Patent ID: 8801033
Filing Date: 2014-08-12
Classification: B60R

Abstract:
1. A vehicle including an airbag system that deploys to protect an occupant of a passenger compartment of the vehicle during a crash involving the vehicle, comprising: a crash sensor system that detects a crash involving the vehicle; a steering column; a steering wheel that rotates relative to said steering column; a driver side airbag arranged on said steering wheel, said driver side airbag inflating to protect a driver of the vehicle; an airbag cover that covers said airbag; an aspiration assembly including a housing situated on an opposite side of said steering wheel than a side to which said driver side airbag inflates, said housing including an outer peripheral side wall having a front edge against a rear surface of said steering wheel such that said housing and said steering wheel define a chamber having an inlet from the passenger compartment only at a rear of said housing, said housing being coupled to said steering column such that said housing does not rotate upon rotation of said steering wheel; a gas generator that generates inflation medium to inflate said driver side airbag; and a control module coupled to said crash sensor system and said gas generator and initiating generation of inflation medium by said gas generator based on detection of a crash by said crash sensor system, said housing including a passage between said gas generator and said chamber to enable the inflation medium generated by said gas generator to flow into said chamber and an aspiration opening between said chamber and the inlet from the passenger compartment to enable air from the passenger compartment to flow from the passenger compartment into said chamber such that the air from the passenger compartment mixes with the inflation medium in said chamber and then the mixture flows from said chamber through a conduit into said driver side airbag.