JPH06144139A - Air bag device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an air bag device capable of suppressing the increase of the production man-hours of members and the production cost, easily positioning mutual fitting holes, and improving the assembling workability when the fitting piece section of a pad is pinched and fixed to the side wall of a bag holder with a fixing means inserted into fitting holes of the members by a wear plate and the side wall of the bag holder. CONSTITUTION:A pad 2 covering the periphery of an air bag 1 is provided with a fitting piece section 3 extended downward and having fitting holes 3a. The fitting piece section 3 is pinched by a wear plate 10 and the side wall 7 of a bag holder 5 and fixed to the side wall 7 with rivets 13 inserted into the fitting holes 3a and fitting holes 11a, 7a provided on the wear plate 10 and the side wall 7 of the bag holder 5. The wear plate 10 is provided with claw sections 12 at the lower end. Groove sections 3b, 7b to be coupled with the claw sections 12 are formed at the lower ends of the fitting piece section 3 and the side wall 7 of the bag holder 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air bag device arranged on a steering wheel of an automobile or an instrument panel in front of a passenger seat.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an air bag device for attaching a pad to a bag holder, a mounting piece portion which extends downward from a lower surface of the pad and has a mounting hole has a mounting hole of the mounting piece portion, a side wall of a pad and a bag holder. It has been fixed to the side wall of the bag holder by being sandwiched between the contact plate and the side wall of the bag holder by the mounting hole provided in and the rivet inserted into.

Since the pad is made of metal and the pad including the mounting piece is made of synthetic resin, the pad is arranged to improve the fastening strength of the mounting piece to the side wall of the metal bag holder. It is set up.

[0004]

However, conventionally, it is necessary to position the mounting piece portion, the contact plate, and each mounting hole in the side wall of the bag holder at the time of fixing work with rivets, but at the time of this fixing, folding is performed. It is necessary to align the mounting holes of the pad with other mounting holes while pressing the airbag, and the pad is pushed by the airbag and easily shifts,
It took a lot of time to position each mounting hole.

In this case, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-27639, a flange portion extending inward is provided in the mounting piece portion of the pad, and a locking hole is provided in the flange portion. It is conceivable that a locking projection that can be locked in the stop hole is formed on the side wall of the bag holder, and the locking projection is locked in the locking hole during the fixing work to position the predetermined mounting hole.

However, if the structure described in the above publication is attempted, when the flange portion is formed on the pad, the flange portion becomes an undercut portion at the time of molding, so the productivity of the pad is poor.

Further, even with the construction described in the above publication, the mounting holes of the pad mounting piece and the side wall of the bag holder can be positioned relative to each other, but the position of the contact plate is not regulated. Since it is not there, the mounting hole of the plate cannot be positioned.

Further, as described in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 4-70557, the lower end of the side wall of the bag holder is extended to provide a fin portion for wrapping a mounting piece portion of the pad, and the fin portion is applied to the plate. It is conceivable that the side wall or fin of the bag holder and the mounting piece of the pad are formed with engaging portions that engage with each other to position each mounting hole. To be

However, in the case of the structure described in the above publication, the fins must be bent upward from the lower end of the side wall of the bag holder. That is, the side wall itself is also bent downward,
In addition, the bending of the fins is a process of sharply bending the gap between the fins and the side wall with a relatively thin thickness corresponding to the thickness of the mounting piece, so it is difficult to press the bag holder, and the processing die Durability is also reduced, which is not practical.

The present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the mounting piece of the pad is sandwiched between the contact plate and the side wall of the bag holder by the fixing means inserted into the mounting hole of each member. Provided is an airbag device capable of easily performing mutual positioning of mounting holes and improving assembly workability while suppressing increase in manufacturing man-hours and manufacturing cost of each member when fixing to a side wall of a bag holder. The purpose is to do.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In an airbag device according to the present invention, a pad that covers the periphery of the airbag includes a mounting piece portion that extends downward and has a mounting hole, and the mounting piece portion has the mounting hole. And an attachment hole provided in the side wall of the bag holder and the side wall of the bag holder, which is sandwiched between the side plate of the bag holder and the side wall of the bag holder by fixing means and fixed to the side wall of the bag holder. The contact plate has a claw portion extending toward the bag holder side at a lower end thereof, and a groove portion for fitting the claw portion is formed at each of a lower end portion of the attachment piece portion and a side wall of the bag holder. It is characterized by being.

[0012]

In the airbag device according to the present invention, the fitting holes of the members are positioned by fitting the claw portions of the contact plate into the groove portions of the attachment piece portion and the side wall of the bag holder. be able to.

Since the main body of the contact plate excluding the claws has only to come into contact with the surface of the mounting piece, the contact plate need not be bent in the direction in which the claws are formed. It can be easily manufactured because it only needs to be bent.

Further, since it is only necessary to form the groove portion at a predetermined position on the lower end surface of the attachment piece portion or the side wall of the bag holder, it is possible to manufacture the same easily.

Therefore, in the airbag apparatus according to the present invention, the attachment piece portion of the pad is fixed by the fixing means inserted into the attachment hole of each member between the contact plate and the side wall of the bag holder.
When sandwiching and fixing to the side wall of the bag holder, it is possible to suppress an increase in the number of manufacturing steps and manufacturing cost of each member, easily perform mutual positioning of the mounting holes, and improve the assembling workability.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the airbag apparatus M of the embodiment supplies a folded airbag 1, a pad 2 covering the periphery of the airbag 1, and a gas for inflating the airbag 1. Inflator 4 and airbag 1
Bag holder 5 for holding the pad 2 and inflator 4
And are arranged on the steering wheel.

The airbag 1 has a circular opening 1a at the bottom.
It is attached to the bag holder 5 by being pressed by a retainer 8 made of a metal plate in which a plurality of bolts 8a are integrated into a circular ring shape, and a nut 9 being screwed into the penetrating bolt 8a.

Since the bolt 8a of the retainer 8 also penetrates the flange portion 4b of the inflator 4 and is fixed by the nut 9, the inflator 4 is also held by the bag holder 8.

The bag holder 5 is made of sheet metal and is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, the bottom wall 6 has a rectangular shape, and four side walls 7 extending downward from the peripheral edge of the bottom wall 6 are provided.

The bottom wall 6 has an insertion hole 6a into which the upper side of the inflator 4 having the gas discharge port 4a is inserted.
And a through hole 6b into which the bolt 8a is inserted is formed around the insertion hole 6a. In addition, this bottom wall 6
An attachment means such as a nut (not shown) for attaching the airbag apparatus M to the steering wheel is provided in the vehicle.

On each side wall 7, a plurality of mounting holes 7a for fixing the pad 2 are formed at predetermined positions by rivets 13 as fixing means. Furthermore, each side wall 7
A predetermined number of recessed groove portions 7b are formed at the lower end of the. These groove portions 7b are used for the claw portions 12 of the touch plate 10 described later.
Are to be fitted.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the pad 2 is made of synthetic resin and has a square tubular mounting piece 3 formed on the lower surface side. The mounting piece 3 is formed with a predetermined number of mounting holes 3a into which the rivets 13 are inserted. Also,
At the lower end of the mounting piece portion 3, a recessed groove portion 3b into which a claw portion 12 of the touch plate 10 described later is fitted at a position corresponding to the groove portion 7b.
Are formed.

The attachment piece 3 is attached to the side wall 7 of the bag holder 5.
In the case of the embodiment, the contact plate 10 for fixing to the above is made of sheet metal and has a U-shaped planar shape so as to cover the outer peripheral surface side of the square tubular shape of the mounting piece part 3 in two. It is formed from one sheet.

Each contact plate 10 is provided with a mounting hole 11a into which the rivet 13 is inserted at a predetermined position of the main body 11 having a U-shaped planar shape, and further protrudes inward at a predetermined position of the lower end of the main body 11. And a claw portion 12 that bends upward.

These claws 12 are the distance L1 from the main body 11 to the hook 12a at the tip of the mounting piece 3 and the side wall 7 when the claws 12 are fitted in the grooves 3b and 7b. It is made substantially equal to the thickness dimension L2.

When the claw portion 12 is fitted into the predetermined groove portions 3b and 7b, the mutual mounting holes 3a and
At the position where 7a and 11a coincide with each other, the claw portion 12 and the groove portion 3b
7b is formed.

The assembling work of the airbag apparatus M of the embodiment will be described. First, the retainer 8 is arranged on the inner peripheral surface side of the periphery of the opening 1a of the airbag 1 and the airbag 1 is folded.

Then, the airbag 1 and the inflator 4
And are attached using the bolt 8a of the retainer 8.

After that, the mounting piece 3 of the pad 2 is arranged on the outer peripheral surface side of the side wall 7 of the bag holder 5, the respective contact plates 10 are arranged on the outer peripheral surface side of the mounting piece 3, and each claw is arranged. The groove 12 between the mounting piece 3 and the side wall 7
It is fitted to b7b. Then, the mounting holes 3a, 7a, 11a of the respective members 3, 7, 10 are aligned with each other and positioned.

Then, the rivet 13 is inserted into each of the mounting holes 3a, 7a, 11a and fastened, so that the mounting piece 3 of the pad 2 can be fixed to the side wall 7 of the bag holder 5.

After that, if the mounting means (not shown) of the bag holder 5 is used, the airbag apparatus M can be mounted on the steering wheel.

The contact plate 10 need not be bent in the forming direction of the claw portion 12 because the main body 11 of the contact plate 10 excluding the claw portion 12 may come into contact with the surface of the mounting piece 3. Since it is sufficient to simply bend the claw portion 12, it can be easily manufactured by bending.

The groove 3b formed in the mounting piece 3 is
Since it can be formed only by providing a recess in the lower end surface of the mounting piece portion 3 and it is not necessary to provide an undercut portion in the mold of the pad 2, the pad 2 provided with the mounting piece portion 3 can be easily manufactured.

Further, similarly, the groove portion 7b formed in the side wall 7 of the bag holder 5 only has a concave portion formed in the lower end surface of the side wall 7, and the insertion hole 6a and the insertion hole 6a are previously formed in the sheet metal material forming the bag holder 5. A bag holder 5 of the embodiment is manufactured by providing a hole forming the mounting hole 7a and forming a concave portion forming the groove portion 7b and bending the material to form a normal side wall. Therefore, the bag holder 5 having the side wall 7 can be easily manufactured.

Therefore, in the airbag device M of the embodiment, the attachment piece 3 of the pad 2 is attached to the attachment plate 3 and the side wall 7 of the bag holder 5 by attaching holes 3a, 7 of the respective members 3, 7, 10.
When the rivet 13 is inserted into the a. 11a and clamped and fixed to the side wall 7 of the bag holder 5, each member 2.
It is possible to suppress an increase in the number of manufacturing steps of 5 and 10 and the manufacturing cost, to easily perform mutual positioning of the mounting holes 3a, 7a, and 11a, and to improve assembly workability.

In the embodiment, the arrangement position of the claw portion 12 of the contact plate 10 and the arrangement position of the mounting holes 3a, 7a, 11a are vertically displaced and do not interfere with the rivet 13, so that the rivet 13 is There is no hindrance to the fastening work.

Further, in the embodiment, as the claw portion 12 provided on the contact plate 10, the claw portion 12 having the tip bent upward is shown, but the claw portion 1 may be formed without forming the hook portion 12a.
When 2 is fitted in the groove 7b of the bag holder 5, the respective mounting holes 3a, 7a, 11a can be positioned.

Incidentally, the hook portion 12a is provided on the claw portion 12,
When the distance L1 from the main body 11 to the hook portion 12a at the tip is made slightly smaller than the thickness dimension L2 between the mounting piece portion 3 and the side wall 7, when the contact plate 10 is arranged, the claw portion 12 is attached to the mounting piece portion. 3 and the side wall 7 of the bag holder 5 are externally fitted, and the contact plate 10 is held on the mounting piece 3 side without falling off.
The insertion / fastening work of 3 can be facilitated.

Further, in the embodiment, the contact plate 10 covers the periphery of the rectangular tube-shaped mounting piece portion 3 in two divisions, but it goes without saying that the mounting plate 10 is provided on each plane of the mounting piece portion 3. 4 to cover the part
It may be configured by a flat plate-like member, and the claw portions may be provided on these contact plates.

By the way, when the contact plate 10 is provided with a portion for covering the corner portion of the mounting piece portion 3 as in the embodiment, the corner portion of the mounting piece portion 3 made of synthetic resin can be reinforced, and Since the contact plate engages with the corner portion, the mounting holes 3a and the like can be positioned more smoothly.

Furthermore, in the embodiment, the rivet 13 is exemplified as the fixing means for fixing the mounting piece 3 to the side wall 7 of the bag holder 5, but other than that, bolts, nuts or the like may be used.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an airbag device showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a mounting piece portion, a side wall of a bag holder, and a contact plate of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Airbag, 2 ... Pad, 3 ... Mounting piece part, 3a ... Mounting hole, 3b ... Groove part, 5 ... Bag holder, 7 ... Side wall, 7a ... Mounting hole, 7b ... Groove part, 10 ... Contact plate, 11a ... Mounting Holes, 12 ... Claw portions, 13 ... (fixing means) rivets, M ... Air bag device.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Takanobu Ikeda No. 1 Nagahata, Ochiai, Kasuga-cho, Nishikasugai-gun, Aichi Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. In Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Michio Inoue No. 1 Nagahata, Ochiai, Kasuga-cho, Nishikasugai-gun, Aichi Prefecture Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A pad for covering the periphery of an airbag is provided with a mounting piece portion that extends downward and has a mounting hole, and the mounting piece portion is provided on the mounting hole and a side wall of a contact plate and a bag holder. An airbag device, which is sandwiched between a plate and a side wall of a bag holder by a fixing means inserted into the mounting hole and fixed to a side wall of the bag holder, wherein the plate is at a lower end of the bag. An airbag device, comprising: a claw portion extending toward the bag holder side; and groove portions into which the claw portion is fitted are formed at lower ends of the attachment piece portion and the side wall of the bag holder, respectively.