Patent ID: 6883831

Claim:
An airbag module for restraining an occupant of a vehicle, comprising: a housing; an inflatable cushion being capable of being stored in an un-deployed position in said housing, said inflatable cushion having at least one vent opening disposed on an inboard side and an outboard side of said inflatable cushion, said outboard side being positioned closer to an exterior portion of the vehicle than said inboard side; an inflator for inflating said inflatable cushion, said inflator being in fluid communication with said inflatable cushion; and a biasing device being configured to restrict the deployment of said inflatable cushion in a first direction while allowing for deployment of said inflatable cushion in an inboard direction and an outboard direction, said outboard direction being towards an exterior portion of the vehicle and said inboard direction being opposite to said outboard direction, said biasing device restricts the deployment of said inflatable cushion when a portion of said biasing device makes contact with the occupant of the vehicle and venting occurs through the at least one vent opening at a higher flow rate than if said biasing device does not make contact with an occupant of the vehicle.