Patent ID: 7891700
Filing Date: 2011-02-22
Classification: B60R

Abstract:
1. An airbag for knee protection adapted to be mounted on a low location in front of a driver's seat in a folded-up state for emergence from a housing and deployment upward and rearward when fed with inflation gas in such a manner as to cover an underside of a column cover extending obliquely upward and rearward, the airbag comprising: an upstream portion proximate a source of inflation gas, which is a lower region of the airbag at full deployment; a downstream portion apart from the source of inflation gas, which is an upper region of the airbag at full deployment; a driver-side wall, as part of an outer wall of the airbag, which is deployable toward the driver's seat; a column cover side wall, as part of the outer wall of the airbag, which is deployable toward the column cover; knee-arresting portions located on the left and right of the upper region of the airbag away from the gas source, the knee-arresting portions being inflatable to have enough thicknesses for cushioning left and right knees of a driver; a thickness regulating tether located beneath and between the knee-arresting portions, the tether connecting the driver-side wall and column cover side wall for helping shape the airbag in a plate-like fashion at full inflation; an accommodation recess located at the center in a left and right direction of an upper edge of the airbag at full inflation and recessing downward for accommodating the underside of the column cover; an upper panel formed of a flexible sheet material and being doubled on a turn crease that extends straightly through the panel in a left and right direction and forms the upper edge of the airbag and thereby constituting an outer wall of the upper region of the airbag; and a connecting member located beneath the turn crease and in the vicinity of the center in a left and right direction of the upper panel and above the thickness regulating tether, the connecting member approximating the driver-side wall and column cover side wall to each other so as to provide the accommodation recess and being arranged to form a communication passage between the connecting member and the turn crease that allows inflation gas to flow through in a left and right direction.