Patent ID: 7478829

Claim:
A side airbag device for use in a vehicle having a forward end, a rearward end and a pair of sides disposed therebetween, comprising: an inflatable cushion for deployment from an unexpanded state to an expanded state, said inflatable cushion being configured to traverse a portion of one of the pair of sides of the vehicle in said expanded state, said inflatable cushion comprising a packet of parallel pleats and a traversing portion, said parallel pleats comprising a first end pleat, a second end pleat and a series of middle pleats disposed therebetween, said middle pleats extending from the second end pleat towards the first end pleat, said middle pleats including a final middle pleat adjacent to the first end pleat, said traversing portion extending from said first end pleat to the second end pleat; said inflatable cushion further comprising an inflation opening, a fixed portion adjacent the first end pleat, and a deploying edge, said deploying edge extending from the final middle pleat toward the second end pleat opposite the traversing portion and about the second end pleat; an inflator for inflating said inflatable cushion; wherein said inflatable cushion is folded in a manner that causes said deploying edge to deploy as a first leading edge as said inflatable cushion is inflated to said expanded state by said inflator.