JP4276152B2 - Vehicle occupant protection device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an improved technique for an occupant protection device for a vehicle that enhances the protection of the occupant in the roof side portion of the vehicle when an impact force is applied to a side portion of the vehicle.

In recent years, development has been advanced in order to improve the protection performance of the occupant's head when an impact force is applied to the side of the vehicle.
In this type of vehicle occupant protection device, for example, a roof side airbag is stored from the pillar to the side edge of the roof, and the roof side airbag is curtained along the side glass when subjected to a certain level of impact force. A technique for bulging has been developed (for example, see Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent No. 3510061

  The conventional vehicle shown in Patent Document 1 is a passenger car in which one seat or two front and rear seats are provided in a passenger compartment, and a pillar garnish is provided with a certain pillar space on the passenger compartment side of the front pillar. A fixed roof space portion that is elongated in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle compartment is provided on the vehicle compartment side at the side corner of the attachment and roof, and a vehicle occupant protection device is further provided.

This vehicle occupant protection device houses a roof side airbag in the pillar space and the roof space, attaches an inflator to the roof side rail, and attaches the roof side airbag to the roof side rail with bolts at a constant pitch. Further, the roof side airbag is connected to the inflator via a gas supply pipe.
According to such a vehicle occupant protection device, when the sensor detects that an impact force of a certain level or more has been received from the side of the vehicle body, the inflator generates gas, so that the roof side airbag is moved along the side glass. Can be expanded to the passenger compartment side.

  By the way, some vehicles have a front / rear seat, a front seat, a rear seat, and three front and rear seats in a passenger compartment. Even in such a vehicle, it is required that all occupants sitting in three front and rear seats can be sufficiently protected by the roof side airbag. Accordingly, it is necessary to increase the length of the roof side airbag in the longitudinal direction of the passenger compartment. However, if the gas inlet is provided at the rear upper part of the roof side airbag, the gas inflow path to the front end of the bag is long. As a result, the pressure loss in the gas inflow path increases, so there is room for improvement in order to inflate the entire bag uniformly and sufficiently.

  Considering this point, in order to inflate the entire bag evenly and sufficiently, it is conceivable to provide two front and rear gas inlet portions at the approximate center of the bag in the front-rear direction. By doing in this way, while supplying gas to the bag front part from the front gas inlet part, gas can be supplied to the bag rear part from the rear gas inlet part.

  However, since the roof side airbag is provided with two front and rear gas inlet portions at substantially the center, the periphery of the gas inlet portion is separated at the front portion and the rear portion. For this reason, there is a room for improvement because there is a concern that the front and rear are twisted near each other when the roof side airbag is folded.

  The present invention provides a technique capable of preventing the front and rear from being twisted in the vicinity of the center when the roof side airbag is folded when two gas inlet portions are provided at the front and rear in the approximate center of the roof side airbag. This is the issue.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the side corner 26a of the roof of the vehicle body has a constant space S1 elongated in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body on the vehicle compartment side 11 , and the roof side airbag 53 is accommodated in the space S1. In the vehicle occupant protection device 50 in which the roof side airbag 53 is inflated to the passenger compartment side 11 along the side glasses 31 , 32 , 33 by the gas generated by the inflator 51 under a certain impact force. The roof side airbag 53 extends in the longitudinal direction of the passenger compartment, and includes two front and rear inner tubes 73F and 73R that form two front and rear gas main flow paths 72F and 72R that face each other and are arranged in a front and rear row. chamber is arranged substantially at the center of the longitudinal direction, the gas main passage 72F, two before and after connecting the 72R in line gas inlet portion 71F, and 71R, these two moth Inlet 71F, made and a bridge portion 87 connecting the respective neighborhoods of 71R, the gas main passage 2 of the inner tube 73F before and after forming the, 73R, the flexibility of the fabric or the like having airtightness It is a straight pipe formed by rolling a sheet having a tubular shape and sewing it, and rods 103L, 103R made of steel round bars are placed as core bars on the edge of the straight pipe, and the core bars face each other. The end portion is in the vicinity of a bridge portion 87 that connects the neighborhoods of the gas inlet portions 71F and 71R .

In the first aspect of the invention, the front and rear two gas inlet portions are provided in the center of the roof side airbag in the longitudinal direction of the passenger compartment, and the neighborhoods of these two gas inlet portions are connected by a bridge portion. When the roof side airbag is folded, it is possible to prevent the bridge portion from twisting the front and rear in the vicinity of the center.
For this reason, the roof side airbag can be folded into a sufficiently appropriate state and stored in the space. Therefore, the roof side airbag can be inflated and deployed more reliably by the gas generated by the inflator.

The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that “front”, “rear”, “left”, “right”, “upper”, and “lower” follow the direction seen from the driver.
FIG. 1 is a side view of a vehicle according to the present invention as viewed from the passenger compartment side, and shows that the vehicle 10 includes a vehicle occupant protection device 50 (a state in which the roof side airbag 53 is deployed). In addition, about the vehicle occupant protection device 50, only the structure arrange | positioned on the right side of the vehicle 10 is shown. The vehicle occupant protection device 50 on the left side has the same configuration as that on the right side, and a description thereof will be omitted.

  The vehicle 10 is an automobile generally referred to as a minivan, in which three front and rear seats including a front seat 12, an intermediate seat 13, and a rear seat 14 are provided in a passenger compartment 11. A vehicle body 20 in such a vehicle 10 includes a front front pillar 21, two middle front pillars 22 and a rear middle pillar 23, and a rear rear pillar 24, and each of these pillars 21 to 24. The roof side rail 25 is provided at the upper end of the roof, and the roof 26 is supported by the roof side rail 25. The vehicle 10 further includes a front side glass 31, an intermediate side glass 32, and a rear side glass 33 between the pillars 21 to 24.

  Further, FIG. 1 shows that the occupant Ma sitting on the rightmost side of the rear seat 14 is restrained by the seat belt device 40. The seat belt device 40 is configured such that the seat belt 42 wound around the retractor 41 is pulled out and passed through the through ring 43 and then hooked to the lower anchor 44. The retractor 41 is a belt winder attached to the lower part of the rear pillar 24. The through ring 43 is a member attached to the upper part of the rear pillar 24. The lower anchor 44 is a member attached to the side of the cushion of the rear seat 14. The upper part of the occupant Ma and the waist can be restrained by the seat belt 42.

The vehicle occupant protection device 50 detects that an impact force of a certain level or more is applied to the side portion of the vehicle 10 with an impact detection sensor (not shown), and the inflator 51 generates gas in response to the sensor signal. By supplying this gas to the roof side airbag 53 via the supply pipe 52, the roof side airbag 53 is inflated toward the vehicle compartment 11 along the side glasses 31 to 33.
The roof side airbag 53 inflated and deployed in the passenger compartment 11 covers the side glasses 31 to 33 and can protect particularly the head He of the occupant Ma sitting on the seats 12 to 14.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the vehicle occupant protection device according to the present invention as viewed from the passenger compartment side, and shows a state in which the roof side airbag 53 is stored.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the supply pipe 52 is a gas pipe that supplies gas from the inflator 51 to the roof side airbag 53. The inflator 51 and the supply pipe 52 extend in the vehicle body front-rear direction (left-right direction on the paper surface) and are arranged in parallel with the roof side airbag 53.

The vehicle body 20 has a fixed roof space portion S1 (space portion S1) elongated in the vehicle longitudinal direction (that is, the vehicle longitudinal direction) on the side of the vehicle compartment 11 at the side corner 26a of the roof 26, and this roof space portion. The inflator 51, the supply pipe 52, and the roof side airbag 53 are accommodated in S1.
In addition, the vehicle body 20 has a pillar space portion S2 and a pillar garnish 54 attached to the front pillar 21 provided at the front portion on the side of the passenger compartment 11, and the front portion of the roof side airbag 53 is attached to the pillar space portion S2. It is what was stored.

Further, the vehicle body 20 is (1) the front end portion 53a of the roof side airbag 53 is attached to the front pillar 21 via the bracket 55 by a fastening member 56 such as a band, and (2) the roof side is attached to the rear pillar 24 via the bracket 57. The rear end portion 53b of the airbag 53 is attached by a fastening member 58 such as a band, and is attached to the roof side rail 25 by various fixing mechanisms 61 to 67.
As shown in FIG. 2, the fixing mechanism 63 includes a first mounting bracket 151 and a second mounting bracket 152.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the vehicle occupant protection device in a state in which the roof side airbag according to the present invention is deployed as viewed from the passenger compartment side.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the roof side airbag 53 is made of a flexible seat such as a cloth having airtightness, and (1) two front and rear pieces arranged substantially at the center in the longitudinal direction of the passenger compartment. (2) two front and rear gas main flow paths 72F and 72R extending in the longitudinal direction of the passenger compartment along the roof space S1 from the gas inlet portions 71F and 71R, and (3) these Passing through the gas main flow paths 72F and 72R individually, one end of each of the front and rear gas inlets 71F and 71R is individually connected to the front and rear inner tubes 73F and 73R, and (4) the front inner tube 73F. The front bag part 74F communicates via the front gas main flow path 72F and expands at a position corresponding to the front seat 12, and (5) the rear inner tube 73R via the rear gas main flow path 72R. Communication with the intermediate seat 13 An intermediate bag portion 74M that expands at a corresponding position, and (6) a rear bag portion 74R that communicates with the rear inner tube 73R via the rear gas main flow path 72R and expands at a position corresponding to the rear seat 14. , In one piece.

When the front bag part 74F expands the front bag part 74F along the front side glass 31 toward the vehicle compartment 11, the gas flowing in from the front gas main flow path 72F moves downward and forwards upward. The three inflatable parts 75a to 75c are configured to flow in the direction of folding.
These inflating portions 75a to 75c have a configuration in which a front inflating portion 75a at the front end, an intermediate inflating portion 75b, and a rear inflating portion 75c at the rear end are arranged in a line. The front expansion part 75a and the intermediate expansion part 75b are in close contact with each other, and the intermediate expansion part 75b and the rear expansion part 75c are in close contact with each other.

  In the front bag portion 74F, the intermediate inflating portion 75c has an upper end opening arranged near the front end of the front gas main flow path 72F and communicated, and a front lower end communicated with an opening at the rear lower end of the front inflating portion 75a. It is. The front inflating part 75a has an opening only at the rear lower end. The rear inflating portion 75c is in communication with the upper end opening disposed near the front end of the front gas main flow path 72F.

  The intermediate bag portion 74M includes three front and rear inflatable portions 76a to 76c arranged below the two front and rear gas inlet portions 71F and 71R. These inflatable portions 76a to 76c have a configuration in which a front inflatable portion 76a at the front end, an intermediate inflatable portion 76b, and a rear inflatable portion 76c at the rear end are arranged in a line. The front expansion part 76a and the intermediate expansion part 76b are in close contact with each other, and the intermediate expansion part 76b and the rear expansion part 76c are in close contact with each other.

  In the intermediate bag portion 74M, the intermediate inflating portion 76b communicates with the rear upper end opening disposed near the rear end in the rear gas main flow path 72R, and the front upper end communicated with the rear upper end opening in the front inflating portion 76a. Is. The front expansion portion 76a has an opening only at the rear upper end. The rear inflating portion 76c is in communication with the upper end opening disposed in the vicinity of the rear end in the rear gas main flow path 72R.

The rear bag portion 74R includes two front and rear inflatable portions 77a and 77b arranged rearward of the rear gas main flow path 72R. These inflating portions 77a and 77b have a configuration in which a front inflating portion 77a at the front end and a rear inflating portion 77b at the rear end are arranged in a line.
The front inflating portion 77a communicates the opening at the front lower end with the rear end of the rear gas main flow path 72R via the upper communication pipe 78A and the opening at the front lower end in the intermediate bag portion 74M via the lower communication pipe 78B. It communicates with the rear opening of the rear expansion portion 76c.
The rear inflating part 77b communicates the opening at the front lower end with the opening at the rear lower end of the front inflating part 77a.

By the way, the roof side airbag 53 is integrally provided with a non-inflatable portion 79 around each bag portion 74F, 74M, 74R. The non-expandable portion 79 includes a front non-expandable portion 79A at the front end, an intermediate non-expandable portion 79B, and a rear non-expandable portion 79C at the rear end.
The front non-inflatable portion 79A includes a string-like or band-like front strap 81. The rear non-inflatable portion 79B includes a string-like or band-like rear strap 82 and a slit 83.
In FIG. 3, 86F and 86R are jet holes opened in the two front and rear inner tubes 73F and 73R, respectively.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a main part of the vehicle occupant protection device according to the present invention, and is shown corresponding to FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 5-5 of FIG.
5, the storage structure of the vehicle occupant protection device 50 will be described in more detail. As described above, the vehicle body 20 has the roof space portion S1 on the side of the vehicle compartment 11 at the side corner 26a of the roof 26, and the inflator 51, the supply pipe 52, and the folded roof side airbag in the roof space portion S1. 53 is stored.
Here, the roof space S <b> 1 is a space formed between the side corner 26 a of the roof 26 and the roof lining 84 that serves as the lining of the roof 26.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the inflator 51 elongated in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body extends from the gas outlet 51a at the front end to the front of the vehicle body (left side in FIG. 4). Such an inflator 51 and the supply pipe 52 are arranged along the roof side airbag 53 in a folded state. The front end of the supply pipe 52 is configured to be connected to the gas inlet portions 71F and 71R of the roof side airbag 53.

As shown in FIG. 5, the roof side airbag 53 is in a housed state wrapped by a cloth tubular bag cover 91 in a spirally folded (wrapped) state. The bag cover 91 has a perforation such as a perforation and can be easily opened by a force when the roof side airbag 53 is inflated.
The roof side airbag 53 in such a folded state can be attached to the roof side rail 25 by the bag bracket 92.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the inflator 51 can be attached to the roof side rail 25 by an inflator bracket 93. The supply pipe 52 can be attached to the roof side rail 25 by a supply pipe bracket 94.

  As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the bag bracket 92 is a bent product of a steel plate, and a fork-shaped main body 92 a that holds the roof side airbag 53 wrapped by the bag cover 91 so as to sandwich it, It comprises a plate-like attachment portion 92b extending upward from the main body portion 92a along the roof side rail 25.

  On the other hand, the supply pipe bracket 94 is a bent product of a steel plate, and includes a main body portion 94a fixed to the supply pipe 52 by welding or the like, and a plate-like attachment portion 94b extending from the main body portion 94a to the bag bracket 92 side. Become.

These mounting portions 92b, 94b are overlapped on the roof side rail 25, and each mounting portion 92b, 94b is fixed to the roof side rail 25 with one bolt 95, whereby each bracket 92, 94 is bolted to the vehicle body 20. It can be attached by tightening 95. As a result, the supply pipe 52 and the roof side airbag 53 can be attached to the vehicle body 20 by tightening the bolts 95 together.
The combination structure of the bag bracket 92, the supply pipe bracket 94 and the bolt 95 constitutes a fixing mechanism 64 for the vehicle body 20.

The inflator bracket 93 shown in FIG. 5 has the same configuration as the supply pipe bracket 94. For this reason, the brackets 92 and 93 can be attached to the vehicle body 20 by fastening the bolts 95 together. As a result, the inflator 51 and the roof side airbag 53 can be attached to the vehicle body 20 by fastening the bolts 95 together.
The combination structure of the bag bracket 92, the inflator bracket 93 and the bolt 95 constitutes a fixing mechanism 65 for the vehicle body 20.

  As is clear from the above description, the vehicle occupant protection device 50 extends the supply pipe 52 that supplies gas from the inflator 51 to the roof side airbag 53 in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body and is in parallel with the roof side airbag 53. And at least one of the inflator 51 and the supply pipe 52 and the roof side airbag 53 are fastened together with bolts 95 and 95 to the vehicle body 20 together with the inflator 51 and the roof side airbag 53. It is attached by.

  The roof side airbag 53 can be attached to the vehicle body 20 in a state in which the roof side airbag 53 is adjusted to a more appropriate position with respect to the inflator 51. Therefore, the roof side airbag 53 is fixed to the inflator 51 in a twisted state. Never happen. Therefore, the gas of the inflator 51 can be appropriately supplied to the roof side airbag 53, and the roof side airbag 53 can be inflated and deployed more appropriately and stably.

  Furthermore, since at least one of the inflator 51 and the supply pipe 52 and the roof side airbag 53 are attached to the vehicle body 20 by fastening the bolts 95 and 95 together, it is possible to reduce the amount of attachment to the vehicle body 20 correspondingly. it can. Therefore, the number of attachment parts of the inflator 51 and the roof side airbag 53 to the vehicle body 20 can be reduced, the number of attachment steps can be reduced, and the attachment can be easily performed.

FIG. 6 is a side view around the gas inlet portion of the roof side airbag according to the present invention and is shown corresponding to FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 7-7 of FIG.
As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the roof side airbag 53 includes two front and rear gas inlet portions 71 </ b> F and 71 </ b> R disposed in the center of the bag 53 in the longitudinal direction of the passenger compartment, and the two gas inlet portions. It is characterized by comprising a bridge portion 87 that connects the neighborhoods of 71F and 71R.

  The two front and rear gas inlet portions 71F and 71R are arranged in a row in the front and rear direction so as to face each other. As described above, the supply pipe 52 is arranged in parallel to the roof side airbag 53, extends to the center of the bag 53 in front of the passenger compartment, and bends toward the gas inlet portions 71F and 71R with its front end bent. By extending the portion 52a and providing two front and rear connecting pipe portions 52b and 52b that branch into a bifurcated shape at the tip, the gas supply tip portion of the supply pipe 52 is connected to the drooping portion 52a and the two connecting pipe portions 52b, 52b and a substantially T-shape.

  As shown in FIG. 6, at the central portion of the bag 53, the front and rear gas main flow paths 72F and 72R are separated from each other by a predetermined distance in the front and rear, and the notched recess 101 is separated from the bag main body portion ( It is the structure connected by the non-bulged part.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the front and rear gas inlet portions 71F and 71R are formed by forming the end portions on the center side of the gas main flow paths 72F and 72R into an elongated tubular shape. The ends of the tubes 73F and 73R are fitted with airtightness. For this reason, the gas inlet portions 71F and 71R are double tubes composed of the elongated tubes of the gas main flow paths 72F and 72R and the end portions of the inner tubes 73F and 73R, and are concentric in the longitudinal direction of the passenger compartment (the left-right direction in FIG. 6). Will be arranged.
The two connecting pipe portions 52b and 52b extending in the front-rear direction can be connected to each other by being inserted into the gas inlet portions 71F and 71R and stopped at the bands 102 and 102.

The inner tubes 73F and 73R are straight pipes formed by rolling and sewing a flexible sheet, such as a cloth having airtightness, into a tubular shape. From the steel round bar to the edge of the straight pipe The rods 103L and 103R to be arranged along the core metal.
As clearly shown in FIG. 6, the end portions of the core bars (rods 103L and 103R) facing each other are the front and rear end portions of the bridge portion 87 in which the neighborhoods of the two gas inlet portions 71F and 71R are connected to each other. It is located in a portion close to (in FIG. 6, directly below).

  By the way, since the recessed part 101 is a notch shape, the one end side is open | released. The bridge part 87 connects the open ends of the recess 101. More specifically, in the gas main flow paths 72F and 72R, the base end portions of the gas inlet portions 71F and 71R or the vicinity thereof are connected by the bridge portion 87. Such a bridge portion 87 may be constituted by a band having a constant width obtained by extending a part of the edge in the sheet forming the gas main flow paths 72F and 72R, for example.

Next, the operation of the bridge portion 87 having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 8 is a side view around the gas inlet portion of the roof side airbag of the comparative example, and is shown corresponding to FIG.
The vehicle occupant protection device 50A of the comparative example shown in FIG. 8 is configured such that the neighborhoods of the two gas inlet portions 71F and 71R of the roof side airbag 53A are not connected to each other by a bridge portion 87 (see FIG. 6). It is. Such a roof side airbag 53A of the comparative example is provided with the two front and rear gas inlet portions 71F and 71R at substantially the center, so that the periphery of the gas inlet portion 71F and 71R is separated into the front portion and the rear portion. become. For this reason, when folding the roof side airbag 53A, there is a possibility that the front and rear are twisted near each other (particularly, in the gas main flow paths 72F and 72R), so there is room for improvement.

On the other hand, in the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the vicinity of the two gas inlet portions 71 </ b> F and 71 </ b> R are connected by the bridge portion 87, so when the roof side airbag 53 is folded, It is possible to prevent the bridge portion 87 from twisting the front and rear in the vicinity of the center.
For this reason, the roof side airbag 53 can be folded into a sufficiently appropriate state and stored in the roof space S1 (see FIG. 1). Therefore, the roof side airbag 53 can be more reliably inflated and deployed by the gas generated by the inflator 51.

Next, the operation of the roof side airbag 53 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 3, and 9.
9A to 9C are operation diagrams of the vehicle occupant protection device. (A) shows the operation start time of the vehicle occupant protection device 50 of the embodiment. (B) shows the operation | movement middle of the passenger | crew protection device 50 for vehicles of an Example. (C) shows the operation halfway of the vehicle occupant protection device 50B of the comparative example.

  The vehicle occupant protection device 50B of the comparative example shown in FIG. 9C is configured by arranging a plurality of inflating portions 75x... In the roof side airbag 53B in a front and rear row. Among the plurality of inflating portions 75x, the foremost inflating portion 75x inflates while breaking the pillar garnish 54. At this time, if the gas pressure in the foremost inflatable portion 75x is large, an excessive load acts on the pillar garnish 54 of the front pillar from the roof side airbag 53 when the roof side airbag 53 is inflated and deployed. obtain.

In contrast, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the gas generated by the inflator 51 (see FIG. 3) is the gas main flow path 72 </ b> F via the gas inlet portions 71 </ b> F and 71 </ b> R disposed at the approximate center in the longitudinal direction of the passenger compartment. , 72R, and flows from the gas main flow paths 72F, 72R to the front bag portion 74F, the intermediate bag portion 74M, and the rear bag portion 74R substantially evenly.
As a result, the folded bag portions 74F, 74M, and 74R are expanded toward the vehicle compartment 11 along the side glasses 31 to 33 as shown in FIG. Therefore, all the occupants Ma sitting in the front and rear three seats 12 to 14 can be reliably and sufficiently protected.

  Furthermore, as shown by the arrows in FIGS. 9A and 9B, the gas that has flowed into the front bag portion 74F from the front gas main flow path 72F flows downward and then flows back in the front upper direction. Can do.

Specifically, as shown by arrows G1 and G2 in FIG. 9A, when the gas begins to flow into the front bag portion 74F, the folded front bag portion 74F is moved downward by the gas. Only the intermediate expansion part 75b and the rear expansion part 75c expand and expand while being pushed downward. For example, a portion of the front bag portion 74F that is folded into the pillar space portion S2 breaks the pillar garnish 54 and starts to be deployed in the passenger compartment 11. At this time, the gas pressure of the front part expansion part 75a in the front bag part 74F is very small among the expansion parts 75a-75c.
Accordingly, when the front bag portion 74F starts to be deployed in the vehicle compartment 11, an excessive load does not act on the pillar garnish 54 from the front bag portion 74F.

  Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 9 (b), from the time when the gas starts to flow in the front upper direction (arrow G3), the front upper portion of the front inflatable portion 75a in the front bag portion 74F among 75a to 75c. This part begins to expand due to gas pressure. Since the front upper portion of the front inflating portion 75a expands after the front bag portion 74F is deployed from the pillar space portion S2 into the vehicle compartment 11, an excessive load does not act on the pillar garnish 54.

  In this way, it is possible to prevent an excessive load from acting on the pillar garnish 54 from the roof side airbag 53 when the roof side airbag 53 is inflated and deployed.

  In addition, since the front gas inlet portion 71F is disposed substantially in the center in the longitudinal direction of the passenger compartment, the gas inflow path from the front gas inlet portion 71F to the front bag portion 74F can be shortened, and the pressure of the gas inflow path Loss can be reduced. As a result, a gas pressure sufficient to inflate and deploy the front bag portion 74F into the vehicle compartment 11 can be ensured. Therefore, all the occupants sitting in the front and rear three seats 12 to 14 (see FIG. 1) can be more fully protected.

  In the embodiment, the present invention only needs to have a configuration in which at least one of the inflator 51 and the supply pipe 52 and the roof side airbag 53 are attached to the vehicle body 20 by fastening bolts 95 and 95 together.

  Since the vehicle occupant protection device 50 of the present invention can protect the head He of the occupant Ma when an impact force is applied to the side portion of the vehicle 10, it is suitable for a vehicle such as a passenger car.

It is the side view which looked at the vehicle concerning the present invention from the compartment side. It is the perspective view which looked at the passenger protection device for vehicles concerning the present invention from the cabin side. It is the side view which looked at the crew protection device for vehicles in the state where the roof side air bag concerning the present invention was developed from the compartment side. It is a principal part enlarged view of the passenger protection device for vehicles concerning the present invention. FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line 5-5 of FIG. It is a side view around the gas inlet part of the roof side airbag which concerns on this invention. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 7-7 in FIG. 6. It is a side view around the gas inlet part of the roof side airbag of a comparative example. It is an operation view of the vehicle occupant protection device.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Vehicle, 11 ... Vehicle compartment, 20 ... Car body, 26 ... Roof, 26a ... Side corner in roof, 31-33 ... Side glass, 50 ... Vehicle occupant protection device, 51 ... Inflator, 52 ... Supply pipe, 53 ... Roof side airbag, 71F, 71R ... gas inlet, 73F, 73R ... inner tube, 87 ... bridge, 103L, 103R ... core rod, Ma ... occupant, He ... head, S1 ... space (roof Space part).

Claims (1)

The side corner (26a) of the roof of the vehicle body has a constant space portion (S1) elongated in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body on the vehicle compartment side (11) , and the roof side airbag (53) is provided in this space portion (S1). The roof side airbag (53) is inflated to the vehicle compartment side (11) along the side glass (31, 32, 33) by the gas that is stored and received by the inflator (51) under an impact force of a certain level or more. In the vehicle occupant protection device (50) ,
The roof side airbag (53)
Two front and rear inner tubes (73F, 73R) extending in the longitudinal direction of the passenger compartment and forming two front and rear gas main flow paths (72F, 72R) arranged in a front-rear direction facing each other;
Two front and rear gas inlets (71F, 71R) arranged at a substantially central position in the longitudinal direction of the passenger compartment and connecting the main gas flow paths (72F, 72R) with pipes ;
A bridge portion (87) that connects the neighborhoods of these two gas inlet portions (71F, 71R) ,
The two inner tubes (73F, 73R) before and after forming the gas main flow path are straight pipes formed by rounding and sewing a sheet having flexibility such as airtight cloth into a tubular shape, The rods (103L, 103R) made of steel round bars are arranged as cores on the edge of the straight pipe, and the ends of the cores facing each other are adjacent to each other in the gas inlet part (71F, 71R). In the vicinity of the bridge portion (87) connecting the
Vehicle occupant protection apparatus, characterized in that.

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