JPH06344842A - Air bag structure for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To expand an air bag main body quickly and accurately to protect an occupant sitting on a seat arranged in the front of a vehicle even in the case where an air bag main body is contracted for arrangement in the upper part of the front of a cabin. CONSTITUTION:An air bag is contracted and housed with an inflator 22 in an air bag housing part 20 provided in the upper part of the front of a cabin. An air bag is provided with an air bag main body 21, which is expanded from the contracted condition to the inside of a cabin 1 by the operation of the inflator 22, and a bag expanding direction control plate 30 arranged in the upper part of the front of a cabin and for expanding the air bag main body 21 toward a driver's seat 10 provided inside of the cabin 1 when the inflator is operated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention, when a relatively large impact is applied to a vehicle body of a vehicle, is applied to a vehicle interior from a state where the vehicle body forming portion of the vehicle body is retracted and stored. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a structure of an airbag that is inflated and protects an occupant in a vehicle compartment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A vehicle is equipped with an airbag that is normally stored in a retracted state in a storage portion provided in a vehicle compartment forming portion of the vehicle body, and is relatively large from the outside of the vehicle body. When a shock is applied, the airbag in the contracted state is caused to suddenly inflate from the storage part into the passenger compartment, and the inflated airbag absorbs the impact force and the occupant in the passenger compartment. It has been proposed to restrain the occupant so as to reduce the impact on the occupant and protect the occupant.

An airbag equipped in such a vehicle is often intended to protect an occupant seated in a driver's seat and a passenger's seat, which are arranged at a front side position in a passenger compartment. Generally, for example, JP-A-2-303952
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. JP-A-2003-264, in the purpose of protecting an occupant seated on a driver's seat, the vehicle is stored in a retracted state in a storage section provided at the center of a steering wheel, and For the purpose of protecting an occupant seated on a passenger seat, a passenger seat in a dashboard part (referred to as an instrument panel part in JP-A-2-303952) Is stored in a retracted state in a storage portion provided in the front part of the.

The airbag stored in the retracted state in the storage portion provided in the front portion of the passenger seat in the center portion of the steering wheel or the dashboard portion is accordingly distributed to the storage portion. The inflator (bag inflating device) is operated to inflate it into the passenger compartment. Such an airbag stored in the central portion of the steering wheel or the storage portion provided in the dashboard portion often falls to the vehicle front side when the airbag is inflated. In order to ensure the protection of the upper body including the head of the passenger, it is desired to inflate it so as to contact the throat of the occupant.

[0005]

Among the airbags mounted on the vehicle as described above, for example, the storage provided in the central portion of the steering wheel has the role of protecting the occupant sitting on the driver's seat. In the case of what is stored in the passenger compartment, the reference position for the occupant seated on the driver's seat is assumed, and when inflated, the throat part of the occupant that collapses from the assumed reference position to the vehicle front side. The expansion direction is set so as to abut. However, the occupant who actually sits on the driver's seat does not always fall from the assumed reference position to the vehicle front side, and moreover, the airbag stored in the storage part provided in the center of the steering wheel. The flexibility of the occupant protection function when the vehicle is inflated is relatively small due to positional restrictions.Therefore, in the case of an airbag stored in the storage section provided in the center of the steering wheel, When a relatively large impact is applied from the outside, there is a risk that the occupant's throat portion will not be properly contacted when inflated depending on the position of the occupant leaning toward the vehicle front side. is there.

Further, the steering wheel provided with the storage portion for storing the airbag in the central portion causes an increase in the total weight, which adversely affects the operability. There is also a problem that is said.

Therefore, in order to deal with such inconvenience,
When the vehicle is stored in a retracted state in a storage section provided in a portion of the front header section that is an upper portion on the front side of the passenger compartment forming section facing the driver's seat, and is inflated, the operation is performed from the contracted state. An airbag has been proposed in which an occupant sitting on a seat for a seat and a steering wheel come from an obliquely upper side of the occupant and shift to an inflated state in which the occupant is interposed.

In this manner, the airbag which is in an inflated state and is interposed between the occupant seated on the driver's seat and the steering wheel from the diagonally upper side is
Regardless of the position of the occupant seated on the driver's seat when the inflation is started, the upper body including the occupant's head comes into contact with the throat of the occupant who collapses to the front side of the vehicle when placed in the inflated state. However, when the vehicle is inflated, the steering wheel and the front wheel located in front of the steering wheel should be seen not only in the space between the occupant sitting on the driver's seat and the steering wheel. The expansion volume also becomes relatively large because it will also spread to the space between the windshield and the expansion that can be interposed between the occupant sitting on the driver's seat and the steering wheel with a sufficient volume. There is a possibility that the state may not be obtained quickly.

In view of the above point, the present invention is installed in the vehicle interior even when it is stored in a retracted state in a storage portion provided on the front side upper portion of the vehicle interior forming portion of the vehicle. In order to protect an occupant who is seated on the front seat, the airbag that can be swiftly and accurately secured to protect the occupant when inflated from the storage part to the passenger compartment is provided. Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle airbag structure.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a vehicle airbag structure according to the present invention has a storage portion provided at an upper front side portion of a vehicle compartment forming portion of the vehicle, in a contracted state. The airbag body is stored together with the bag inflating means, and is arranged in the upper part on the front side in the vehicle compartment forming portion, and the airbag body which is moved by the operation of the bag inflating means from the contracted state to the state of inflating into the vehicle compartment. An inflating direction control member is provided, and the inflating direction control member is configured to inflate the airbag main body toward the front seat installed in the vehicle compartment when the bag inflating means is activated. Composed.

[0011]

In the vehicle airbag structure according to the present invention constructed as described above, when the airbag body disposed in a contracted state at a position obliquely above the front seat is inflated. The expansion direction control member restricts the expansion toward the front windshield side, and the expansion is performed toward the front seat. As a result, the transition from the contracted state of the airbag body to the inflated state, which spreads just before the upper body of the occupant sitting on the front seat, spreads to the front windshield side and hits the front windshield. Since it is assumed that the expansion of the expanded volume is suppressed without being accompanied by the expansion that comes into contact, the expanded state that surely protects the occupant seated on the front seat at the time of the expansion is swiftly and accurately. It can be taken.

[0012]

1 shows an example of an airbag structure for a vehicle according to the present invention, together with a portion of a vehicle compartment equipped with an airbag device to which the airbag structure is applied.

The vehicle compartment forming portion in the vehicle body of the vehicle that forms the vehicle compartment 1 shown in FIG.
The roof portion 4 includes a front header portion 4A provided at a front end portion of the roof portion 4, a front windshield 5, an instrument panel portion 7 attached to the dash panel 6, and the like. The instrument panel portion 7 defines the front end portion of the vehicle compartment 1. The instrument panel unit 7 is provided with a meter cluster unit 8 and further, the meter cluster unit 8
The steering wheel 9 projects from the lower part of the. Further, inside the vehicle compartment 1, a driver's seat 10 is installed which is separated from the instrument panel portion 7 by a predetermined distance.

The front header portion 4A is formed by the front end portion of each of the roof panel 11 and the roof trim 12 which form the roof portion 4 and constitutes an upper portion on the front side in the vehicle compartment forming portion. In the part facing the installed driver seat 10,
An airbag storage section 20 is provided. The airbag storage portion 20 stores an airbag body 21 that is in a contracted state by being folded and an inflator 22 that is located behind the airbag body 21, and the inflator 22 is provided at one end of the airbag body 21. It is connected.

A portion of the front header portion 4A located on the front side of the airbag body 21 is supported by a header trim 13 projecting rearward from a front end portion of the roof panel 11 forming the front header portion 4A. A lid 24 is arranged. The lid 24 is attached to one end of the header trim 13 via a hinge portion 25 provided at one end thereof, and the other end is
It is connected to a front end portion of the roof trim 12 forming the front header portion 4A via a connecting portion 26. The connecting portion 26 is a thin portion that can be broken by a relatively small tensile force, and when the connecting portion 26 is broken, the lid 24 rotates about a hinge portion 25 provided at one end thereof as a fulcrum. It is supposed to be obtained.

At a portion of the other end of the header trim 13 which faces the lid 24, one end of a bag inflation direction control plate 30 which also functions as a sun visor and one end of a stopper member 31 are attached. The stopper member 31 is disposed on the front side of the bag inflation direction control plate 30, and the other end of the front windshield 5 is separated from the upper end of the front windshield 5 by a predetermined distance.
It is supposed to be projected into the vehicle compartment in a direction in which the distance from the windshield 5 is large. The bag inflating direction control plate 30 has one end supported by the header trim 13 and the other end abutting the front end of the roof trim 12 as shown by the solid line in FIG. The first position where the distance from the shield 5 is relatively large, and one end of which abuts on the stopper member 31 and the other end of which is the front end of the roof trim 12 as shown by the chain line in FIG. It is configured to be pivotable to and from a second position where the overall distance from the front windshield 5 is less than that in the first position. When the bag inflation direction control plate 30 is in the second position, the stopper member 31 causes the other end of the bag inflation direction control plate 30 to enter the interior of the vehicle compartment 1 in such a direction that the distance from the front windshield 5 is larger than the one end. It is placed in a protruding state. In addition, the bag inflation direction control plate 30,
The driver's seat 1 from the other end when placed in the second position
The protruding portion 30 is assumed to be in a state of protruding toward 0
A is provided.

The inflator 22 stored in the airbag storage portion 20 contains an ignition type gas generating agent and the like,
When a relatively large impact is applied to the vehicle body in which the passenger compartment 1 is provided from the outside, the gas generating agent is ignited to rapidly generate a relatively large amount of inert gas, and the gas is used as the airbag body. It is supposed to perform the operation of supplying the inside of 21. As a result, when a relatively large impact is applied to the vehicle body from the outside, the airbag body 21 stored in the airbag storage portion 20 is suddenly moved from the contracted state to the inflated state, as shown in FIG. Then, the airbag storage portion 20 is rapidly inflated into the vehicle compartment 1.
At this time, the airbag main body 21 in the inflating process breaks the connecting portion 26 between the lid 24 and the roof trim 12 from the inner side, and further outwardly with the hinge portion 25 provided at one end of the lid 24 as a fulcrum. Then, the lid 24 is moved to the position where it abuts the header trim 13. Further, in such a case, when the bag inflating direction control plate 30 is in a position other than the second position, the airbag body 21 in the inflating process and the lid 24 in the process of rotating outward by the airbag body 21. Rotates the bag inflation direction control plate 30 toward the stopper member 31 and causes the bag inflation direction control plate 30 to assume the second position.

When the airbag body 21 is inflated in this way, the bag inflation direction control plate 30 is placed at a second position separated from the front windshield 5 by a predetermined distance, and at the second position. The bag inflating direction control plate 30 placed on the other end is brought into contact with the stopper member 31 so that the other end of the bag inflating direction control plate 30 is separated from the front windshield 5 by a larger distance than the one end. The protruding portion 30A provided on the seat portion is in a state of protruding toward the driver seat 10. As a result, the airbag main body 21 is restricted in its expansion direction from the contracted state to the expanded state by the bag inflation direction control plate 30, and the front windshield 5 side as shown by the one-dot chain line in FIG. The expansion is performed toward the driver's seat 10 without causing the expansion to spread and come into contact with the front windshield 5. Thereby, the airbag body 2
As shown by the solid line in FIG. 2, 1 quickly sets a state in which the occupant P seated on the driver's seat 10 leaning to the vehicle front side and the steering wheel 9 can be interposed with a sufficient expansion volume. And
Therefore, the inflated state that reliably protects the upper body including the head of the occupant P seated on the driver's seat 10 can be swiftly and appropriately obtained.

Further, the airbag body 21 has a seat 10 for the driver's seat at the time of transition from the deflated state to the inflated state.
Since the occupant P seated on the vehicle and the steering wheel 9 come from the diagonally upper side to be interposed, the position and the driving posture of the occupant P seated on the driver's seat 10 with respect to the steering wheel 9 are determined. Regardless of how it is, when it is in the inflated state, it comes into proper contact with the throat portion of the occupant P who falls down to the vehicle front side. Therefore, the upper body including the head of the occupant P seated on the driver's seat 10 can be reliably and effectively protected while the airbag body 21 is inflated.

[0020]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the vehicle airbag structure of the present invention, the airbag main body is located obliquely above the front seat with the bag inflating means. When the airbag body is placed in a contracted state at a position and is inflated by the operation of the bag inflating means, the inflation direction control member regulates the inflation to the front windshield side. Since it is assumed that the airbag body is inflated toward the side seat, the transition from the contracted state of the airbag body to the inflated state in which the airbag body expands just before the upper body of the occupant seated on the front seat is It is performed without expansion which spreads to the windshield side and abuts the front windshield, thus increasing the expansion volume. It is braking, the when inflated, is intended to the expanded state to reliably protect the occupant seated on the front side sheet can be taken quickly and accurately.

Moreover, when the front seat is a driver's seat, the airbag main body is provided between the occupant seated on the driver's seat and the steering wheel when the airbag body is moved from the contracted state to the inflated state. Since it is supposed to come from the diagonally upper side of the vehicle and be intervened, the vehicle front side is not affected when the vehicle is in the inflated state regardless of the position and the driving posture of the occupant seated on the driver's seat with respect to the steering wheel. Therefore, the occupant's throat portion that falls down into the vehicle is accurately brought into contact with the throat, and therefore the upper body including the head of the occupant seated on the driver's seat can be reliably and effectively protected.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of a vehicle airbag structure according to the present invention together with a part of a vehicle interior of a vehicle equipped with an airbag device to which it is applied.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram provided for explaining a configuration and an operation of an airbag device to which an example of a vehicle airbag structure according to the present invention is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Cabin 4A Front Header 9 Steering Wheel 10 Seat for Driver 20 Airbag Storage 21 Airbag Main Body 22 Inflator 24 Lid 30 Bag Inflation Direction Control Plate 31 Stopper Member

Front Page Continuation (72) Inventor Naomori Moriyama 3-1, Shinchi Fuchu-cho, Aki-gun, Hiroshima Mazda Motor Corporation

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A storage part provided in an upper portion on a front side of a vehicle compartment forming part of a vehicle, which is in a contracted state and is stored together with a bag inflating means, and is operated from the contracted state by operating the bag inflating means. An airbag main body that is moved to a state of inflating into the vehicle compartment, and is arranged in an upper portion on the front side in the vehicle compartment forming portion,
An airbag for a vehicle configured to include an inflation direction control member that causes the airbag body to inflate toward the front seat installed in the vehicle compartment when the bag inflation means is activated. Construction. 2. The inflating direction control member takes a specific position when inflating the airbag body toward the front seat installed in the vehicle compartment.
The airbag structure of the vehicle described. 3. The airbag structure for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the expansion direction control member also serves as a sun visor.