Airbag with selectively releasable external vent
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsJohn Q. White, Jerry R. Brown, Frank Heitplatz
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle including an instrument panel, a front seat rotatable between a forward-facing position and a rearward-facing position, and an airbag inflatable between the instrument panel and the front seat. The vehicle includes a controller including a processor and a memory storing processor-executable instructions wherein the processor is programmed to identify that the front seat is rearward-facing, inflate an airbag in response to a sensed frontal impact, and open an external vent in the airbag during inflation in response to identification that the front seat is rearward-facing.
Claims20
A vehicle comprising:
- an instrument panel;
- a front seat rotatable between a forward-facing position and a rearward-facing position;
- an airbag inflatable between the instrument panel and the front seat;
- a controller including a processor and a memory storing instructions executable by the controller to:
- identify that the front seat is rearward-facing, inflate the airbag in response to a sensed frontal impact when the front seat is rearward facing, and open an external vent in the airbag during inflation in response to identification that the front seat is in the rearward-facing position;
- and
- identify that the front seat is forward-facing, inflate the airbag in response to a sensed frontal impact when the front seat is forward facing, and maintain the external vent in the airbag during inflation in response to identification that the front seat is in the forward-facing position.
A controller comprising a processor and a memory storing instructions executable by the processor to:
- receive a frontal impact signal indicating detection of a collision to a front of a vehicle;
- identify that a front seat is rearward-facing;
- identify that the front seat is forward-facing;
- inflate an airbag in response to at least the frontal impact signal;
- and
- open an external vent in the airbag in response to identification that the front seat is rearward-facing;
- and
- maintain the external vent in a closed position in response to identification that the front seat is forward-facing.
A method comprising:
- receiving a frontal impact signal indicating detection of a collision to a front of a vehicle;
- identifying that a front seat is rearward-facing;
- identifying that the front seat is forward-facing;
- inflating an airbag in response to at least the frontal impact signal;
- and
- opening an external vent in the airbag in response to at least the frontal impact signal and identification that the front seat is rearward-facing;
- and
- maintaining the external vent in the closed position in response to at least the frontal impact signal and identification that the front seat is forward-facing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.