Patent ID: 6726250
Filing Date: 2004-04-27
Classification: B60R

Abstract:
A pretensioner for use in pretensing a safety-belt, the pretensioner unit incorporating an elongate housing, and a unit for movement along the housing, the unit having, at one end, an end-element associated with means which permit movement of the end-element in a first direction along the housing, but which prevent movement of the end-element in the opposite direction, said end-element being connected to an at least partially compressed resilient means extending between said end-element and a connector element tending to bias the connector element away from the end-element, said connector element connecting the resilient means to one end of an elongate flexible element, which flexible element is adapted to be connected to part of a safety-belt arrangement, compression maintaining means being provided which block movement of the connector element away from said end-element, thus maintaining compression within the resilient means, the pretensioner incorporating means to apply a force to said end-element to move the end-element in the first direction and to disable the compression maintaining means in response to an accident situation being detected, thus applying tension to the flexible element to draw in the flexible element, the resilient means then applying a biasing force to the connector element adapted to draw the flexible element into the housing should a safety-belt with which the unit is used become slack, there being means to prevent the flexible element from subsequently being paid out after having been drawn in.