Damping air spring with staged openings

An air spring with damping characteristics for a suspension assembly of a heavy-duty vehicle comprising:

• a first chamber formed from a flexible material and containing a variable volume during operation of said vehicle;
• a second chamber;
• an intermediate chamber operatively connected to said first chamber and said second chamber, said intermediate chamber having a volume less than a volume of said first chamber and less than a volume of said second chamber;
• a first means for providing restricted fluid communication between the first chamber and said intermediate chamber;
• and
• a second means for providing restricted fluid communication between the intermediate chamber and the second chamber beneath said intermediate chamber, said first and second means creating a radially offset path of restricted fluid communication in order to utilize a full volume of said intermediate chamber to provide damping characteristics to said air spring during operation of said heavy-duty vehicle, wherein said damping characteristics are exhibited across a broad range of frequencies.