Airbag-based occupant safety system
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsAlexander M. Zoellner, Jorge C. Fialho, Nathaniel J. Dennis, Rikard Fredriksson
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Abstract
Occupant safety systems suitable for use in both traditional and opposed seating systems include various combinations of passive safety components: sensors that provide an output signal indicative of an imminent collision, inflatable restraints that deploy from opposing interior surfaces of a passenger compartment of a vehicle based on the output signal, and inflators disposed within door cavities that selectively inflate an airbag or vent the inflator to an exterior of a vehicle based on the output signal.
Claims20
An occupant safety system, comprising:
- a sensor that provides an output signal indicative of an imminent collision;
- and
- first and second inflatable restraints configured to:
- deploy from opposing interior surfaces of a passenger compartment of a vehicle based on the output signal;
- and
- meet at an interface region in a central location within the passenger compartment upon deployment,
- wherein a first outer surface of the first inflatable restraint meets a second outer surface of the second inflatable restraint in a keyed relationship along the interface region,
- wherein the keyed relationship includes a protrusion on the first outer surface fitted within a depression disposed in the second outer surface, and
- wherein inflation of the protrusion occurs after inflation of a main body of the first inflatable restraint.
An occupant safety system, comprising:
- a sensor that provides an output signal indicative of an imminent collision;
- a first inflatable restraint that deploys from a first interior surface of a passenger vehicle in response to the output signal;
- a second inflatable restraint that deploys from a second interior surface of the passenger vehicle in response to the output signal, the first and second interior surfaces of the passenger vehicle being opposing interior surfaces proximate to at least one of doors, roof rails, or belt lines;
- and
- an interface structure comprising a protrusion of the first inflatable restraint configured to fit within a depression of the second inflatable restraint and configured to restrain motion of the first inflatable restraint relative to the second inflatable restraint when the first inflatable restraint and the second inflatable restraint are deployed,
- wherein inflation of the protrusion occurs after inflation of a main body of the first inflatable restraint.
An occupant safety system, comprising:
- a sensor that provides an output signal indicative of an imminent collision;
- and
- first and second inflatable restraints each comprising first chambers of a first pressure and second chambers of a second pressure that extend along side surfaces of the first chambers upon deployment,
- wherein the first pressure is at least two times the second pressure,
- wherein the first and second inflatable restraints deploy from opposing interior surfaces of a passenger compartment of a vehicle based on the output signal, and
- wherein the first and second inflatable restraints meet at an interface region within the passenger compartment upon deployment.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.