# US 12,179,684 B2 · Airbag device and passenger protection device > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,179,684 B2 - Document ID: US12179684B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 18/374,013 - Filed: 2023-09-28 - Published: 2024-04-18 - Granted: 2024-12-31 - Earliest claimed: 2022-10-14 - Assignees: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha - Applicants: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha - Inventors: Mitsuyoshi Ohno; Takeshi Yamamoto; Toshiki Iwama; Yoshito Kusuhara; Tsutomu Ishii - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12179684B2 ## CPC - B60R 21/207: in vehicle seats - B60R 21/231: characterised by their shape, construction or spatial configuration - B60R 21/233: comprising a plurality of individual compartments; comprising two or more bag-like members, one within the other (B60R21/232 takes precedence) - B60R 21/2338: Tethers - B60R 21/237: characterised by the way they are folded - B60R 2021/0048: {Head} - B60R 2021/2078: {in rear seats} - B60R 2021/23146: {seat mounted} - B60R 2021/23153: {specially adapted for rear seat passengers} - B60R 2021/23161: {specially adapted for protecting at least two passengers, e.g. preventing them from hitting each other} - B60R 2021/23308: {the individual compartments defining the external shape of the bag} - B60R 2021/23386: {External tether means} - B60R: VEHICLES, VEHICLE FITTINGS, OR VEHICLE PARTS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR ## Abstract An airbag device has an airbag. The airbag has a front-rear chamber and an airbag main body. The front-rear chamber has a left and right pair of front-rear extending portions that pass by respective left and right sides of a head of a passenger and inflate and deploy toward the seat front side, and a connecting portion connecting front end portions of the pair of front-rear extending portions in a seat left-right direction. Gas is supplied to the airbag main body via a communication hole positioned at a seat rear side of the connecting portion of the front-rear chamber that has inflated and deployed. Owing to inflation and deployment of the front-rear chamber, the airbag main body passes through a gap between a ceiling of the vehicle and the head from the seat rear side toward the seat front side, and thereafter, inflates and deploys toward the seat rear side. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An airbag device, comprising: an inflator configured to generate gas at a time of a collision of a vehicle; and an airbag to which the gas is supplied, and that is configured to inflate and deploy from a seat rear side of an upper portion of a vehicle seat toward a seat front side, wherein the airbag has: a front-rear chamber having a left and right pair of front-rear extending portions that are configured to pass by respective left and right sides of a head of a passenger seated in the vehicle seat and inflate and deploy toward the seat front side, and a connecting portion connecting front end portions of the pair of front-rear extending portions in a seat left-right direction, the left and right pair of front-rear extending portions are only connected at the front end portions by the connecting portion; and an airbag main body to which gas is supplied via a communication hole positioned at a seat rear side of the connecting portion of the front-rear chamber that has inflated and deployed, and that, owing to inflation and deployment of the front-rear chamber, is configured to pass through a gap between a ceiling of the vehicle and the head of the passenger from the seat rear side toward the seat front side, and thereafter, inflates and deploys toward the seat rear side. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The airbag device of claim 1, wherein narrowing portions, which reduce an internal sectional surface area of the connecting portion, are provided at the connecting portion of the front-rear chamber and further toward an upstream side of a flow of the gas than the communication hole. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) A passenger protection device, comprising: a vehicle seat configured to seat a passenger; and the airbag device of claim 2, which is installed at a seat rear side of an upper portion of the vehicle seat. ### Claim 4 (depends on 2) The airbag device of claim 2, wherein the narrowing portions are formed by a left and right pair of sewn portions provided at the connecting portion. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The airbag device of claim 1, wherein an opening surface area of the communication hole is smaller than a total of internal sectional surface areas of the pair of front-rear extending portions. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) A passenger protection device, comprising: a vehicle seat configured to seat a passenger; and the airbag device of claim 5, which is installed at a seat rear side of an upper portion of the vehicle seat. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The airbag device of claim 1, wherein: the front-rear chamber is configured by pairs of long-side edge portions of two base fabrics, which are elongated and superposed together, being sewn together at a pair of long-side sewn portions, the pair of front-rear extending portions before inflation and deployment are folded-up by being folded in a form of a roll in which the pair of long-side sewn portions are positioned at an outer periphery and an inner periphery, and in inflated and deployed states of the respective front-rear extending portions, the pair of long-side sewn portions are disposed so as to be aligned in a seat vertical direction. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) A passenger protection device, comprising: a vehicle seat configured to seat a passenger; and the airbag device of claim 7, which is installed at a seat rear side of an upper portion of the vehicle seat. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The airbag device of claim 1, comprising a guiding fabric attached to the pair of front-rear extending portions and at which a coefficient of friction of a surface thereof is lower than a coefficient of friction of the airbag, wherein: a front-side portion, which includes the airbag main body, of the airbag before inflation and deployment is rolled up, and at a time of inflation and deployment of the airbag, the rolled portion passes through the gap in a state in which the guiding fabric is wound on an outer side of the rolled portion. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The airbag device of claim 9, wherein a portion of the airbag before inflation and deployment, which portion is further toward a rear side than the rolled portion, is corrugated. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) A passenger protection device, comprising: a vehicle seat configured to seat a passenger; and the airbag device of claim 10, which is installed at a seat rear side of an upper portion of the vehicle seat. ### Claim 12 (depends on 9) The airbag device of claim 9, wherein the guiding fabric has a size such that, in a state during inflation and deployment of the airbag, the guiding fabric extends between the pair of front-rear extending portions, and is configured to extend at both sides in a seat front-rear direction with respect to a peak portion of the head. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) A passenger protection device, comprising: a vehicle seat configured to seat a passenger; and the airbag device of claim 12, which is installed at a seat rear side of an upper portion of the vehicle seat. ### Claim 14 (depends on 9) A passenger protection device, comprising: a vehicle seat configured to seat a passenger; and the airbag device of claim 9, which is installed at a seat rear side of an upper portion of the vehicle seat. ### Claim 15 (depends on 9) The airbag device of claim 9, wherein a rear end of the guiding fabric is sewn to the left and right pair of front-rear extending portions at a left and right pair of sewn portions. ### Claim 16 (depends on 1) A passenger protection device, comprising: a vehicle seat configured to seat a passenger; and the airbag device of claim 1, which is installed at a seat rear side of an upper portion of the vehicle seat. ### Claim 17 (depends on 1) The airbag device of claim 1, wherein the connecting portion is sewn to the airbag main body at a sewn portion provided at a central portion of the connecting portion, and the communication hole that connects the connecting portion and the airbag main body is formed at the inner side of the sewn portion. ### Claim 18 (depends on 1) The airbag device of claim 1, wherein an enlarged portion, whose dimension in a seat vertical direction is larger than that of both of a left end portion and a right end portion of the connecting portion, is provided at the left-right direction central portion of the connecting portion that has inflated and deployed, and the communication hole is formed in the enlarged portion. ### Claim 19 An airbag device, comprising: an inflator configured to generate gas at a time of a collision of a vehicle; and an airbag to which the gas is supplied, and that is configured to inflate and deploy from a seat rear side of an upper portion of a vehicle seat toward a seat front side, wherein the airbag has: a front-rear chamber having a left and right pair of front-rear extending portions formed in elongated tube shapes that are configured to pass by respective left and right sides of a head of a passenger seated in the vehicle seat and inflate and deploy from the seat rear side of the upper portion of the vehicle seat continuously diagonally downward toward the seat front side, and a connecting portion connecting front end portions of the pair of front-rear extending portions in a seat left-right direction; and an airbag main body to which gas is supplied via a communication hole positioned at a seat rear side of the connecting portion of the front-rear chamber that has inflated and deployed, and that, owing to inflation and deployment of the front-rear chamber, is configured to pass through a gap between a ceiling of the vehicle and the head of the passenger from the seat rear side toward the seat front side, and thereafter, inflates and deploys toward the seat rear side.