Patent ID: 8544878
Filing Date: 2013-10-01
Classification: B60R

Abstract:
1. An active bolster for protecting a person in a passenger seating area in an automotive vehicle during a crash event, comprising: an expandable back wall; a front wall overlying the back wall and forming an interior trim component of the vehicle, wherein the front wall has a surface facing the passenger seating area and a surface facing the back wall, wherein the front wall and back wall have outer peripheral edges sealed together to provide a bladder chamber therebetween; and a gas source for supplying an expansion gas to inflate the bladder chamber during the crash event; wherein the back wall has a pleated section comprising a plurality of generally-parallel rows of generally-circumferential pleats that unfold during inflation, wherein the unfolding of the pleats controls a deployment trajectory of the front wall, and wherein the pleats have an undulating transverse curve length corresponding to a maximum trajectory of the front wall; wherein the pleated section further comprises a plurality of transverse ribs joining adjacent pleats in selected locations to reduce the unfolding during inflation to provide a predetermined deployment trajectory; and wherein the pleats comprise two or more frontward-facing concave channels and at least one rearward-facing concave channel, and wherein each transverse rib is comprised of a plate-like bridge spanning a respective channel at each selected location.