Patent ID: 8684407

Claim:
An apparatus for helping to protect an occupant of a vehicle, the apparatus comprising: an inflatable vehicle occupant protection device having a deflated condition and an inflated condition, the protection device comprising a panel that faces the occupant when the protection device is in the inflated condition; and a tether having a first connection to a first portion of the panel and a second connection to a second portion of the panel, the first portion being a lower, torso receiving portion of the panel, the second portion being an upper, head receiving portion of the panel, wherein the first and second portions are configured such that pressurization of the protection device results in the first portion of the panel exerting a force on the tether that is greater than a force that the second portion of the panel exerts on the tether, this force differential allowing substantially full deployment of the first portion of the panel and causing the tether to prevent full deployment of the second portion of the panel in response to unrestricted deployment of the protection device and to permit further deployment of the second portion of the panel in response to occupant penetration into the first portion of the panel.