Patent ID: 7793975
Filing Date: 2010-09-14
Classification: B60R

Abstract:
1. A method of folding a passenger-seat airbag that includes an airbag body including a left airbag and a right airbag that correspond to left and right shoulders of an occupant seated at a passenger seat; and a root portion that receives gas injected from an inflator when the inflator operates, and that connects a left-airbag root portion and a right-airbag root portion, the method comprising: folding each of the left and right airbags in a left-and-right direction when the passenger-seat airbag is provided in the vehicle, such that each of the left and right airbags has a strip shape, and then folding the left and right airbags that are overlapped with each other, toward one side in a longitudinal direction to form an airbag folded portion, wherein the left and right airbags are positioned closer to a rear of a vehicle than the root portion is when the passenger-seat airbag is provided in the vehicle; and making the root portion slack to form a slack portion, and making the slack portion upright along the airbag folded portion after the slack portion is extended toward a front of the vehicle, wherein the root portion is positioned closer to the front of the vehicle than the left and right airbags are when the passenger-seat airbag is provided in the vehicle, wherein a tip portion of the slack portion is accordion-folded only once so that the tip portion terminates in a downward direction, perpendicular to a bottom of an airbag case; and wherein when the gas is supplied to the root portion, the slack portion starts to expand and deploy before the airbag folded portion starts to expand and deploy; and the root portion is expanded toward a windshield so that the slack portion is a first portion of the passenger-seat airbag to contact the windshield thereby forming a wall in an airbag deployment area at a position close to the front of the vehicle so that the airbag folded portion receives a reaction force from the wall.