Patent ID: 7908058

Claim:
A vehicle seat belt tensioner for a three-point seat belt installed in a vehicle and used to restrain both sides of an occupant's lumbar region as well as one of the occupant's right and left shoulders, the vehicle seat belt tensioner comprising: an adjuster varying tension of the three-point seat belt; a detector signaling a direction of a turn made by the vehicle; and a controller being coupled to the adjuster and to the detector, the controller controlling the adjuster so that the tension of the three-point seat belt when the direction of the turn is opposite to the one of the occupant's right and left shoulders being restrained by the three-point seat belt is set lower than when the direction of the turn corresponds to the one of the occupant's right and left shoulders being restrained by the three-point seat belt, wherein the adjuster varies the tension within an operating time, and the controller controls the adjuster so that the operating time when the direction of the turn corresponds to the one of the occupant's right and left shoulders being restrained by the three-point seat belt is set shorter than when the direction of the turn is opposite to the one of the occupant's right and left shoulders being restrained by the three-point seat belt.