Safety system for vehicle
AssigneeNissan Motor Co., Ltd.
InventorSatoshi Osawa
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A safety system for protecting a driver of a vehicle has a single continuous safety cable designed to retract a steering column and at the same time pull a driver's seat belt when an engine is shoved rearward in a head-on collision of the vehicle. A cable portion for pulling the steering column is connected in series with a cable portion for pulling the seat belt so that the steering column is retracted only when the driver's seat belt is fastened. When the driver's seat belt is fastened, the safety cable system protects the driver by increasing the seat belt tension and retracting the steering column. When the driver's seat belt is not fastened, the safety cable system leaves the steering column at its normal position to absorb impact energy of a secondary collision of the driver against the steering wheel.
Claims15
A safety system for a vehicle, comprising:
- a safety cable comprising a first cable portion which is forced to move in a rearward direction of sad vehicle and to increase a cable tension of said safety cable by an engine of said vehicle when said engine is moved in said rearward direction in a head-on collision of said vehicle, a second cable portion for pulling a steering column of said vehicle in a forward direction o said vehicle when the cable tension of said safety cable is increased, and a third cable portion for applying a pulling force to a first seat belt assembly so as to increase a belt tension of said first seat belt assembly when the cable tension of said safety cable is increased while said first seat belt assembly is in a fastened state, said first, second and third cable portions being connected so as to form a single continuous line.
A vehicle comprising:
- a main vehicle body structure;
- an engine assembly comprising a first holding means;
- a steering column;
- a first seat belt assembly for a driver's seat, said first seat belt assembly comprising a first seat belt, and a pair of a buckle and a tongue for fastening and releasing said first seat belt;
- and
- a safety cable comprising a first cable portion which is hooked by said first holding means of said engine assembly and which is pulled by said first holding means in a rearward direction of said vehicle toward a rear end of said vehicle when said engine assembly is moved relative to said main body structure in said rearward direction on a head-on collision of said vehicle, a second cable portion which retracts said steering column in a forward direction opposite to said rearward direction by pulling said steering column when said first holding means increases a cable tension of said safety cable by pulling said first cable portion, and a third cable portion which pulls said first seat belt only when said tongue is fastened with said buckle, said first, second and third cable portions are connected in series so as to form a single continuous line.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.