Safety arrangement for a vehicle occupant

US5556128A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• VOLKSWAGEN AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT · DE

Inventors

• Ruprecht Sinnhuber · Gifhorn, DE
• Helmut Muller · Bensberg, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Sep 12, 1995
• Grant date: Sep 17, 1996
• Expiry date: Sep 12, 2015

Classification

• Technology area (CPC B): Performing Operations; Transporting
• CPC primary: B60R2021/23316
• WIPO field: Transport
• WIPO sector: Mechanical engineering

Abstract

A safety arrangement for protecting a vehicle occupant during a side collision provides airbags laterally adjacent to the head and torso portions of the occupant. The airbags are fillable with propellant gas by at least one gas generator contained in the same unit as the airbags in response to a signal from a collision sensor connected to a control unit. To permit the airbag arrangement to be as small in volume as possible, the airbags may be combined in one unit. The airbags are deployable forwardly in the direction of view of the occupant and, when filled, have a substantially C-shaped contour in side view. The unit containing the airbags and the gas generator may be mounted either in a vehicle component or on a structural part of the vehicle.