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US 2003/0111833 A1Published application
Driver's knee protecting apparatus of a vehicle
AssigneeHyundai Motor Company
InventorHyun Kim
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention relates to a driver's knee protecting apparatus of a vehicle which can allow a shroud to rotate against a steering column at the time of a collision, thereby dispersing and reducing the force of impact when the driver's knees are bumped against the shroud.
Claims7
A driver's knee protecting apparatus, comprising:
- an internal cylinder wrapped around a steering column and fixed at the steering column;
- an external cylinder rotatably installed around the internal cylinder and fixed at a shroud;
- and
- a fixing state switching means to restrain the rotation of the external cylinder against the internal cylinder while the vehicle is driven at its normal running state but to enable the external cylinder to rotate to the internal cylinder at the time of a car accident.
1 more element
An apparatus for protecting a driver's knees in a vehicle, comprising:
- a shroud configured to house a steering column in the vehicle;
- an internal cylinder defining a hole therethrough wherein said internal cylinder has an external surface and an internal surface and wherein said internal surface is fixidly coupled with said steering column;
- an external cylinder defining a hole therethrough wherein said external cylinder has an external surface and an internal surface and wherein said internal surface is rotatably coupled with said external surface of said internal cylinder and wherein said external surface of said external cylinder is fixidly coupled with said shroud;
- a rod removeably inserted through said hole in said internal cylinder and said external cylinder;
- a deceleration sensor configured to detect a vehicle collision and send a signal;
- a control unit configured to receive the signal from said deceleration sensor;
- and
- an actuator configured to insert or remove said rod from said hole in said internal cylinder and said external cylinder.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.