JPH06127328A - Air bag device for front passenger's seat - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a shock to an occupant caused by the expansion of an air bag toward the face of the occupant by providing a switching means for transmitting the forward movement of a knee contact protecting body to the lower end part of an air bag module so as to switch the air bag module to a mid-mount position from a high-mount position. CONSTITUTION:An air bag module 13 is changed over to a mid-mount position from a high-mount position, and an air bag 20 is expanded from the mid-mount position toward an occupant sitting in the normal state. When a child is sitting out of position in a front passenger's seat, a knee contact protecting body 16 is not pressed even with the generation of a collision. The air bag module 13 remains in the high-mount position, and in this high-mount position, the air bag 20 is first expanded along a windshield 15 and then expanded downward. The air bag 20 is not therefore expanded vigorously toward the face of the child as in the existing mid-mount system.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a passenger airbag device provided on an instrument panel in front of a passenger seat.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there are a high mount method and a mid mount method for mounting a passenger airbag device provided on an instrument panel in front of a passenger seat, and the former high mount method is as shown in FIG. , Airbag 1
The lid of the airbag module 3 is arranged on the upper surface of the instrument panel 4 so that the airbag 1 is inflated along the windshield 2, while the latter mid-mount method is used as shown in FIG. The lid of the airbag module 3 is arranged on the surface of the instrument panel 4 facing the occupant so as to inflate toward the occupant.

By the way, in the case of the above-mentioned high mount system, the blowing of gas from the inflator is controlled so that the airbag 1 first expands along the windshield 2 and then expands downward. On the other hand, the gas is blown out only in one direction in the mid-mount method, so that the hatched portion of the airbag 1 in FIG. 4 can be smaller than in the high-mount method, which reduces the capacity of the airbag. Therefore, the mid mount method is more advantageous.

[0004]

However, in the mid-mount method, the child does not sit deeply in the passenger seat, but rather sits out of position, that is, leans lightly at the front end of the seat and leans on the instrument panel. In this case, as shown in FIG. 5, since the airbag 1 inflates just toward the child's face, the child may be directly shocked during inflation.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and can prevent an occupant in an out-of-position passenger seat from suffering from an adverse effect of inflating an airbag from a mid mount position. The purpose is to do so.

[0006]

A passenger seat airbag device according to the present invention is arranged inside a front instrument panel of a passenger seat and is rotatably supported so that the airbag is inflated along the windshield from the upper surface. An airbag module that switches between a high mount position and a mid mount position that inflates diagonally upward and backward from the upper surface, and is installed in the lower part of the instrument panel so that it can move back and forth, and moves forward by pushing the occupant's knees at the time of a collision. And a switching means for transmitting the forward movement of the knee pad protector to the lower end of the airbag module to switch the airbag module from the high mount position to the mid mount position. It is characterized by that.

[0007]

In the present invention, the airbag module is switched from the high mount position to the mid mount position by the switching means only when the occupant's knees hit the knee rest protector in the event of a collision and the knee rest protector moves forward. Therefore, when the child is out of position in the passenger seat, the knee rest protector does not hit the knee, the knee rest protector does not move forward, and the airbag module inflates in the high mount position. , Does not swell toward the child's face.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an embodiment of a passenger seat airbag device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory view.

FIG. 1 schematically shows the arrangement of the airbag module in the passenger seat. An airbag module 13 is arranged inside the instrument panel 12 in front of the passenger seat 11, and the central portion of the airbag module 13 is a pillar toe. 1, which is rotatably supported by the pillar member 14, and as shown by the solid line in FIG. 1, the airbag is inflated along the windshield 15 from the upper surface. It is designed to switch to a mid mount position that expands diagonally upward and rearward.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, a knee pad protector 16 is provided at the lower part of the instrument panel 12 so as to be movable back and forth, so that the occupant normally seated in the passenger seat in the event of a collision. The purpose of this is to prevent the impact applied to the knees, but the knees of the occupant abut against the knee protector 16 and press the knee protector 16 at the time of a collision, so that the knee protector 16 moves forward ( When moved in the direction of the arrow A in FIG. 1), both ends are rotatably supported by the knee protector 16 and the lower end of the airbag module 13 by rotating shafts 17 and 18, respectively, to form a switching means. The forward movement of the knee pad protector 16 is transmitted to the airbag module 13 via 19 to push the lower end of the airbag module 13 forward, and the upper surface of the airbag module 13 is indicated by B in FIG.
As shown by the arrow, the airbag module 13 is rotated rearward, the airbag module 13 is switched from the high mount position to the mid mount position, and the airbag is inflated from the mid mount position with respect to the occupant who is normally seated.

On the other hand, when the child is in the out-of-position state in the front passenger seat, the knee pad protector 16 is not pushed as described above even if a collision occurs, so that the airbag module 13 is in the high mount position. In the high mount position, as shown in Fig. 2,
The airbag 20 first inflates along the windshield 15 and then inflates downwardly, so that the airbag 20 does not vigorously inflate toward the child's face as in the conventional mid-mount system.

Therefore, it is possible to surely prevent the child in the out-of-position state from being injured due to the inflation of the airbag 20, while the airbag 20 itself is inflated at the high mount position, and the impact due to the collision is of course caused. It is possible to prevent it and improve safety.

In the above embodiment, the case where the switching means is constituted by the link 19 has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this.

[0014]

As described above, according to the passenger seat airbag device of the present invention, when the passenger such as a child is in the out-of-position state in the passenger seat, the knee pad does not hit the knee pad protector and the knee rest protects the knee. Since the protective body does not move forward and the airbag module expands at the high mount position, it is possible to prevent the occupant from being impacted by expanding toward the occupant's face, thus ensuring safety and reliability. Can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an embodiment of a passenger seat airbag device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory diagram of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of an example of a conventional passenger airbag device.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of another example of the conventional passenger airbag device.

5 is an operation explanatory diagram of FIG. 4;

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Passenger's seat 12 Instrument panel 13 Airbag module 15 Windshield 16 Knee pad protector 19 Link (switching means)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A high mount position at which the airbag is disposed inside the instrument panel in front of the passenger seat and is rotatably supported and inflates along the windshield from the upper surface, and a mid mount position at which the airbag inflates obliquely rearward and upward from the upper surface. An airbag module that switches between and, a knee pad protector that is provided in the lower part of the instrument panel so as to be movable back and forth, and moves forward by pressing the knees of an occupant at the time of a collision, and in front of the knee pad protector. And a switching means for transmitting the movement of the airbag module to the lower end portion of the airbag module to switch the airbag module from the high mount position to the mid mount position.