side airbag, it is desired that the side airbag be positioned from the shoulder of the occupant to a position higher than the shoulder. For this reason, when the side airbag is stored in the armrest at a relatively low position, the armrest passes through the upper surface, that is, the surface on which the occupant's arm is placed.
It is conceivable to deploy the side airbag upward. In this case, the upper surface of the armrest is configured as a lid portion that is forcibly pushed open by the side airbag.

[0005] However, when the upper surface of the armrest is formed as a lid, the occupant's arm placed on the lid may be greatly lifted upward when the side airbag is deployed. In this regard, some countermeasures are desired.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a lid portion which is pushed and opened by the side airbag when the upper surface of the armrest is formed, so that the occupant's arm is greatly jumped upward when the side airbag is deployed. It is an object of the present invention to provide an airbag device for an automobile, which can prevent a trouble.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following first configuration. That is, the folded side airbag is housed in an armrest formed on the inner side surface of the vehicle body of the cabin side wall member, and the side airbag is forcibly pushed by a lid portion formed on the armrest upon a side collision. In an airbag device for an automobile, which is pushed open to be deployed in a vehicle interior, the lid portion extends upward from an upper surface portion forming an upper surface of the armrest and an outer end in the vehicle width direction of the upper surface portion. An upper extension portion, wherein a swing fulcrum when the lid portion is pushed and opened by the side airbag is set near a vehicle width direction inner side end portion of the upper surface portion, and the air including the airbag is provided. A bag unit is attached to a portion other than the lid portion of the cabin side wall member,
There is such a configuration.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following configuration as a second configuration. That is, the folded side airbag is housed in an armrest formed on the inner side surface of the vehicle body of the cabin side wall member, and the side airbag is forcibly pushed by a lid portion formed on the armrest upon a side collision. In an airbag device for an automobile, which is pushed open to be deployed in a vehicle interior, the lid portion extends downward from an upper surface portion forming an upper surface of the armrest and an inner side end portion of the upper surface portion in a vehicle width direction. An airbag unit having a lower extension, wherein a swing fulcrum when the lid is pushed and opened by the side airbag is set at a lower end of the lower extension, and the airbag unit including the airbag is mounted on the vehicle. It is configured such that it is attached to a portion other than the lid portion of the chamber side wall member. To achieve the above object, the present invention has a third configuration as follows. That is, in an airbag device of an automobile in which an airbag unit that can be deployed upward is disposed in an armrest, the armrest is configured to have a lid constituting at least an upper surface portion, and the inside of the armrest is When the airbag is deployed, the lid is configured to be deployed inward in the vehicle width direction, and the airbag unit is attached to a portion of the vehicle interior side wall member other than the lid. There is a simple configuration.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the side airbag is deployed, the lid portion can
The upper surface is opened upward centering on a swing fulcrum set near the inner end in the vehicle width direction. At this time, the upper extension forcibly pushes the occupant's arm placed on the upper surface into the vehicle body inward, that is, toward the occupant's torso, and the arm jumps up greatly. It is prevented from being done. Also, since the airbag unit is attached to a portion other than the lid portion, the inertial weight of the lid portion pushed and opened by the deployed airbag unit is minimized, that is, the resistance required for airbag deployment is minimized. This is preferable in that the airbag can be smoothly deployed at a high speed, and the load applied to the swing fulcrum of the lid can be reduced.

With the configuration as described in claim 2, when the side airbag is deployed, the lid portion as a whole is inclined while the upper surface portion is inclined so as to push the arm inward in the vehicle width direction. This prevents a situation in which the occupant's arm placed on the upper surface portion is displaced inward in the width direction and the arm of the occupant is greatly lifted upward. Also, since the airbag unit is attached to a portion other than the lid portion, the inertial weight of the lid portion pushed and opened by the deployed airbag unit is minimized, that is, the resistance required for airbag deployment is minimized. This is preferable in that the airbag can be smoothly deployed at a high speed, and the load applied to the swing fulcrum of the lid can be reduced.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the second aspect, the upwardly extending portion positively pushes the occupant's arm inward in the vehicle width direction. As a result, the situation in which the occupant's arm is greatly jumped upward can be more reliably prevented. Claim 4
According to the invention described in (1), when the airbag is deployed, the lid is deployed inward in the vehicle width direction, thereby preventing a situation in which the occupant's arm is greatly flipped upward. Also, since the airbag unit is attached to a portion other than the lid, the inertial weight of the lid pushed and opened by the deployed airbag unit is minimized, that is, the resistance required for airbag deployment is minimized. This is preferable for smoothly deploying the airbag at a high speed, and the load applied to the swing fulcrum for deploying the lid is also small. According to the fifth aspect, the airbag is housed so that its deployment direction is directed substantially upward, that is, when the airbag is deployed, the original deployment direction may be maintained from the initial stage to the final stage, Since there is no need to change the deployment direction in the middle, it is necessary to ensure that the final deployment direction of the airbag is substantially above the desired direction. Is preferable for minimizing the value of.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a side door as a vehicle cabin side wall member to which the present invention is applied. In the embodiment, a side door for a driver's seat is used. The side door 1 is formed in a closed cross-sectional shape by an inner panel 2 and an outer panel 3, and an impact bar-4 as a strength member that extends long in the vehicle front-rear direction is disposed inside the side door 1.

A trim member 5 is attached to and fixed to a side surface of the inner panel 2 in the vehicle cabin. An armrest 6 is formed in the trim member 5 at a position substantially at the intermediate height of the side door 1 in the vertical direction. As is known, the armrest 6 has an upper surface 6a extending substantially horizontally inward in the vehicle width direction.
And a vertical surface 6b extending downward from the inner end of the upper surface 6a in the vehicle width direction, and the arm J1 of the occupant J is placed on the upper surface 6a. The trim member 5 is formed such that a portion of the upper surface 6a and the vertical surface 6b bulges inward in the vehicle width direction. Is formed. The vertical surface 6b is
It is formed slightly inclined so as to gradually approach the inner panel 2 as it goes downward.

In the space 7, an airbag unit 1 is provided.
0 is provided. This airbag unit 10
An inflator 12 and a folded side airbag 13 are housed in a casing 11, and the casing 11 is fixed to the inner panel 2 by bolts or the like as shown.

A lid portion 15 is formed in the trim material 5 over the armrest 6. This lid part 15
Has an upper surface portion 15a, an upper extension portion 15b, and a lower extension portion 15c. The upper surface portion 15a forms a part of the upper surface 6a of the armrest 6, and normally forms an arm mounting surface on which the arm J1 is mounted. The upper extension portion 15b extends upward from the outer side end of the upper surface portion 15a in the vehicle width direction and forms a part of a vertical surface that always extends in the vertical direction of the trim material 5. The lower extension portion 15a extends downward from the outer side of the upper surface portion 15a in the vehicle width direction, and normally forms a part of the vertical surface 6b of the armrest 6.

The above-described lid portion 15 is provided with the trim material 5.
(Armrest 6) is distinguished by a boundary line set as follows. This point will be described with reference to FIG. First, the lower end of the lid portion 15 is partitioned by a swing fulcrum 16 that is set to extend in the front-rear direction and becomes the lower end of the lower extension portion 15c. This swing fulcrum 16
A part of the trim member 5 is formed into a linear shape so as to be easily bent. The upper end of the lid portion 15 is partitioned by a breaking line 17 formed by a cut extending in the front-rear direction. Also, the boundary before and after the lid part 15 is
Partitioned by 19. Note that, instead of the breaking lines 17 to 19, a weakening line may be used.

The direction of deployment of the side airbag 13 from the above-described airbag unit 10 is set so as to be substantially perpendicular to the upper surface 15a of the lid portion 15. In addition, 8 in the figure is a side glass.

In the above configuration, G not shown is omitted.
When a lateral collision is detected by the sensor, the inflation
2 is exploded to generate gas pressure, and the gas pressure causes the side airbag 13 to be deployed as shown by the dashed line in FIG. When the side airbag 13 is deployed, the lid portion 15 is forcibly opened around the swing fulcrum 16 as shown by the dashed line in FIG. 1 by receiving the inflation pressure from the side airbag 13.

When the lid portion 15 is opened, the lid portion 15 is displaced entirely inward in the vehicle width direction with almost no upward displacement. At this time, since the upper surface portion 15a is displaced inward in the vehicle width direction while being inclined so that the inner side in the vehicle width direction is lower than the outer side, the upper surface portion 15a is placed on the upper surface portion 15a. Crew J's arm J
1 receives the force toward the inside in the vehicle width direction and
1 is pushed toward the body J2 of the occupant J.

The upper extension 15b allows the upper surface 1
The arm J1 located on the upper side 5a is securely pushed inward in the vehicle width direction without coming off from the upper surface portion 15a outward in the vehicle width direction. In this manner, the arm J1 of the occupant J is not greatly jumped upward, and the side airbag 13 is not obstructed by the arm J1 and the side door 1 and the occupant J have a high position from near the shoulder to near the head. It is surely developed to. In addition, pushing the arm J1 toward the body J2 is preferable in making the posture of the occupant J more stable than when the arm J1 is greatly jumped upward.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the present invention, in which the same components as those in the above embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted. In this embodiment, the lid portion 21 does not have the lower extension portion 15c in the above embodiment, but has only the upper surface portion 15a and the upper extension portion 15b. A swing fulcrum 16 is set at the inner end of the upper surface 15a in the vehicle width direction. According to the present embodiment, the lid portion 21 that is opened when the side airbag 13 is deployed is rocked and displaced inward in the vehicle width direction about the rocking fulcrum 16. In this case, the arm J1 on the upper surface portion 15a is securely pushed inward in the vehicle width direction while being restricted from coming off the upper surface portion 15a outward in the vehicle width direction by the upper extension portion 15b. Become.

Although the embodiment has been described above, the side wall member to which the present invention is applied is not limited to the side door, but may be similarly applied to a side wall member connected to the side door.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a side door to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the armrest portion shown in FIG. 1 when viewed from the passenger compartment side.

3 shows another embodiment of the present invention, and is a sectional view of a main part corresponding to FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: side door 2: inner panel 5: trim material 6: armrest 10: airbag unit 13: side airbag 15: lid 15a: upper surface 15b: upper extension 15c: lower extension 16: swing fulcrum 21: Lid section

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B60R 21/20-21/22

Claims (5)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] A folded side airbag is housed in an armrest formed on an inner side surface of a vehicle body side wall member, and the side airbag is provided with a lid portion formed on the armrest at the time of a side collision. In an airbag device for an automobile, which is forcibly pushed open and deployed into a vehicle cabin, the lid portion includes an upper surface portion forming an upper surface of the armrest, and an outer end portion of the upper surface portion in a vehicle width direction. An upper extending portion extending upward, a swing fulcrum when the lid portion is pushed open by the side airbag is set closer to an inner end in the vehicle width direction of the upper surface portion, and the airbag The airbag unit including
Attached to a part other than the lid part of the side wall member
An airbag device for an automobile. 2. A folded side airbag is housed in an armrest formed on an inner side surface of a vehicle body side wall member, and the side airbag is provided with a lid formed on the armrest at the time of a side collision. In an airbag device for an automobile, which is forcibly pushed open and deployed into a vehicle cabin, the lid portion includes an upper surface portion forming an upper surface of the armrest, and an inner end portion of the upper surface portion in a vehicle width direction. An airbag unit including a downwardly extending portion extending downward, wherein a swing fulcrum when the lid portion is pushed open by the side airbag is set at a lower end portion of the downwardly extending portion. , The cabin
Attached to a part other than the lid part of the side wall member
An airbag device for an automobile. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the lid portion further comprises an upper extension extending upward from the vehicle width direction outer side end portion of the upper surface, the Japanese
Airbag device for automobiles. 4. A within the armrest, in the airbag apparatus of a vehicle airbag unit is disposed which is capable deployed upward, the armrest, the ripple <br/> de constituting the upper surface portion even without least When the airbag in the armrest is deployed, the lid is configured to deploy inward in the vehicle width direction, and the airbag unit is provided at the front of the vehicle compartment side wall member.
An airbag device for an automobile, wherein the airbag device is attached to a portion other than the lid . 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein:
And The airbag in the stowed state is deployed almost upward
Stored in the armrest
An airbag device for an automobile.