Patent ID: 7048319

Claim:
A safety net device for a motor vehicle operable to prevent objects from being thrown out of a luggage compartment or trunk of the vehicle and into the passenger compartment of the vehicle during a rear-end collision, the safety net device comprising in combination: a housing having an outlet slit extending parallel to a length of the housing, a winding shaft that is set in bearings in the housing so that the winding shaft can rotate, a safety net that has two longitudinal edges set off at a distance from each other, one of the longitudinal edges being attached to the winding shaft and the other of the edges being connected to a pull bar, wherein the safety net extends through the outlet slit, and is operable to be brought by a user into at least one pull-out position in which the safety net is pulled out of the housing to a predetermined pull-out length, a drive device operable on the winding shaft in order to pretension the winding shaft in a wind-up direction of the safety net so as to generate a pull-back force on the safety net, receptacle bays mounted in the vehicle for the pull bar, at least one retaining device oriented so as to be operable at the pull-out position of the safety net with the pull bar disengaged from the receptacle bays to absorb at least a part of the pull-back force of the drive device, said retaining device including at least one moveable retaining mechanism either directly or indirectly connected to the safety net, and a stationary retaining mechanism mounted on the housing having a groove that has two open ends.