Occupant protection system
AssigneeZoox, Inc.
InventorsNirmal Muralidharan, Haley Riesenberg
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A seat for a vehicle includes an occupant protection system. The occupant protection system includes an airbag or other barrier that at least partially occludes an opening to a volume under a vehicle seat. The occupant protection system may reduce or prevent lower leg injury and/or retain cargo in the volume during a collision event.
Claims20
A vehicle comprising:
- a body defining a passenger compartment having a floor;
- a seat disposed in the passenger compartment and including a seat portion configured to support an occupant, a bottom of the seat portion being spaced vertically from the floor, defining a volume under the seat;
- an inflatable airbag disposed in the seat portion in a deflated configuration and being selectively inflated to an inflated configuration, wherein in the inflated configuration, the inflatable airbag extends from the bottom of the seat portion toward the floor to at least partially occlude an opening to the volume under the seat;
- and
- a controller configured to:
- determine a direction of travel of the vehicle;
- and
- cause the inflatable airbag to be configured in the inflated configuration at least in part based on the occupant in the seat facing opposite the direction of travel of the vehicle, the airbag in the inflated configuration providing support to the back of lower legs of the occupant.
An occupant protection system for a vehicle, the occupant protection system comprising:
- an inflatable airbag configured to be selectively inflated to an inflated configuration, wherein, in the inflated configuration, the inflatable airbag at least partially occludes an opening, wherein the opening is to a volume under a seat of a vehicle;
- and
- a physical barrier proximate the opening and selectively configurable between a stowed position and a deployed position at least partially occluding the opening.
A method of protecting an occupant in a vehicle, the vehicle comprising a body defining a passenger compartment having a floor;
- a seat disposed in the passenger compartment and including a seat portion configured to support an occupant, a bottom of the seat portion being spaced vertically from the floor to define a volume under the seat;
- and an inflatable airbag, the method comprising:
- determining information associated with an impact of the vehicle;
- receiving data indicating that an occupant is present in the seat;
- and
- configuring, based at least in part on the information and the occupant being present in the seat, the inflatable airbag in an inflated configuration at least partially occluding an opening to the volume under the seat.
An occupant protection system for a vehicle, the occupant protection system comprising:
- an inflatable airbag configured to be selectively inflated to an inflated configuration, wherein, in the inflated configuration, the inflatable airbag at least partially occludes an opening, wherein the opening is to a volume under a seat of a vehicle;
- and
- a controller configured to cause the inflatable airbag to be configured in the inflated configuration at least in part based on data associated with a presence of cargo in the volume.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.