Airbag device for a front passenger seat

An airbag device for a front passenger seat adapted to be mounted on an instrument panel of a vehicle in front of a front passenger seat, the airbag device comprising a housing adapted to be disposed in the instrument panel and an airbag which is housed in the housing in a folded-up configuration and inflatable with an inflation gas for rearward deployment, the airbag comprising:

• a main inflatable section deployable rearward out of the housing and comprising a rear plane that forms a front-collision arresting face for protecting a head of a passenger in the event of a frontal collision of the vehicle;
• an auxiliary inflatable section that is deployable on a left or right side of the main inflatable section;
• a protruding inflatable section that is deployable at the rear of the auxiliary inflatable section in such a manner as to protrude further rearward than the main inflatable section, the protruding inflatable section comprising a near-side wall that rises rearward out of the front-collision arresting face and faces towards the front-collision arresting face at airbag deployment, the near-side wall forming an oblique-collision arresting face for protecting the head of the passenger in the event of an oblique collision or an offset collision of the vehicle;
• an arresting recess that is formed between the front-collision arresting face and the oblique-collision arresting face in such a manner as to be recessed forward for receiving and arresting the head of the passenger;
• and
• an outer tether that is disposed on an outside of the main inflatable section and protruding inflatable section for preventing the protruding inflatable section from moving away from the main inflatable section at airbag deployment, the outer tether having a generally sectorial outer contour, wherein the outer tether comprises:
• a side edge that is disposed over a generally entire area in a front and rear direction of an upper edge region of the near-side wall of the protruding inflatable section;
• a side joint which joints the side edge of the outer tether to an upper edge region of the oblique-collision arresting face and is formed over a generally entire area in a front and rear direction of the protruding inflatable section;
• a front edge;
• and
• a front joint that joints the front edge of the outer tether to an upper edge region of the front-collision arresting face of the main inflatable section,
• wherein:
• the outer tether is composed of a protruding-side component to be disposed towards the protruding inflatable section and a main-side component to be disposed towards the main inflatable section;
• the outer tether is formed by jointing together, at a central joint, a far-side edge of the protruding-side component located away from the side joint and a far-side edge of the main-side component located away from the front joint, and
• the central joint, which joints together the far-side edge of the protruding-side component and the far-side edge of the main-side component, is deployed at a slant with respect to a front and rear direction, and a front end of the central joint is located at an arresting recess side away from a rear end of the central joint.