(12) United States Patent
`Breed
`
`(10) Patent No.:
`(45) Date of Patent:
`
`US 7,040,653 B1
`May 9, 2006
`
`US007040653B1
`
`(54) STEERING WHEEL ASSEMBLIES FOR
`VEHICLES
`
`(75)
`
`Inventor: David s_ Breed’ Boonton Township’
`~
`Moms County’ NJ (US)
`.
`.
`.
`(73) Assignee: Automotive Technologies.
`International, Inc., Denville, NJ (US)
`.
`.
`.
`.
`Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this
`patent is extended or adjusted under 35
`U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days.
`
`*
`
`.
`) Notice:
`
`(
`
`............ .. 280/777
`
`........... 280/777
`
`l.
`
`5,871,233 A *
`5,961,144 A
`5,964,478 A
`5,984,355 A *
`6,142,504 A
`6,254,127 B1
`6,264,235 B1
`aiaizioii Bi
`6,715,790 B1
`6,893,044 B1
`2003/0075004 A1
`2003/0213319 A1
`2004/0026909 A1
`2004/0150203 A1
`
`2/1999 Tanaka et a1.
`10/1999 Desmarais
`10/1999 Stanley et al.
`11;1999 Meidaiiris et al.
`112000 Papan eou
`7/2001 Breed et al.
`t
`7/2001 B tt
`ii/200i Dihzririréaglait 3
`4/2004 Breed
`5/2005 Holmes et al.
`4/2003 Kemet et alt
`11/2003 Amamori
`2/2004 Rensinghoif
`8/2004 Cress
`
`21
`
`)
`(
`(22)
`
`(51)
`
`A 1. N .: 10/974 919
`pp
`0
`’
`Filedi
`0ct- 27, 2004
`
`Int. Cl.
`B62D 1/11
`
`(2006.01)
`
`..................................... .. 280/731; 280/777
`(52) U.S. Cl.
`(58) Field of Classification Search .............. .. 280/731,
`280/775, 735, 777; 74/493
`See application file for complete search history.
`
`(56)
`
`References Cited
`U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`
`7/1972 Henning
`3575505 A
`4/1974 Jira
`3,801,123 A
`3,910,597 A * 10/1975 Seko ........................ .. 280/731
`4,123,948 A
`i i/1978 Zeiier
`4,167,276 A
`9/1979 Ball at alt
`4,353,454 A
`1/1933 pilatzkj
`4,552,381 A *
`11/1985 Schlanger ................. .. 280/752
`4,580,810 A
`4/1986 Thuen
`4,525,578 A
`12/1985 Nishijima
`4544317 A
`2/1987 Albrecht et 31-
`4,771,650 A *
`9/1988 Kerner
`...................... .. 74/498
`4’962’947 A
`10/1990 Nagata et a1’
`5,085,466 A
`2/1992 Nakatsuka et 211.
`5,507,521 A *
`4/1996 Steifens, Jr.
`.............. .. 280/775
`5,697,638 A
`12/1997 Port
`5,718,151 A
`2/1998 Parrish et al.
`
`544
`
`FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
`3013996 A1
`10/1981
`4328562 C1
`8/1994
`10020085 Cl
`7/2001
`2068314 A
`8/1981
`
`DE
`DE
`DE
`GB
`
`* Cited by examiner
`
`Primary Examiner—DaVid R. Duim
`(74) Attorney, Agent, 07’ Fi7’m—BI‘iaI1 R059
`
`ABSTRACT
`(57)
`Steering wheel assembly including a steering column
`including an inner shaft adapted to be attached to a fixed part
`of the Vehicle and an outer shaft arranged around and
`~
`~
`~
`rotatable relative to the inner shaft. The outer shaft
`is
`.
`.
`.
`.
`.
`connect with a ‘steering mechanism V1/l11Cl1 causes turning of
`tires ‘of the Vehicle. A steering wheel 1.S connected to and for
`rotation with the outer shaftand an airbag module includes
`an airbag connected to the inner shaft. The airbag module
`does not rotate upon rotation of the outer shaft and the
`steering wheel. The airbag is thus stationary relative to the
`steering wheel and as a result, its shape is not constrained by
`any limitations which aiise when the airbag must rotate
`alon with the steerin wheel as in conventional steerin
`h gi
`t d . b
`g
`t
`g
`W ee 'm°““e a“ a3 5Y5 ems"
`
`19 Claims, 67 Drawing Sheets
`
`
`
`545
`
`Takata Ex. 1007
`
`IPR Petition — USP 9,043,093
`
`Takata Ex. 1007
`IPR Petition - USP 9,043,093
`
`

`
`U.S. Patent
`
`May 9,2006
`
`Sheet 1 of 67
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`US 7,040,653 B1
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`FIG.
`
`‘I
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`

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`U.S. Patent
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`May 9,2006
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`Sheet 2 of 67
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`US 7,040,653 B1
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`

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`U.S. Patent
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`Ma 9 2006
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`Sheet 3 of 67
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`FIG. 1B
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`

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`May 9,2006
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`Sheet 4 of 67
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`322
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`

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`U.S. Patent
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`May 9, 2006
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`Sheet 5 of 67
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`US 7,040,653 B1
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`FIG.’ID
`
`

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`U.S. Patent
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`May 9, 2006
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`Sheet 6 of 67
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`US 7,040,653 B1
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`331
`
`FIG. 2
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`

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`U.S. Patent
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`May 9, 2006
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`Sheet 7 of 67
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`US 7,040,653 B1
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`FIG. 3A
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`

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`U.S. Patent
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`May 9, 2006
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`Sheet 8 of 67
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`US 7,040,653 B1
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`FIG. 3B
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`

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`U.S. Patent
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`May 9,2006
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`Sheet 9 of 67
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`

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`U.S. Patent
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`May 9,2006
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`Sheet 11 of 67
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`

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`U.S. Patent
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`May 9,2006
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`Sheet 12 of 67
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`US 7,040,653 B1
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`FIG. 4B
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`May 9,2006
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`Sheet 13 of 67
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`353
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`FIG. 4C
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`351
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`

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`U.S. Patent
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`May 9,2006
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`Sheet 14 of 67
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`US 7,040,653 B1
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`FIG. 5
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`U.S. Patent
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`May 9,2006
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`Sheet 16 of 67
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`US 7,040,653 B1
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`U.S. Patent
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`May 9,2006
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`US 7,040,653 B1
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`May 9,2006
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`Sheet 19 of 67
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`Sheet 20 of 67
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`FIG.10
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`U.S. Patent
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`May 9,2006
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`Sheet 21 of 67
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`US 7,040,653 B1
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`U.S. Patent
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`May 9,2006
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`Sheet 22 of 67
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`May 9,2006
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`Sheet 24 of 67
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`FIG. HC
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`May 9,2006
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`Sheet 25 of 67
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`May 9,2006
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`Sheet 27 of 67
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`May 9,2006
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`Sheet 34 of 67
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`May 9,2006
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`Sheet 35 of 67
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`May 9,2006
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`May 9,2006
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`Sheet 43 of 67
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`Cut two pieces of
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`Sheet 55 of 67
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`May 9,2006
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`U.S. Patent
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`May 9,2006
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`Sheet 62 of 67
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`U.S. Patent
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`May 9,2006
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`Sheet 63 of 67
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`US 7,040,653 B1
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`U.S. Patent
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`May 9,2006
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`Sheet 65 of 67
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`US 7,040,653 B1
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`U.S. Patent
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`May 9,2006
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`U.S. Patent
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`May 9,2006
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`Sheet 67 of 67
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`US 7,040,653 B1
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`

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`US 7,040,653 B1
`
`1
`STEERING WHEEL ASSEMBLIES FOR
`VEHICLES
`
`CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED
`APPLICATIONS
`
`This application contains disclosure also appearing in
`U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/817,379 filed Apr. 2,
`2004, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/413,318 filed Apr.
`14, 2003, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/888,575 filed
`Jun. 25, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,715,790, U.S. patent
`application Ser. No. 09/535,198 filed Mar. 27, 2000, now
`U.S. Pat. No. 6,250,668, U.S. patent application Ser. No.
`09/071,801, filed May 4, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,194,
`U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/795,418, filed Feb. 4,
`1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,863,068, U.S. patent application
`Ser. No. 08/626,493, filed Apr. 2, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No.
`5,746,446, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/571,247, filed
`Dec. 12, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,238, U.S. patent
`application Ser. No. 08/539,676, filed Oct. 5, 1995, now U.S.
`Pat. No. 5,653,464 and U.S. patent application Ser. No.
`08/247,763, filed May 23, 1994, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,
`485. All of these patent applications are incorporated by
`reference herein.
`
`FIELD OF THE INVENTION
`
`All of the patents, patent applications, technical papers
`and other references referenced below are incorporated
`herein by reference in their entirety.
`The present invention relates generally to steering wheel
`assemblies for vehicles and vehicles including the same and
`more particularly to steering wheel assemblies which inter-
`act with an occupant protection system to improve the
`deployment of the occupant protection system.
`The present invention also relates to a side curtain airbag
`system which deploys to prevent injury to vehicle occupants
`in a side impact or rollover accident.
`The present invention also relates to airbags made from
`plastic film such as a side curtain airbag arranged to deploy
`along the side of a vehicle to protect occupants during a
`crash involving the vehicle, including a rollover. The side
`curtain airbag may even wrap around a front-seated occu-
`pant, i.e., have a frontal portion designed to deploy between
`a front-seated occupant and the dashboard. Also there may
`be a plurality plastic film airbags that deploy in the event of
`a vehicle accident. In some cases, such plastic film airbags
`may deploy to fill substantially all of the front passenger
`compartment of an automotive or truck vehicle.
`The present invention also generally relates to an airbag
`having interconnected compartments for use in vehicular
`crashes whereby the airbag deploys before or during the
`crash to cushion the occupant of the vehicle and prevent
`injury to the occupant. The present invention also relates
`generally to a method for making an airbag having inter-
`connected compartments and an occupant protection system
`including an airbag with interconnected compartments.
`The present invention also relates to a vehicular airbag
`having a low mass and made substantially from thin plastic
`film which is designed to deploy in a collision involving the
`vehicle so that if it impacts the occupant of the vehicle
`wherever he/she is located,
`it will not cause significant
`injury to the occupant. In order to make a film airbag of
`sufficiently low mass so as not to injure the occupant, it has
`been recognized that the film airbag should be designed to
`arrest the propagation of a tear so that a small hole or break
`in the film does not result in a catastrophic failure, i.e., cause
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`the airbag to burst like a balloon or otherwise prevent the
`airbag from deploying properly. One particular method of
`arresting the propagation of a tear of this invention is to use
`a combination of an elastomeric film and a reinforcement
`
`structure which in certain embodiments may be the elasto-
`meric material
`itself constructed in a variable thickness
`
`pattern, i.e., have thinner and thicker sections, or in a manner
`so that
`it has strategically placed thicker sections,
`i.e.,
`relative to remaining portions of the material, in view of
`stress considerations during deployment. Another particular
`method of arresting the propagation of a tear is to formulate
`the plastic film so that it exhibits the property of blunting, as
`described below. One method of achieving this property is
`to laminate two or more plastic films having different
`properties together. Typically, one of the films is more rigid
`and the other more elastic. One example is a lamination
`comprising NYLON 6,6® and polyurethane films.
`The present invention also relates to airbags including
`barrier coatings which provide reductions in gas, chemical
`and vapor permeability, especially side curtain airbags.
`The present invention also relates to methods for manu-
`facturing airbag modules including an airbag having a
`barrier coating and an associated inflator.
`
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`
`Various patents, patent applications, patent publications
`and other published documents are discussed below as
`background of the invention. No admission is made that any
`or all of these references are prior art and indeed,
`it is
`contemplated that they may not be available as prior art
`when interpreting 35 U.S.C. §102 in consideration of the
`claims of the present application.
`1. Plastic Film Airbags
`Plastic films have not previously been used to make
`airbags with the exception of perforated films as disclosed in
`U.S. Pat. No. 4,963,412 to Kokeguchi, which is discussed
`below.
`
`U.S. Pat. No. 3,451,693 (Carey) describes the presence of
`a variable exhaust orifice in an airbag which maintains
`constant pressure in the airbag as the occupant is thrown into
`the airbag but does not disclose plastic film, merely plastic.
`The distinguishable properties of film are numerically
`described in the instant specification and basically are thin-
`ner and less weight. The material of Carey is not plastic film
`which is capable of arresting the propagation of a tear. In
`fact, it is unclear in Carey as to whether the orifice can be
`varied in a repeatable/reusable manner and no mention is
`made as to whether the stretching of the orifice area is
`permanent or temporary.
`U.S. Pat. No. 5,811,506 (Slagel) describes a thermoplas-
`tic, elastomeric polyurethane for use in making vehicular
`airbags. The polyurethane is extrudable so that airbags of
`various shapes and sizes can be formed therefrom.
`Recently issued U.S. Pat. No. 6,627,275 (Chen) describes
`the use of crystal gels to achieve tear resistance for airbags.
`This is a particular example of the teachings herein for the
`use of the thermoplastic elastomers to achieve tear resistance
`through the use of a particular subclass of such polymers. No
`mention is made, however, to laminate these materials with
`a film with a higher elastic modulus as is taught herein.
`Although interesting materials, they may not be practical for
`airbags due to their high cost. In particular, the crystal gel
`described in Chen is part of a class of thermoplastic elas-
`tomer (TPE) and in particular of polyester elastomers such
`as HYTRELTM which are discussed elsewhere herein and in
`
`the parent applications listed above. It is important to note
`
`

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`US 7,040,653 B1
`
`3
`that the particular formulations listed in Chen are probably
`poor choices for the blunting film portion of a laminated film
`used to make film airbags. This is due to their very high
`elasticity of 104 to 106 dynes per cm2 (see Chen at col. 21,
`line 4). This corresponds to the liquid crystal polymers
`which have an elastic modulus of above 1010 dynes per cm2.
`Thus, they will provide little resistance to the propagation of
`a tear in the higher modulus component of the laminated film
`and would be poor as the blunting layer.
`It is important to note that liquid crystal polymers of a
`diflerent sort than disclosed in Chen having quite the oppo-
`site properties would be ideal candidates for the high modu-
`lus component of a laminated film due to their inelastic
`nature, that is their high modulus of elasticity. Although
`these materials are considerably more expensive than
`NYLON®, for example, they are about twice as strong and
`therefore only half as much would be required. This would
`render the inner layer, for example, of a lamination with
`perhaps urethane as the outer layers, half the thickness and
`thus one eighth of the bending stiflness of NYLON®. Thus,
`the laminated airbag made in this manner would be consid-
`erably easier to fold and when folded,
`it would occupy
`substantially less space.
`Another advantage of the more rigid liquid crystal poly-
`mers is that they can be laminated to polyurethane or other
`blunting materials without the need for an adhesive. This
`results in a significant cost saving for the laminated film and
`thus partially oflsets the higher cost of the material com-
`pared with NYLON®, for example. Naturally, they can also
`be laminated to a more elastic liquid crystal polymer.
`Note also that the “soft, safe, hugging, enveloping inflat-
`able restraint cushions” described in Chen are not applicable
`in the form disclosed because, if used in a thin film version,
`it would blow up like a balloon permitting the occupant to
`easily displace the gas and penetrate far into the airbag. If
`used in a thick film version so that it does not stretch, then
`the advantages of the material are lost and the airbag would
`be similar in weight to a fabric airbag. However, if it is
`laminated to a more rigid material or a net as disclosed
`herein and in the previous patents of the current assignee,
`then again many of the advantages of the material are lost
`since the main material providing the strength to the airbag
`is the more rigid film or net layer. Nevertheless, providing
`there is not too much of a cost penalty the “elastic-crystalline
`gels” described in Chen might be advantageously used in the
`practice of the teachings of the inventions described herein
`for some applications. Chen is thus incorporated herein in its
`entirety as if it were reproduced and placed herein. Some
`other patents assigned to the assignee of Chen that may be
`relevant to the invention herein are: U.S. Pat. No. 6,552,109,
`U.S. Pat. No. 6,420,475, U.S. Pat. No. 6,333,374, U.S. Pat.
`No. 6,324,703, U.S. Pat. No. 6,148,830, U.S. Pat. No.
`6,117,176, U.S. Pat. No. 6,050,871, U.S. Pat. No. 5,962,572,
`U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,639, U.S. Pat. No. 5,868,597, U.S. Pat.
`No. 5,760,117, U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,947, U.S. Pat. No.
`5,633,286, U.S. Pat. No. 5,508,334, U.S. Pat. No. 5,336,708,
`U.S. Pat. No. 5,334,646, U.S. Pat. No. 5,324,222, U.S. Pat.
`No. 5,262,468 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,369,284.
`Although airbags are now installed in all new vehicles and
`each year an increasing number of airbags are making their
`way into new vehicle designs, they are still basically the
`same design as originally invented about 40 years ago.
`Generally, each driver and passenger side airbag is a single
`chamber or at most two chambers, they are made from fabric
`that has suflicient mass as to cause injury to an occupant that
`is in the deployment path and they are positioned so that a
`forward-facing occupant will be protected in a substantially
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`In contrast, many occupants are out-of-
`impact.
`frontal
`position and many real world crashes involved highly angu-
`lar impacts, spinouts, rollovers etc. where the occupant is
`frequently injured by the deploying airbag and impacts other
`objects in the vehicle compartment in addition to the airbag.
`In the out-of-position case, occupant sensors are now
`being considered to prevent or control the deployment of the
`airbag to minimize deployment
`induced injuries. These
`occupant sensors will significantly reduce the number of
`deaths caused by airbags but in doing so, they can deprive
`the occupant of the protection aflorded by a softer airbag if
`the deployment is suppressed. Side and side curtain airbags
`are being installed to give additional protection to occupants
`in side impacts and rollovers. However, there still will be
`many situations where occupants will continue to be injured
`in crashes where airbags could have been a significant aid.
`What is needed is an airbag system that totally surrounds the
`occupant and holds him or her in the position that he or she
`is prior to the crash. The airbag system needs to deploy very
`rapidly, contact the occupant without causing injury and
`prevent his or her motion until the crash is over. This is a
`system that fills up the passenger compartment in substan-
`tially the same way that packaging material
`is used to
`prevent breakage of a crystal glass during shipment.
`To accomplish this self-adjusting airbag system, the air-
`bags must be made of very light material so that when they
`impact the occupant, they do not cause injury. They also
`must be inflated largely with the gas that is in the passenger
`compartment or else serious ear injuries may result and the
`doors and windows may be blown out. Thus, an airbag
`system comprised of many mini-airbags all connected
`together and inflated with one or more aspirated inflators
`that limit the pressure within each mini-airbag is needed.
`This is one focus of this invention. As it is accomplished, the
`inflators will get smaller and simpler since there will be no
`need for dual stage inflators. Since out-of-position occupants
`will not be injured by the deploying airbags, there will be no
`need for occupant sensors and children can safely ride in the
`front seat of a vehicle. The entire system will deploy
`regardless of the direction of the impact and the occupants
`will be frozen in their pre-crash positions until the crash is
`over.
`
`Anticipatory crash sensors based on pattern recognition
`technology are disclosed in several of current assignee’s
`patents and pending patent applications. See, for example,
`U.S. Pat. No. 6,343,810, U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,909, U.S. Pat.
`No.
`6,623,033,
`U.S.
`Pat.
`No.
`6,746,078
`and
`US20020166710. The technology now exists to allow the
`identification and relative velocity determination to be made
`for any airbag-required accident prior to the accident occur-
`ring (anticipatory sensing). This achievement now allows
`airbags to be reliably deployed prior to the accident. The
`implications of this are significant. Prior to this achievement,
`the airbag system had to wait until an accident started before
`a determination could be made whether to deploy the
`airbags. The result
`is that
`the occupants, especially if
`unbelted, would frequently achieve a significant velocity
`relative to the vehicle passenger compartment before the
`airbags began to interact with the occupant and reduce his or
`her relative velocity. This would frequently subject
`the
`occupant to high accelerations, in some cases in excess of 40
`Gs, and in many cases result in serious injury or death to the
`occupant. On the other hand, a vehicle typically undergoes
`less than a maximum of 20 Gs during even the most severe
`crashes. Most occupants can withstand 20 Gs with little or
`no injury. Thus, as taught herein, if the accident severity
`could be forecast prior to impact and the vehicle filled with
`
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`US 7,040,653 B1
`
`5
`plastic film airbags that freeze the occupants in their pre
`crash positions, then many lives will be saved and many
`injuries will be avoided.
`The main argument against anticipatory sensors is that the
`mass of the impacting object remains unknown until the
`accident commences. However, through using a camera, or
`other imaging technology based on, for example, radar or
`terahertz generators and receivers,
`to monitor potentially
`impacting objects and pattern recognition technologies such
`as neural networks, the object can be identified and in the
`case of another vehicle, the mass of the vehicle when it is in
`the unloaded condition can be found from a stored table in
`
`the vehicle system. If the vehicle is a commercial truck, then
`whether it is loaded or not will have little eflect on the
`
`severity of an accident. Also if the relative velocity of the
`impacting vehicles is above some threshold, then again the
`mass of the impacting vehicle is not
`important
`to the
`deployment decision. Pickup trucks and vans are thus the
`main concern because as loaded, they can perhaps weigh 50
`percent more than when unloaded. However, such vehicles
`are usually within 10% of their unloaded-plus-one-passen-
`ger weight almost all of the time. Since the decision to be
`made is whether or not to deploy the airbag, in all severe
`cases and most marginal cases, the correct decision will be
`made to deploy the airbag regardless if there is additional
`weight in the vehicle. If the assumption is made that such
`vehicles are loaded with no more than 10% additional
`
`weight, then only in a few marginal crashes, a no deploy-
`ment decision will be made when a deployment decision is
`correct. However, as soon as the accident commences, the
`traditional crash sensors will detect the accident and deploy
`the airbags, but for those marginal cases the occupants will
`have obtained little relative forward velocity anyway and
`probably not be hurt and certainly not killed by the deploy-
`ing plastic film airbags which stop deploying as soon as the
`occupant is contacted. Thus, the combination of anticipatory
`sensor technology and plastic film airbags as disclosed
`herein results in the next generation self adapting safety
`system that maximizes occupant protection, both technolo-
`gies preferably but not required to be those implemented or
`developed by the current assignee.
`Another feature of plastic film airbags discussed below is
`the ability of film to be easily joined together to form
`structures that would be diflicult or impossible to achieve
`with fabric such as the addition of a sheet of film to span the
`chambers of a side curtain airbag. It is well known that side
`curtain airbags are formed with chambers in order to limit
`the thickness of the curtain. This results in a curtain with
`
`reduced stiflhess to resist the impact of the head of an
`occupant, for example, and to also form areas where the
`protection is less than other areas due to the presence of
`seams. Using film,
`these seam sections can be easily
`spanned without running the risk of introducing additional
`leakage paths in the airbag. This sparming of the chambers
`can produce additional chambers that can also be pressur-
`ized or the additional chambers can be left open to the
`atmosphere.
`An analysis of a driver airbag made from two flat sheets
`of inelastic film shows that the maximum stresses occur in
`
`the center of the airbag where the curvature is at a minimum.
`Thus, the material strength and not the seal or seam strength
`limits the pressure that causes the airbag to fail. On the other
`hand, analysis of some conventional side curtain airbags has
`shown that the maximum stress can occur in the seams and
`
`thus the maximum pressure that the airbag can hold without
`bursting is limited by the material strength in the seams. This
`fact is at least partially the cause of excessive gas leakage at
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`the seams of some fabric airbags necessitating the lamina-
`tion of a polymer film onto the outside of the airbag. This
`problem is even more evident when the bag is made by
`continuous weaving where the chambers are formed by
`weaving two sheets of material together. A solution to this
`problem as discussed below is to first optimize the design of
`the seam area to reduce stresses and then to form the airbag
`by joining the sheets of material by heat sealing,
`for
`example, where an elastic material forms the seam that joins
`the sheets together. Such a joint permits the material to
`stretch and smooth the stresses, eliminating the stress con-
`centrations and again placing the maximum stresses in the
`material at locations away from the seam. This has the
`overall eflect of permitting the airbag to be constructed from
`thinner material permitting a more rapid deployment and
`causing less injury to an out-of-position occupant. This
`technique also facilitates the use of plastic film as an airbag
`material. Such a film can comprise a relatively inelastic,
`biaxially oriented layer for maximum tensile strength and a
`relatively elastic, polyurethane film, or equivalent, where the
`polyurethane film is substantially thicker than the Nylon®.
`This combination not only improves the blunting property
`discussed above but also substantially reduces the stresses in
`the seams (see Appendix 1).
`U.S. Pat. No. 6,355,123 to Baker et al. uses reinforcement
`material to make the seams stronger so as to compensate for
`the increased stresses discussed above rather than using
`elastic material
`to smooth out
`the stresses as disclosed
`
`herein. Similarly, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,712,920, Masuda et al.
`add reinforcing strips to the inside of a seam which are
`attached by adhesive to the airbag beyond the sewn seam.
`2. Driver side airbag
`A conventional driver side airbag (also referred to herein
`as a driver airbag) is made from pieces of either NYLON®
`or polyester fabric that are joined together, e.g., by sewing.
`The airbag is usually coated on the inside with neoprene or
`silicone for the purposes of (i) capturing hot particles
`emitted by the inflator in order to prevent holes from being
`burned in the fabric, and (ii) sealing the airbag to minimize
`the leakage of an inflating gas through the fabric. Although
`such coatings are films, they difler significantly from the
`films disclosed herein in that
`they do not significantly
`modify the properties of the fabric airbags to which they are
`applied since they are thin and substantially more elastic
`than fabric. These airbags are conventionally made by first
`cutting two approximately circular sections of a material
`having a coating on only one side and which will form a
`front panel and a back panel, and sewing them together with
`the coated side facing out. The back panel is provided with
`a hole for attachment to an inflator. Fabric str