Vehicle seat cover

A seat cover for use with a vehicle seat that is equipped with a side deployed airbag, the seat cover comprising:

• an upper section that forms an enclosure with an opening for receiving therein a seat back having the side deployed airbag;
• a lower section connected to the upper section and that is formed into an enclosure with an opening for receiving therein a seat cushion attached to the seat back to define a space between the seat back and seat cushion, wherein the upper section and the lower section each comprise a flexible woven fabric material;
• an alignment element attached to at least one of the upper section and the lower section adjacent the corresponding opening and including a resilient member set in the alignment element;
• and
• a frangible seam along a portion of a lateral side of the upper section that fails at a force below a force that impedes airbag deployment, the frangible seam including a top stitching of a nylon thread, an underside stitching of a polyester thread, and a stitch length of about 5 mm, the top stitching having a strength greater than the strength of the underside stitching, a ratio of the strength of the top stitching to the strength of the underside stitching being about 7, so that when the frangible seam is aligned with an expected path of a deploying airbag, and the airbag is deployed, the force of the deploying airbag cleaves the seam to form a gap in the upper section so that the airbag fully deploys through the gap, wherein the flexible woven fabric material comprises a weave of weft yarn and warp yarn so that the flexible woven fabric material is capable of flexing in any direction.

A vehicle seat comprising:

• a seat back having a front, back, and lateral sides;
• an airbag provided in the seat back and oriented to have a projected airbag deployment path that exits the seat back through at least one of the lateral sides;
• a seat cushion coupled with the seat back along a portion of the periphery of the seat cushion to define a space between the seat cushion and seat back;
• a seat cover comprising:
• an upper section enclosing a substantial portion of the seat back, the upper section comprising a flexible woven fabric material that forms an enclosure and an opening provided in the flexible woven fabric material for receiving the seat back;
• a lower section enclosing a substantial portion of the seat cushion, the lower section comprising a flexible woven fabric material that forms an enclosure and an opening provided in the flexible woven fabric material for receiving the seat cushion, wherein the flexible woven fabric material of the upper section and the lower section comprises a weave of weft yarn and warp yarn so that the flexible woven fabric material is capable of flexing in any direction;
• an alignment element attached to at least one of the upper section and the lower section adjacent the corresponding opening and including a resilient member set in the alignment element;
• a side panel coupled to at least one of the lateral sides of the upper section along an interface;
• and
• a frangible seam along a portion of the interface that fails at a force below a force that impedes airbag deployment, the frangible seam including a top stitching of a nylon thread, an underside stitching of a polyester thread, and a stitch length of about 5 mm, the top stitching having a strength greater than the strength of the underside stitching, a ratio of the strength of the top stitching to the strength of the underside stitching being about 7, so that when the side panel is aligned with the projected airbag deployment path, and the airbag is deployed, the force of the deploying airbag separates the panel from the upper section along the seam to form a gap and the airbag fully deploys through the gap.