Patent ID: 7900958
Filing Date: 2011-03-08
Classification: B60R

Abstract:
1. An airbag apparatus for a front passenger's seat adapted to be mounted on an interior of a top plane of an instrument panel in front of a front passenger's seat of a vehicle, the apparatus comprising: a case including a bottom wall, a circumferential wall extending upward from a peripheral edge of the bottom wall in a cylindrical shape and an opening on top and thus having a generally open-top box shape, the case including a front storage area that has an airbag mounting plane and a rear storage area that is located at the rear of the front storage area and includes a rear bottom wall which is located at a lower level than the airbag mounting plane of the front storage area; an inflator stored in the front storage area of the case; a folded-up airbag inflatable with inflation gas and deployable upward and rearward in such a manner as to fill in a space between the top plane of the instrument panel and a windshield disposed above the instrument panel, the airbag, at full inflation, being formed into a generally square conical contour whose top is disposed at the front end of the airbag, the airbag including a rear side wall deployable generally vertically at the rear end of the airbag, a circumferential wall that extends forward from an outer peripheral edge of the rear side wall in a narrowing, conical fashion, a gas inlet port located at the vicinity of the front end of the airbag at full inflation and a peripheral area of the gas inlet port secured to the airbag mounting plane of the front storage area of the case, the airbag in a folded state including a lower folded-up portion that is formed by folding up a lower inflatable portion of the airbag deployable at a lower side relative to the top plane of the instrument panel and is housed in the rear storage area of the case and a general portion that is a portion of the airbag except the lower folded-up portion and is housed above the inflator inside the front storage area of the case; and means for restraining emergence of the lower folded-up portion of the airbag from the opening of the case in an early stage of airbag deployment by holding down top planes of left and right end regions of the lower folded-up portion, the means for restraining being located proximate left and right edges of the opening of the case in the rear storage area.