Patent ID: 8894094

Claim:
An airbag assembly for disposition proximate a roof of a vehicle to shield a vehicle occupant from impacting at least one of a lateral surface, an A-pillar, and an instrument panel of the vehicle, the airbag assembly comprising: an inflatable curtain airbag having a stowed configuration for disposition proximate the roof of the vehicle and a deployed configuration into which the inflatable curtain airbag deploys downward between the vehicle occupant and the at least one lateral surface of the vehicle, the inflatable curtain airbag comprising: a first protection zone comprising a first interior chamber; and a second protection zone comprising a second interior chamber in fluid communication with the first interior chamber; a restraint member coupled to the second protection zone, the restraint member comprises one of a forward tether comprising a first end secured to the inflatable curtain airbag and a second end securable to the A-pillar, and a first tether secured to the forward tether; and a plurality of mounting assemblies distributed along a length of the inflatable curtain airbag to facilitate attachment of the inflatable curtain airbag to the vehicle; wherein in the stowed configuration, all of the plurality of mounting assemblies are positioned rearward of the A-pillar so that the second end of the forward tether is the only feature of the airbag assembly that is secured to the A-pillar; wherein, in the stowed configuration, the inflatable curtain airbag is folded at a first stowed fold line such that the second protection zone lies alongside a portion of the first protection zone; wherein, during deployment, the restraint member exerts outboard force on the second protection zone to move the second protection zone forward to be positioned forward of the first protection zone in the deployed configuration; wherein, in the deployed configuration, the second protection zone is positioned between an occupant zone that would ordinarily be occupied by the vehicle occupant's head and at least one of the A-pillar of the vehicle and a portion of the instrument panel of the vehicle.