JPH0740800A - Air bag structure for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the air bag structure of vehicles which can ideally protect drivers from impact at any crash even in such a type of vehicle as the driver's seat position is set at a high position by pointing the direction of the air bag expansion toward the vicinity of the driver's neck when the air bag works. CONSTITUTION:This is the air bag structure of a vehicle set at a steering wheel. An air bag 2 is provided to enable a rotation relative to a steering wheel 1, and the position of the center of gravity G of the air bag 2 is set in a position lower than the rotary central shaft C1 of the steering wheel.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle airbag structure, and more particularly to an airbag structure capable of ensuring safety during airbag operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an airbag structure to be mounted on a vehicle, an airbag which is provided at a center of rotation of a steering hole and expands and contracts toward a driver at the time of a collision has been put into practical use.

An air bag of this type is fixed at the center of rotation of the steering hole, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-175353. Therefore, when the tilt device is provided in the steering hole, the attachment angle of the airbag changes in the same manner as the tilt angle.

[0004]

According to the airbag structure described above, the mounting angle of the airbag changes similarly to the tilt angle of the steering hole, but the driver's seat is positioned at a relatively low position. In the case of a vehicle, the inflating position of the airbag is set substantially in the vicinity of the driver's neck, and the driver can be protected from the impact force at the time of a collision during the operation of the airbag.

However, in a vehicle type in which the driver's seat position is set at a high position, the axis extending from the rotation axis of the steering wheel toward the driver is set near the driver's face. For this reason, when the airbag fixed to the steering hole is in operation, it is impossible to direct the direction of the airbag inflation to the vicinity of the neck at the time of a collision, and it is possible to ideally protect the driver from the impact force at the time of the collision. There is a problem that can not be done.

[0006] Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and can be applied to any vehicle type, for example, even if the driver's seat position is set to a high position,
It is an object of the present invention to provide an airbag structure for a vehicle that can ideally protect the driver from an impact force in the event of a collision by making the direction of the airbag expansion point near the driver's neck when the airbag is operating. I am trying.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and to achieve the object, the present invention is a vehicle airbag structure provided on a steering wheel, wherein the airbag structure is rotatable relative to the steering wheel. The bag is provided and the center of gravity of the airbag is set below the rotation center axis of the steering wheel.

[0008] Further, preferably, there is provided a locking means for changing the state of relative rotation with respect to the steering wheel to the locked state when the airbag is operated.

[0009]

With the above structure, the weight of the airbag allows the inflation direction of the airbag to be directed near the driver's neck regardless of the tilt angle of the steering hole, so that the driver is ideally protected from the impact force at the time of a collision. Work to protect.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numerals denote the same objects throughout the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration side view showing the configuration of the embodiment, and in the vehicle type in which the driver's seat 3 is set at a high position as shown in the drawing, the driver is driven from the rotation axis C1 of the steering wheel 1 to the driver. The axis C1 extended toward D is set near the face of the driver D or overhead. For this reason, when the airbag fixed to the steering hole 1 is operated as in the conventional case, it becomes impossible to direct to the vicinity of the neck at the time of a collision, and the driver can be ideally protected from the impact force at the time of the collision. Disappear.

Therefore, the central axis C of the airbag unit 2
2 is directed near the neck of the driver D as shown. For this reason, the center of gravity position G of the airbag unit 2 is located below the above-mentioned axis C1, and
It is configured to rotate relative to the steering wheel 1. Here, if the steering wheel 1 is in the neutral position by simply fixing the airbag unit 2 to the steering wheel 1 as shown in the figure, the airbag 2 can be inflated in the direction along the central axis C2. However, when the airbag unit 2 is operated during steering, the airbag unit 2 inflates in a direction away from the driver. For this reason, the airbag unit 2 must be provided so as to be able to rotate relative to the steering wheel 1 while maintaining the illustrated state.

Hereinafter, referring to the cross-sectional view of the essential parts of FIG. 2 and the exploded view of FIG. 3, the airbag unit 2 is provided so as to be rotatable relative to the steering wheel 1, and
A state in which the position of the center of gravity G of the airbag unit 2 is set below the rotation center axis C1 of the steering wheel 1 will be described.

In both figures, a steering wheel 1 partially shown by a chain double-dashed line has a metal core 4 extending in the outer peripheral direction of a steering base 6 as a base, and a predetermined resin is insert-molded around the core 4. And are integrally formed. Then, the serration female portion fixed to the central portion of the steering base portion 6 is fixed to the steering shaft 5 to form a steering portion.

Next, with respect to the steering base portion 6, a spherical portion 7b as shown in the drawing is formed and a hole portion 7h for penetrating the shaft body 16 described later, and a ball holder 8 made of steel balls are provided. A spherical member 7 rotatably incorporated by means of 9 is fixed using a bolt 10. An air bag mounting base 11 is provided to the spherical member 7 so as to be rotatable and swingable, and a shaft body 16 which is embedded in a through hole 11 a formed in the air bag mounting base 11.
18 fixed to one end of the slider 18 and a slider 18 fixed to the other end of the shaft body 16 using a nut 17.
It is provided by being prevented from falling off. In addition, the shaft body 16
A coil spring 14 for holding the inflator 12 in a separated state with respect to the airbag mounting base 11 is inserted in the.

As shown in the figure, the slider 18 has a shape along the outer peripheral surface of the spherical portion 7b of the spherical member 7, and is provided so as to be slidable around the rotation center H of the inflator 12. There is. Also, this inflator 12
A bag 13 accommodated in a folded state is provided around the vehicle, and the bag is inflated toward the driver by breaking the thin portion 15h of the cover 15 by inflating by the ignition signal from a signal line (not shown). Is configured to.

On the other hand, the position of the center of gravity G of the airbag unit 2 including the inflator 12, the airbag mounting base 11, the bag 13 and the shaft 16 is provided below the axis C1 as shown in the figure.

Next, FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the main part of FIG. 2, in which a lock surface 6a is formed on the surface of the steering base 6, and the outer peripheral surface of the slider 18 is opposed to this lock surface 6a. It shows a state in which a locking surface 18a for locking is formed.

In the airbag structure described above, when the steering 1 is operated, the center of gravity G of the airbag unit 2 moves while drawing a circular miracle as shown in the front view of FIG. Even when the airbag unit 2 is operated, it can be inflated in the direction toward the driver's neck.

As shown in FIG. 4, when the inflator 12 is in operation, the inflator 12 rapidly moves in the direction of arrow S1 in the figure to compress the coil spring 14, and at the same time the shaft member fixed to the inflator 12 is moved. As a result of rapidly moving the 16 sliders 18 in the direction of the arrow S2, the lock surface 18a is locked to the lock surface 6a. As a result, the airbag unit 2 is fixed to the steering wheel 1, so that the driver can be ideally protected from the impact force at the time of a collision.

The above-described invention of the present application is not limited to the configurations of the above-described embodiments, and the setting can be changed as appropriate without departing from the gist of the invention. For example, the airbag unit 2 is steered. It goes without saying that the structure provided so as to be rotatable relative to the wheel is not limited to the above embodiment.

If the airbag unit 2 is extremely sluggish with respect to the steering wheel 1, a brake may be provided as appropriate.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, even if the vehicle type is not selected, for example, even if the driver's seat position is set to a high position, the airbag will not expand when the airbag is in operation. It is possible to provide an airbag structure for a vehicle that can ideally protect the driver from an impact force in the event of a collision by directing the direction near the driver's neck.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration side view showing a configuration of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a main part of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a three-dimensional exploded view of an example.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a steering wheel.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 steering wheel, 2 airbag unit, 6 steering base, 6a locking surface, 7 spherical member, 8 ball, 9 ball holder, 11 airbag mounting base, 12 inflator, 13 bag, 14 coil spring, 16 shaft body, 18 slider, 18a is a lock surface.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Naomune Moriyama 3-1, Shinchi, Fuchu-cho, Aki-gun, Hiroshima Mazda Motor Corporation

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An airbag structure for a vehicle provided on a steering wheel, wherein an airbag is provided so as to be rotatable relative to the steering wheel, and a center of gravity of the airbag is set from a rotation center axis of the steering wheel. A vehicle airbag structure characterized by being set to a lower position. 2. The airbag structure for a vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising a locking unit that locks a relative rotation state with respect to the steering wheel when the airbag is in operation.