JP2016068656A - Passenger protection device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To quickly incline an upper body of a passenger at the time of side collision, with a low-cost configuration, even with a vehicle of narrow car width.SOLUTION: When a side surface collision is detected by a side collision detection means 12, a holding means 15 holds a pretensioner 13 in a non-operation state, so that a seat belt is relaxed so as to relax constraining of an upper body of a passenger. Thus, at the time of side surface collision, the pretensioner 13 is held in non-operation state by the holding means 15, and the seat belt is relaxed to weaken constraining force of a passenger with the seat belt, thus, in a low-cost configuration, a state is easily formed in which an upper body of a passenger M can be inclined.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to an occupant protection device including a pretensioner that pulls in a seat belt instantaneously and suppresses forward movement of an occupant when a collision is detected by a detection unit that detects the collision.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a device for protecting an occupant when a vehicle collides forward, there is a pretensioner that pulls in a seat belt instantaneously and suppresses forward movement of the occupant when a collision is detected by a detection unit that detects the collision. . Furthermore, in recent years, a side airbag that is embedded in the seat back and that is deployed between the occupant and the door during a side collision has been installed as a means to reduce occupant injury during a side collision (hereinafter referred to as a side collision). Vehicles are also being developed.

  By the way, even in the case of a vehicle having both a pretensioner and a side airbag as described above, when the vehicle width is narrow like a light vehicle, the space between the occupant and the door is smaller than that of a small vehicle other than the light vehicle. Since the deployment space of the side airbag in the vehicle becomes small, it is necessary to control the side airbag to be deployed more quickly before the door is deformed and the space is narrowed. A sensor for sensing detection for collision detection must be added, which increases the cost.

  On the other hand, in order to improve the deployment performance of the side airbag without providing the above-mentioned high output inflator or adding sensors, for example, a bottom airbag is embedded at a position from the door of the seat cushion, The bottom airbag is deployed before the side airbag, and the upper part of the occupant's door is pushed up to tilt the occupant's upper body to the opposite side of the door. It has been proposed to secure enough space for deployment (Patent Document 1).

JP 2004-9798 A (see abstract, paragraphs 0012 to 0013 and FIGS. 1 and 2)

  However, in the case of the above-described Patent Document 1, if the vehicle is equipped with a pretensioner function, the deployment force of the bottom airbag is an emergency that only pushes up the occupant's buttocks against the restraint force of the pretensioner. Therefore, there is a problem that the cost of the bottom airbag is increased and it is not preferable as a method of tilting the upper body of the occupant.

  An object of the present invention is to make it possible to quickly tilt an occupant's upper body at the time of a side collision even with a vehicle having a narrow vehicle width by an inexpensive configuration.

  In order to achieve the above-described object, an occupant protection device according to the present invention includes a detection unit provided in a vehicle for detecting a collision, and a seat belt is instantaneously pulled when a collision is detected by the detection unit to move the occupant forward. In an occupant protection device including a pretensioner that suppresses a side collision detection unit that detects a side collision of another vehicle, and holds the pretensioner in a non-operating state when a side collision is detected by the side collision detection unit. And holding means for loosening the seat belt so as to relieve the restraint on the upper body of the occupant (claim 1).

  In addition, the present invention embeds a seat on the door side of a passenger when a side collision is detected by the side collision detection means and the pretensioner is held in an inoperative state by the holding means. It is preferable to further include a side airbag that is deployed so as to rotate the upper body of the occupant between the lower portion and the door.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the side collision detection means detects a side collision, the holding means for loosening the seat belt to hold the pretensioner in a non-operating state and relax the restraint on the upper body of the occupant. Therefore, the pretensioner is held in the non-operating state by the holding means at the time of a side collision, and the seat belt is loosened and the restraining force of the occupant by the seat belt is weakened. Further, it is not necessary to add sensors or provide an expensive bottom airbag having a large deployment force, and it is possible to form a state in which the upper body of the occupant can be tilted with an inexpensive configuration.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, when a side collision is detected and the pretensioner is held in a non-operating state by the holding means, the upper body of the occupant is placed between the armpit on the door side of the occupant and the door. The side airbag is deployed so as to rotate, so that the upper body of the occupant can be rotated and tilted more effectively. A sufficient gap can be formed between them, and the occupant can be more reliably protected by filling the gap with a side airbag or by filling the gap with a separately provided curtain airbag.

It is a top view of one embodiment of a crew member protection device concerning the present invention. It is a side view of FIG. It is a block diagram of the control system of FIG.

  An embodiment in which an occupant protection device according to the present invention is applied to a driver's seat will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. In the present embodiment, front and rear, up and down, and left and right mean front and rear, up and down, and left and right as viewed in a seated state.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the driver's seat 1 in the present embodiment includes a seat cushion 2 made of a pad such as a seat cushion frame and urethane, a seat back 3 made up of a seat back frame and a pad such as urethane, and a seat back 3. And a headrest 4 attached to the head. A well-known pretensioner is provided on the retractor or buckle anchor for retracting the seat belt so as to instantaneously retract the seat belt when forward collision is detected and thereby restrain the occupant from moving forward.

  Further, the side airbag 6 is embedded in a folded state in the door side end portion of the left and right ends of the seat back 3, and the inflator is controlled to be ignited when the side collision occurs, so that the side airbag 6 is hatched by the occupant M. Deploys forward between the door.

  At this time, as shown by a one-dot chain line in FIGS. 1 and 2, the side airbag 6 has a general deployment width in which a narrow gap between the hatch of the occupant M and the door D is deployed straight forward. As shown by the solid line in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 as compared with the small conventional configuration, the unfolding that unfolds so that the upper arm is slightly lifted from the right shoulder of the occupant M (see the solid arrow in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2). It is desirable to form in a shape that is wide and develops obliquely upward. In addition, P in FIG. 1 is a center pillar.

  By the way, the block configuration of the control system of the present embodiment is as shown in FIG. That is, a collision detection unit 11 including an acceleration (G) sensor that detects a frontal collision of the host vehicle, a side collision detection unit 12 including an acceleration (G) sensor that detects a side collision of another vehicle, and the pretensioner 13 described above. And the side airbag device 14 including the side airbag 6 and the inflator described above, and the pretensioner 13 is operated when a forward collision detection signal from the collision detection means 11 is input. A microcomputer configured control means 16 for operating the side airbag device 14 when a side collision detection signal is input and outputting a holding control signal to the holding means 15 to hold the pretensioner 13 in an inoperative state; I have.

  Then, when a forward collision is detected by the collision detection means 11, the detection signal is input to the control means 16, and the control means 16 controls the pretensioner 13 to the operating state, and the seat belt is pulled in instantly, so that the passenger's Forward movement is suppressed.

  On the other hand, when a side collision is detected by the side collision detection means 12, the detection signal is input to the control means 16, and a holding control signal is output from the control means 16 to the holding means 15, so that the pretensioner 13 is deactivated. The seat belt is loosened, the restraining force of the occupant M is weakened, and the upper body of the occupant M can be tilted. Further, the inflator of the side airbag device 14 is controlled to be ignited by the control means 16 so that the side airbag 6 is inflated, and the upper body of the occupant M is placed between the door D and the starboard side of the occupant M on the door D side. The side airbag 6 is deployed to rotate in the opposite direction, and the upper body of the occupant M rotates as the side airbag 6 is deployed, so that a sufficient gap is formed between the occupant M and the door D. However, the gap is filled with the side airbag 6 and the occupant M is protected from the impact of the side collision.

  Therefore, according to the above-described embodiment, when the side collision is detected by the side collision detection means 14, the pretensioner 13 is held in a non-actuated state, and the seat belt is loosened so as to relax the upper body restraint of the occupant. Since the means 15 is provided, the pretensioner 13 is held in the non-operating state by the holding means 15 at the time of a side collision, and the seat belt is loosened so that the restraining force of the occupant by the seat belt is weakened. It is no longer necessary to provide an inflator, to add sensors, or to provide an expensive bottom airbag with a large deployment force, and it is easy to tilt the upper body of the occupant M with an inexpensive configuration. Can be formed.

  Further, when a side collision is detected by the side collision detection means 12 and the pretensioner 13 is held in an inoperative state by the holding means 15, the occupant's M is placed between the armpit on the door D side and the door D. Since the side airbag 6 is deployed so as to rotate the upper body, the upper body of the occupant M can be rotated and tilted more effectively, and even if the vehicle has a narrow vehicle width, A sufficient gap can be formed between the doors D, and the side airbag 6 can fill the gap and protect the occupant from a side impact.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications other than those described above can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the gap between the occupant M and the door D is filled by deploying the side airbag 6 at the time of a side collision has been described. A bag is further provided, and after a gap is formed between the occupant M and the door by the deployment of the side airbag 6, the curtain airbag is deployed at a predetermined time difference so as to reliably protect the occupant by filling the gap. It may be.

  In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the present invention is applied to the driver's seat 1 has been described, but it is needless to say that the present invention can also be applied to a passenger seat or a rear seat.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Seat 3 ... Seat back 6 ... Side airbag 11 ... Collision detection means 12 ... Side collision detection means 13 ... Pretensioner 14 ... Side airbag apparatus 15 ... Holding means M ... Passenger D ... Door

Claims (2)

In an occupant protection device provided with a detection unit that is provided in a vehicle and detects a collision, and a pretensioner that pulls in a seat belt instantaneously and suppresses forward movement of the occupant when a collision is detected by the detection unit.
A side collision detection means for detecting a side collision of another vehicle;
And a holding means for loosening the seat belt to hold the pretensioner in a non-actuated state and relax the upper body restraint of the occupant when a side collision is detected by the side collision detection means. Crew protection device.   When a side collision is detected by the side collision detection unit and the pretensioner is held in an inoperative state by the holding unit, the seat is placed between the armpit on the door side of the passenger and the door. The occupant protection device according to claim 1, further comprising a side airbag that is deployed so as to rotate the upper body of the occupant.

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