Retractable safety belt system

A retractable safety belt system for restraining a vehicle occupant in a seat, which comprises:

• a seat belt having first and second ends, said first end being releasably secured to a vehicle body generally at a side of the seat;
• a retractor secured to the vehicle body generally at the other side of the seat and including a body, a reel mounted rotatably on said body and engaged with said second end of the seat belt for protraction and retraction of the seat belt, latch means for preventing rotation of said reel, activator means for rendering said latch means selectively operative, and electrical drive means for rotating said reel in the belt winding direction;
• and,
• control means including a drive circuit for selectively energizing said electrical drive means;
• said control means including means for detecting the rotation of said electrical drive means in the belt unwinding direction and for generating a signal indicative of said unwinding rotation of said drive means;
• said drive circuit operating in response to said signal to activate said electrical drive means, thereby to rotate said reel in the belt winding direction to retract the seat belt.

A three-point type retractable safety belt system for restraining a vehicle occupant in a seat of a vehicle having a vehicle body and a door, which comprises:

• a seat belt having first and second ends, said first end being firmly secured to said vehicle body generally at one side of the seat adjacent said door and generally at the level of said seat;
• a retractor secured to said vehicle body generally at said one side of and at the level of said seat, said retractor including a body, a reel mounted rotatably on said body and engaging with said second end of the seat belt for protraction and retraction, latch means for preventing rotation of said reel, activator means for rendering said latch means selectively operable, and an electric motor means for rotating said reel in the belt winding direction;
• a slip joint mounted swingably to said vehicle body generally at said one side of and at the rear of the seat and at a level substantially higher than the level of the seat;
• a buckle secured to said vehicle body at the other side of the seat;
• a tongue plate releasably engageable with said buckle;
• said seat belt being passed through said slip joint and said tongue plate to define a lap belt section between said first end of the seat belt and said tongue plate and a shoulder belt section between said tongue plate and said slip joint;
• and,
• control means including a drive circuit for selectively energizing said electric motor means of said retractor;
• said control means including means for detecting the protraction rotation of said electric motor means and for activating said drive circuit under the protraction rotation condition of the electric motor means to energize said electric motor means causing said reel to be rotated in the winding direction to retract the seat belt.