Patent ID: 7819424

Claim:
A side-collision airbag apparatus, comprising: an airbag comprising a first bag portion and a second bag portion adjacent to the first bag portion, the first and second bag portions being formed by connecting two base cloths coated with silicon, the second bag portion having a vent hole, the airbag being stored in a folded state in an interior of a seatback portion of a vehicle seat, the airbag being configured to be deployed to a side of an occupant on the seat by a supply of gas, the deployed airbag receiving a lumbar part of the occupant at the first bag portion and receiving a chest part of the occupant at the second bag portion; a cylindrical inflator extending across the first bag portion and the second bag portion at a position between the airbag and a rear of the vehicle, the inflator including a gas injecting portion located in the first bag portion at a distal end of the inflator; a cylindrical gas distributing member having a circumferential surface, an end surface at a distal end of the gas distributing member that projects inward from the circumferential surface, a gas discharge port that opens into the first bag portion and is disposed on the end surface, and a gas passage that opens into the second bag portion and is formed between the gas distributing member and a peripheral surface of the inflator, the gas distributing member being fitted to the peripheral surface and configured to distribute and supply the gas injected from the inflator to the first bag portion and the second bag portion so the flow rate of the gas is higher in the first bag portion than in the second bag portion; and a communicating portion for communicating gas between the first bag portion and the second bag portion.