Patent ID: 7597351

Claim:
A side airbag apparatus comprising: a side airbag including a plurality of partitioned chambers therein, adapted to be inflated and deployed in a space between a side wall portion of a motor vehicle and an occupant seated on a seat disposed inside the motor vehicle; an inflator having an approximately cylindrical shape, and including a gas ejecting portion formed only at one side in a longitudinal direction thereof and an inflator attaching portion adapted to attach the inflator to the motor vehicle, said inflator blowing gas for inflating and deploying the side airbag from one side in the longitudinal direction of the inflator; and a sleeve including a cylindrical member disposed to only cover the gas ejecting portion of the inflator and having a squeezing portion for squeezing a flow path of the gas blown out from the inflator, and a tongue piece projecting from the cylindrical member in a direction opposite to the squeezing portion, said tongue piece engaging the inflator attaching portion, wherein the squeezing portion is a ring-shaped member, provided at an end portion of one side in an axis direction of the cylindrical member, the cylindrical member has an inner diameter greater than an outer diameter of the inflator at a predetermined value so that a flow path of the gas is formed in a space between an inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical member and an outer peripheral surface of the inflator, and the tongue piece extends to an end portion of the other side in the longitudinal direction of the inflator, and includes a hooking portion capable of contacting the end portion of the other side of the inflator when the gas of the inflator is blown out.