Buckle-tongue arrangement for four point seat belt system
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsStephen William Rouhana, Paul George Bedewi, Frank A. MacKenzie, Sundeep Venkat Kankanala
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A four-point seat belt system for restraining a vehicle occupant in a vehicle seat is disclosed. The system includes a four-point seat belt restraint system mounted on a vehicle seat that includes a first lap belt portion having a back side and a second lap belt portion having a back side. A portion of at least one of the back side of the first lap belt portion or the back side of the second lap belt portion has a contour which substantially corresponds to the contour of the lap of the seated vehicle occupant. The contour is defined by a convex surface. Each of the buckle portion and the tongue portion may include a button release.
Claims7
A seat belt assembly for restraining an occupant in a vehicle seat, the seat belt assembly comprising:
- a tongue-receiving buckle having an occupant-facing side, a top, a bottom that generally opposes the top, a first side, and a second side that generally opposes the first side, the occupant-facing side including a component-receiving area having a first slot and a second slot;
- a tongue that is releasably attachable to the tongue-receiving buckle by insertion of said tongue into the second side of said tongue-receiving buckle:
- one or the other of first and second interchangeable occupant-contacting contour elements, said elements being removably insertable into the component-receiving area and held in position by the first slot and the second slot, said first interchangeable occupant-contacting contour element including a convex surface;
- and
- said second interchangeable occupant-contacting contour element being removably insertable into the component-receiving area and is held in position by the first slot and the second slot, said second interchangeable occupant-contacting contour element including a concave surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.