Patent ID: 7552943
Filing Date: 2009-06-30
Classification: B60R

Abstract:
1. A vehicle passenger restraining system comprising: a knee bolster disposed in a portion in front of a seat in a vehicle; a bolster movement structure coupled to the knee bolster to selectively apply a rearwardly directed pulling force to each transverse end of the knee bolster, the bolster movement structure including a biasing mechanism that applies a biasing force to the knee bolster toward a front direction of the vehicle against the rearwardly directed pulling force; a collision detecting section configured and arranged to detect information relating to a collision of the vehicle and a probability of a collision of the vehicle; and a control section configured to operate the bolster movement structure to apply the rearwardly directed pulling force that overcomes the biasing force of the biasing mechanism so that the knee bolster moves towards the seat based on the information from the collision detecting section, the bolster movement structure further including a pulling member linking the bolster movement structure and the each transverse end of the knee bolster, and a retracting device coupled to at least one end of the pulling member and disposed in a position rearward of the knee bolster, the retracting device being configured and arranged to pull the pulling member in a rearward direction so that the rearwardly directed pulling force is applied to the each transverse end of the knee bolster.