Seat belt pretensioner

Abstract

A pretensioner for a three point seat belt has a cylinder adapted to be attached to a structural member of a vehicle and a piston disposed within the cylinder. A pyrotechnic means moves the piston in a direction that is longitudinal relative to the cylinder in a pretensioning direction. A slider bar is oriented substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of the cylinder. A seat belt webbing is looped around the slider bar such that the seat belt webbing can freely move along a portion of the slider bar that is oriented substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of the cylinder so long as the pyrotechnic means for moving the piston has not been activated. A cable extends from the piston and loops around the seat belt webbing to cause the seat belt webbing to move along the slider bar in a pretensioning direction when the pyrotechnic means for moving the piston is activated.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.