United States Patent c191
`Lau et al.
`
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`US005273309A
`5,273,309
`[11] Patent Number:
`[45] Date of Patent: Dec. 28, 1993
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`[54] AIR BAG FOR SIDE IMP ACT
`Inventors: Ian V. Lau, Troy; Jeffrey A. Welch,
`(75]
`St. Clair Shores; Larry G. La Grange,
`Romeo; Brian H. Frantz, Royal Oak,
`all of Mich.
`[73] Assignee: General Motors Corporation, Detroit,
`Mich.
`[21] Appl. No.: 901,300
`Jun. 19, 1992
`[22] Filed:
`Int. CI.s .............................................. B60R 21/22
`[51]
`(52] U.S. Cl ................................................. 280/730 A
`(58] Field of Search ............... 280/728, 730, 733, 743,
`280/728 R, 728 A, 728 B, 730 R, 730 A, 743 R
`References Cited
`U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`2,834,606 5/1958 Bertrand ............................. 280/730
`3,510,150 5/1970 Wilfen ................................ 280/733
`3,617,073 11/1971 Landsman et al. ................. 280/150
`
`[56]
`
`FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
`2041741 2/1972 Fed. Rep. of Germany ... 2801730 A
`
`0258636 11/1991 Japan .............................. 2801730 A
`0166451 6/1992 Japan .............................. 280/730 A
`
`Primary Examiner-Margaret A. Focarino
`Assistant Examiner-Paul Dickson
`Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Charles E. Leahy
`
`ABSTRACT
`(57]
`The air bag assembly, including the inflator and the
`stored air bag are mounted on the vehicle pillar adja(cid:173)
`cent the front· seat back. Upon deployment, the air bag
`unfurls from a housing mounted on the pillar and ex(cid:173)
`tends along the door between the end of the seat and the
`door. The air bag assembly can include either an air bag
`which unfurls forwardly for the front seat occupant, or
`which unfurls rearwardly for the rear seat occupant, or
`air bags for both the front and rear occupants. The air
`bags maybe inflated by a single inflator, or separate
`inflators may be provided for the front and the rear
`seats. A sensor may be mounted on either the door or
`the pillar to provide an input signal to the air bag actuat(cid:173)
`ing electrical circuit.
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`3 Claims, 3 Drawing Sheets
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`U.S. Patent
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`Dec. 28, 1993
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`U.S. Patent
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`Dec. 28, 1993
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`Sheet 2 of 3
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`FIG. 2
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`U.S. Patent
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`Dec. 28, 1993
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`Sheet 3 of 3
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`32 FIG. 3
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`FIG. 5
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`5,273,309
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`AIR BAG FOR SIDE IMPACT
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`The invention relates to a vehicle air bag and more
`particularly an air bag mounted on the pillar to which
`the door is latched and having an air bag which deploys
`into the space between the seated occupant and the
`door.
`
`2
`As best seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the pillar 22 is com(cid:173)
`prised of an outer panel 24 and an inner panel 26 which
`are suitably welded or otherwise connected together in
`spaced apart relation. The outer panel 24 may be an
`S outside panel of the motor vehicle body, or may alterna(cid:173)
`tively be concealed behind the edges of the doors 14
`and 18.
`As seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, an air bag assembly 30 is
`mounted on the inner panel 26 by nut and bolt assem-
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`10 blies 32. The pillar 22 and air bag assembly 30 are con-
`It is well known in motor vehicles to provide an air
`cealed by plastic molding 34.
`FIG. 3 shows a typical air bag assembly 30 which
`bag deployed by a gas generator to cushion an occu-
`includes an inflater 38, front seat air bag 40 and a rear
`pant.
`The prior art has recognized that such an air bag may
`seat air bag 42. The air bags 40 and 42 are rolled to a
`be mounted on a vehicle door to provide such cushion- IS stored condition and respectively concealed behind
`ing in a side impact situation.
`It would be desirable to provide a side air bag with-
`break away doors 43 and 45 of the plastic molding
`out necessitating the direct mounting of the air bag on
`which conceals the air bag from view. The doors 43 and
`the vehicle door where interference may result with
`45 are molded integrally into the plastic molding and
`20 defined by a series of weakening indentations 47 molded
`door handles, window handles, and arm rests.
`into the plastic molding 34 to promote tearing of the
`plastic and a hinge indentation 49 which enables the
`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`According to the present invention, the air bag as-
`doors to hinge open. A control wire 44 is connected to
`the inflator 38 and extends to suitable electronic control
`sembly, including the inflator housing and the stored air
`bag are mounted on the vehicle pillar adjacent the front 2s circuitry for initiating the actuation of the air bag. The
`electronic control circuitry preferably includes a sensor
`seat back. Upon deployment, the air bag unfurls from
`46 shown in FIG. 2 mounted on the pillar 22.
`the housing mounted on the pillar and extends along the
`door between the end of the seat and the door. The air
`Referring to FIGS. 1 and 4, it is seen that the actua-
`tion of the air bag assembly 30 by the electronic control
`bag assembly may include an air bag for the front seat,
`an air bag for the rear seat, or air bags for both the front 30 circuitry will cause the inflator 38 to generator inflation
`gas which unfurls the front occupant bag 40 and the
`and rear seats. The front and rear air bags maybe in-
`flated by a single inflator or separate inflators may be
`rear occupant bag 42 to their deployed positions of
`provided for the front and the rear seats. A sensor may
`FIG. 1 in which the air bags extend between the seated
`be mounted on either the door or the pillar to provide
`occupants and the adjacent vehicle door. Each air bag
`an input signal to the air bag actuating electronic con- 35 40 and 42 has a vent hole 46 at the end thereof to control
`trol circuit.
`the pressure within the bag.
`FIG. 5 shows an alternative arrangement of the air
`bag assembly in which the front air bag 40 has an infla(cid:173)
`tor 48 with control wire 52 and the rear air bag 42 has
`a separate inflator 50 with a control wire 54. The con(cid:173)
`trol wires 52 and 54 are preferably connected with
`separate electronic control circuitry which will actuate
`the front air bag 40 if an occupant is seated in the front
`seat 12 and separately actuates the rear seat bag 42 if an
`occupant is present on the rear seat 16.
`It will be understood that although FIG. 1 shows a
`air bag of relatively long narrow shape, other air bag
`shapes may be employed within the ordinary skill of the
`art in order to obtain the desired results.
`Although the vehicle of FIG. 1 is shown as a four(cid:173)
`door vehicle having front and rear doors, it will be
`understood that the invention is equally applicable to a
`coupe vehicle having only front doors, and in which
`ss case the pillar mounted air bag for the rear seat will
`deploy along the side panel of the vehicle body. It will
`also be appreciated that although the air bag shown in
`the drawings includes both a front occupant air bag and
`a rear occupant air bag, the pillar mounted air bag as(cid:173)
`sembly can include only one air bag.
`In the preferred embodiment of FIG. 1 the air bag
`assembly is mounted on the pillar at an elevation just
`vertically below the side windows. However, it is un-·
`derstood that the air bag assembly may be mounted
`higher or lower as desired. Thus it is seen that the inven(cid:173)
`tion provides a new and improved side impact air bag
`for a motor vehicle in which the air bag assembly is
`mounted on the pillar between the front and rear seats.
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`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ORA WINGS
`FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of a vehicle according
`to the invention and having the front and rear doors 40
`partially broken away to show the front and rear seat air
`bags in the deployed condition;
`FIG. 2 is a section view taken in the direction of
`arrows 2-2 of FIG. 1 showing the mounting of the air
`bag assembly on the pillar;
`FIG. 3 is an engaged plan view of a typical inflator
`having front and rear seat air bags shown in the stored
`condition and a single inflator for inflating both the air
`bags;
`FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 but showing the air so
`bags inflated; and
`FIG. 5 is a elevation view of the air bag assembly
`having separate inflators for the front and rear air bags
`showing one air bag stored and the other inflated.
`
`45
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`DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED
`EMBODIMENT
`Referring to FIG. 1 it is seen that a conventional
`motor vehicle 10 includes a front seat 12 accessible
`through a front door 14, and a rear seat 16 accessible 60
`through a rear door 18. The front door 14 is conven(cid:173)
`tionally hinged on a front pillar 20 of the vehicle and
`latched to a second pillar 22 of the vehicle. The rear
`door 18 is hingedly mounted on the second pillar 22 and
`is latched to the rearmost pillar 24 of the vehicle body. 65
`The front door 14 carries a side panel 25 located adja(cid:173)
`cent the front seats 12 and the rear door 18 carries a side
`panel 27 located adjacent the rear sear 16.
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`The embodiments of the invention in which an exclu(cid:173)
`sive property or privilege is claimed are defined as
`follows:
`1. In combination, a motor vehicle having a passenger
`compartment accessible through front and rear doors, a
`tint pillar to which a front door is hingedly mounted, a
`second pillar located rearward of the first pillar and to
`which the front door is latched in a closed position and
`to which the rear door is hingedly mounted, said second
`pillar being provided with inner and outer panels, an
`occupant front seat adjacent the front door and an occu(cid:173)
`pant rear seat adjacent the rear door, an air bag assem(cid:173)
`bly including an inflator mounted on the inner panel of
`the second pillar for inflating a first air bag facing for(cid:173)
`ward and a second air bag facing rearward, a plastic
`molding mounted on the inner panel of the second pillar
`to conceal the air bag assembly and having a first door
`facing forward and a second door facing rearward, said
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`4
`inflator being actuable to unfurl the first air bag to an
`inflated position extending through the front door be(cid:173)
`tween the front seat occupant and the front door, as
`permitted by opening of the first door of the plastic
`S molding and unfurl the second air bag to an inflated
`position extending along the rear door between the rear
`seat occupant and the rear door as permitted by opening
`of the second door of the plastic molding.
`2. The combination of claim 1 further characterized
`by the first air bag and the second air bag being inflat(cid:173)
`able by a common gas generator.
`3. The combination of claim 1 further characterized
`by the first air bag and the second air bag having sepa(cid:173)
`ls rate gas generators so that either the first air bag or the
`second air bag may be actuated independently of the
`other.
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