Cocoon airbag to protect a sleeping occupant

A deployable cocoon airbag system, comprising:

• a first airbag cushion including:
• a first side oriented in a vertical configuration in a non-deployed condition and movably attached to a wall face of an automobile vehicle;
• and
• a second side oriented substantially ninety degrees from the first side in the non-deployed condition adapted to receive an occupant on the second side providing an occupant sleeping position;
• at least one retracting tether connected to the first side and the second side and retracted using a retraction mechanism, the retraction mechanism acting upon receipt of a sensor signal to retract the at least one retracting tether and pull the second side toward the first side thereby enclosing the occupant between the first side and the second side in a deployed condition of the airbag cushion;
• multiple airbag sections of the airbag cushion which upon receipt of the sensor signal are inflated to provide substantially 360-degree circumferential coverage of the occupant in the deployed condition during a side impact to the automobile vehicle;
• and
• at least one energy absorbing (EA) element connected to the first side of the airbag cushion restricting a fore-aft motion of the airbag cushion.

A method for protecting an occupant of an automobile vehicle using an airbag cushion, comprising:

• generating a signal from a pre-crash sensor identifying that a vehicle crash is imminent and requires deployment of the airbag cushion to protect an occupant sleeping on the airbag cushion;
• pulling an end of a second side of the airbag cushion toward an edge of a first side of the airbag cushion to roll/enclose the occupant at a predetermined time of “x” msec prior to a crash impact using a tether mechanism;
• and
• enclosing the occupant between the first side and the second side of the airbag cushion for occupant protection at an onset of the crash impact.