Vehicle occupant restraint system

Abstract

A system for restraining forward movement of an occupant of a motor vehicle seat comprises a chest pad 18 on an arm 16 which is pivotable about a transverse axis 20 behind and below the seat, together with a lap restraint in the form of an arm 10 having a padded portion 12 which extends across the user's lap. The arm 10 is pivotally mounted on a transverse axis 24 located near the front of the seat. A lever 26 is fast with the arm 16 and a lever 28 is fast with the arm 10. A roller 32 engages confronting surfaces 34 and 36 on the arms 26 and 28. When the roller 32 is in the position shown, forward movement of the arm 16 causes relatively little backward movement of the arm 10 so that the occupant can lean forward in his seat without forcing the bar on the arm 10 into his lap. If, due to sudden decceleration of the vehicle, the occupant moves forward in his seat, lifting the padded portion 12, the roller 32 shoots forwards into engagement with stop surface 38. The velocity ratio of the coupling between the arms 10 and 16 has now changed so that subsequent forward movement of the padded portion 12 is approximately equal to the resulting backward movement of the lap restraint means on the arm 10 and the occupant is held in his seat.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.