Patent ID: 8500162

Claim:
An inflatable curtain airbag assembly, comprising: an inflatable curtain airbag, wherein the inflatable curtain airbag comprises a lower portion and an upper portion that is above the lower portion after deployment of the inflatable curtain airbag, wherein the inflatable curtain airbag comprises an inboard-facing face and an outboard-facing face; and a pillar guide comprising a non-inflatable, semi-flexible, semi-rigid ramp coupled to an extension of the inflatable curtain airbag to move with the extension from a packaged state to a deployed state, wherein the extension is coupled to the inflatable curtain airbag at the upper portion of the inflatable curtain airbag, wherein the pillar guide is located and configured such that, upon deployment of the inflatable curtain airbag, the pillar guide is positioned outboard with respect to the inflatable curtain airbag such that the pillar guide spans over a top of a pillar of a vehicle during an early stage of inflation of the inflatable curtain airbag, wherein the ramp is sufficiently flexible to be folded or rolled when stored and mounted for use in the packaged state and to be unfolded or unrolled to the deployed state upon deployment of the inflatable curtain airbag, wherein the ramp is sufficiently rigid to guide the deployment of the inflatable curtain airbag to minimize interference between the inflatable curtain airbag and the pillar, and wherein both the ramp and the extension of the inflatable curtain are rolled or folded around the inflatable curtain airbag when in the packaged state and are both configured to be unfolded or unrolled together to the deployed state in which both the ramp and the extension span over the top of the pillar of the vehicle.