Patent ID: 7156418

Claim:
A method for folding an airbag attached to a side of a vehicle seat, wherein the airbag is deployed and inflated from the side of the seat in a predetermined first direction such that the airbag is located between a sidewall of a body of the vehicle and an occupant seated on the seat, wherein, with respect to the first direction, the airbag has a proximal end close to the side of the seat and a distal end separated from the side of the seat, wherein the airbag includes a lower expansion portion, a central expansion portion, and an upper expansion portion, wherein, when the airbag is deployed, the lower expansion portion corresponds to the lumbar region of the occupant seated on the seat, the central expansion portion corresponds to the abdomen of the occupant, and the upper expansion portion corresponds to a shoulder of the occupant, wherein, with respect to a second direction that intersects the first direction, the lower expansion portion and the upper expansion portion are located at the sides of the central expansion portion, the method comprising: folding the lower expansion portion or the upper expansion portion along a folding line that extends along the first direction such that the folded expansion portion is tucked in the central expansion portion; folding the airbag to form a pleated portion after tucking the expansion portion, such that the distal end and the proximal end of the airbag approach each other and that folded layers are laminated along the first direction; and after forming the pleated portion, bending a part of the pleated portion that corresponds to the untucked one of the lower and upper expansion portions substantially by 180° within a plane containing the first and second directions, so that the bent part approaches a part of the pleated portion that corresponds to the central expansion portion.