Patent ID: 8297649

Claim:
An inflatable knee airbag comprising: an airbag cushion comprising a front face and a rear face that meet at an outer perimeter of the airbag cushion, and further comprising a plurality of inflatable chambers, wherein an outer inflatable chamber is at least partially defined by an outer portion of the front face and an outer portion of the rear face, and wherein a nested inflatable chamber is at least partially defined by an inner portion of the front face and an inner portion of the rear face and is nested within the outer inflatable chamber such that an entirety of an outer perimeter of the nested inflatable chamber is spaced from the outer perimeter of the airbag cushion, wherein the airbag cushion has opposing sides, an upper portion and a lower portion, wherein the nested inflatable chamber is partially defined by an internal tether, wherein the nested inflatable chamber has a chamber-to-chamber vent in the internal tether that permits inflation gas to directly enter the nested inflation chamber from the outer inflatable chamber, and wherein during inflation, the airbag cushion is configured to receive inflation gas from an inflator at the lower portion and the nested inflatable chamber is positioned to split the inflation gas such that the inflation gas travels in two paths in the outer inflatable chamber by moving around the nested inflatable chamber toward the opposing sides of the airbag cushion from the lower portion to the upper portion to partially inflate the outer inflatable chamber before the inflation gas enters the nested inflatable chamber via the chamber-to- chamber vent, and the front face of the airbag cushion is directed toward the position of a vehicle occupant.