Vehicle seat assembly
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsTim Scott, Markus Koelsch, Jim Alcorn, Tina Sharp
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle seat assembly comprises a vehicle seat comprising a rigid frame, one or more resilient portions and a covering material, wherein an openable deployment seam is provided at a portion of the covering material, and wherein the vehicle seat defines a recess. An airbag module is provided within the recess and comprises a housing, an airbag and an inflator system. Also provided is gripping means which is movable between a first position and a second position in which the portion of the covering material is restrained to assist deployment of the airbag through the deployment seam.
Claims13
A vehicle seat assembly comprising:
- a vehicle seat comprising a rigid frame, one or more resilient portions and a covering material, wherein an openable deployment seam is provided at a portion of the covering material, and wherein the vehicle seat defines a recess;
- and
- an airbag module provided within the recess and comprising a housing, an airbag, an inflator system, and a gripping means movable from a first position to a second position when the airbag is inflated by the inflator system,
- wherein the gripping means includes a pressure receiving surface provided within the housing and one or more protrusions extending from the pressure receiving surface and through apertures provided at an exterior surface of the housing,
- wherein in the first position the gripping means is spaced apart from an inside surface of the covering material, and
- wherein in the second position the gripping means restrains the covering material by moving the one or more protrusions toward the covering material.
A vehicle seat assembly comprising:
- a vehicle seat comprising a rigid frame, one or more resilient portions, a covering material, and a foam piece bonded to an internal surface of the covering material, wherein an openable seam is provided at a portion of the covering material, and wherein the vehicle seat defines a recess;
- and
- an airbag module provided within the recess and comprising a housing, an airbag, an inflator system, and an array of one or more teeth that extends from the housing and that is movable from a first position to a second position when the airbag is inflated by the inflator system,
- wherein in the first position the array of one or more teeth is spaced apart from the internal surface of the covering material, and
- wherein in the second position the array of one or more teeth engages the foam piece when the array of one or more teeth is moved toward the internal surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.