Patent ID: 7165787
Filing Date: 2007-01-23
Classification: B60R

Abstract:
1. A safety device for a motor-vehicle steering column and seat belts, comprising a pair of bearing boxes, each of which is rigidly attached to a torque box and in a rear portion of a deformable longitudinal runner, facing a passenger compartment and having the greatest stiffness; at least one pair of independently operating piston devices, each of which, arranged in a front section of a vehicle body, consists of a piston head, located in the vicinity of a front bumper, a wire-guiding member, connected to a deformable element, attached to the passenger compartment, and a piston rod, which, guided by the bearing box, is movable in the longitudinal runner, where the piston head and the wire-guiding member are fastened to front and rear portions of the piston rod; a seat-belt wire, wound about pivots, attached to the torque box and a pair of side rails, and pivots of both wire-guiding members, where both ends of the seat-belt wire are connected to at least one pair of energy-absorbing, vibration-dampening delimiters, fastened to stiff motor-vehicle members, with sites of predetermined fracture in connection with the seat belts; two steering-column wires, each of which, provided with a wire holder and an energy-absorbing steering-column delimiter with at least one site of predetermined fracture, is connected to the wire-guiding member and wound about pivots, and a collapsible casing, arranged between a collapsible upper portion of the steering column with a steering wheel and a non-collapsible lower portion thereof, attached to a dash panel, where the collapsible upper portion thereof has a threaded stud, which, accommodating both wire holders, has a threaded end projection onto which a nut is bolted to secure them; whereby in the event of a front collision an impact energy displaces the front bumper and at least one piston head, a movement of which results in deforming the respective longitudinal runner, loosely guided by the piston rod, and deflecting the respective wire-guiding member in association with deforming the deformable element, the respective energy-absorbing, vibration-dampening delimiter and the energy-absorbing steering-column delimiter and collapsing the collapsible upper portion of the steering column with the steering wheel; absorbing the impact energy and dampening a vibration; releasing the respective steering-column wire and pre-tensioning the seat belts of belted passengers up to a predetermined length of a seat-belt retraction.