Inflatable safety device integrated into the rear roof area.

Abstract

The invention relates to an inflatable safety device (1) for a motor vehicle (3), comprising an inflatable cushion (6) configured to deploy from a folded configuration, in which the cushion (6) is folded, to an deployed configuration, in which the cushion (6) is inflated, the device (1) being designed to be installed in a housing (13) formed in a roof structure (2a) of a vehicle, the cushion (6) being shaped to occupy, in its deployed configuration, a space (12) located between two rear passengers (4). The invention also relates to a roof structure (2a) of a vehicle (3) having at least one housing (13) shaped to allow the installation of a device (1) according to the invention, each housing (13) being configured to allow the deployment of a cushion (6), contained in the housing (13) in its folded configuration, into the space (12) located between two passengers (4) seated in rear seats (5a).(Figure 2).

Description

Title of the invention: Inflatable safety device integrated into the rear area of ​​the roof.

[0001] The technical field relates to inflatable safety devices, vehicle structures enabling the installation of such devices and vehicles having such structures equipped with such inflatable safety devices.

[0002] In terms of safety, car manufacturers have invested heavily to offer increasingly safer vehicles for occupants, and one of the major innovations of recent decades has been the widespread adoption of safety inflatable bags, commonly known as airbags. These consist of flexible membranes designed to inflate very rapidly by a gas injected or generated within the membrane by an explosive chemical reaction. Airbags protect occupants by preventing them from violently impacting certain parts of the vehicle's passenger compartment.

[0003] Airbags generally include an inflatable bag folded in an airbag casing, a gas generator enabling the bag to be deployed out of the casing by injecting gas into the inflatable bag.

[0004] In modern vehicles, airbags are located in various places in the passenger compartment, such as the dashboard, the central part of the steering wheel, or above the doors or in the door pillars.

[0005] Side collisions account for a quarter of all accidents. Therefore, car manufacturers have developed protective measures to safeguard vehicle occupants during a side impact. These measures include airbags that deploy like curtains from the top of the doors, forming a protective barrier between the passenger and the side of the vehicle entering the passenger compartment upon impact. These solutions have significantly reduced the consequences of a side impact for the passenger seated on the side of the impact, known as the front passenger. However, statistics show that the consequences of a side impact for the passenger(s) seated in the middle and / or on the opposite side of the vehicle, also known as the rear passengers, remain significant.Therefore, to foster innovation and encourage car manufacturers to find a solution, organizations responsible for rating vehicle behavior in accidents are considering implementing new testing procedures to measure the consequences of a side impact for passengers seated further back. Indeed, in recent years, the proportion of injuries to passengers seated further back has increased compared to injuries to passengers seated closer to the vehicle, representing up to 45% of all injuries. Unfortunately, no solution exists that can significantly reduce injuries to passengers in remote areas.

[0006] Thus, there is a need for an active solution to protect a distant passenger from the consequences of a side impact.

[0007] The present invention aims to overcome the problems described above. In this technical context, one objective of the present invention is to provide an inflatable safety device to protect all the passengers of a vehicle against a side impact.

[0008] To this end, the present invention relates to an inflatable safety device for a motor vehicle, comprising an airbag configured to undergo deployment, in the event of a collision suffered by the vehicle, from a folded configuration, in which the airbag is folded, to a deployed configuration, in which the airbag is inflated, the device being designed to be installed in a housing provided in a roof structure of the vehicle, the airbag being shaped to occupy, in the deployed configuration, a space located between two passengers of the vehicle, in particular rear passengers.

[0009] The invention further relates to a vehicle roof structure having at least one housing shaped to allow the installation of a device according to the invention, each housing being configured to allow the deployment of an airbag, contained in the housing in folded configuration, in the space between two passengers seated in the rear seats of the vehicle.

[0010] The invention finally relates to a vehicle comprising at least one roof structure according to the invention and at least one device according to the invention implanted in a housing of the roof structure.

[0011] Thus, the device according to the invention makes it possible to equip a roof structure according to the invention to form a vehicle according to the invention that ensures active safety for all passengers and not just those seated close together. Indeed, in the vehicle according to the invention, an airbag can be deployed to protect each passenger against a lateral impact with an object or the adjacent passenger in the event of a side impact. The deployment of an airbag in the space between two passengers thus prevents a passenger from being impacted by the adjacent passenger displaced by the side impact. Deploying the airbag from the roof structure is a solution that makes it possible to adapt the protection solution to all types of vehicles, whether or not they have multiple rows of passengers and / or a trunk compartment.

[0012] According to one embodiment of the invention, the airbag is shaped to deploy downwards and to protect at least the heads and shoulders of two passengers.

[0013] According to one possibility, the device includes a gas generator designed to generate a sufficient quantity of gas to deploy the airbag during a collision suffered by the vehicle.

[0014] According to one possibility of the roof structure, each dwelling is provided at least in part in a rear beam of the pavilion.

[0015] According to one embodiment, the roof structure has at least two housings, each to accommodate a device according to the invention, each housing being arranged between two rear passengers.

[0016] The invention will be better understood upon reading the following detailed description, given solely by way of non-limiting example and made with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

[0017] [Fig-1] [Fig.1] represents a perspective view of a safety device inflatable according to the invention;

[0018] [Fig.2] [Fig.2] represents a perspective view of a first embodiment of a vehicle structure according to the invention comprising a device of the [Fig.1];

[0019] [Fig.3] [Fig.3] represents a perspective view of a second mode of realization of a vehicle structure according to the invention comprising two devices of the [Fig.1],

[0020] In these figures, the same references are used to designate the same elements.

[0021] An inflatable safety device 1 according to the invention, illustrated in [Fig. 1], is intended to be installed in a vehicle structure 2a, 2b according to the invention, illustrated in Figures 2 and 3, to constitute a vehicle 3 according to the invention. The device 1 is designed to ensure the safety of passengers 4 seated in rear seats 5a, 5b of the vehicle 3 in the event of a collision, particularly a side collision, sustained by the vehicle 3. The device 1 comprises an inflatable airbag 6, visible in the figures, configured to undergo deployment from a folded configuration, illustrated in [Fig. 1] in which the inflatable airbag 6 is folded, to a deployed configuration, illustrated in Figures 2 and 3 in which the inflatable airbag 6 is inflated.

[0022] As illustrated in [Fig. 1], the device 1 includes a gas generator 7 designed to generate a sufficient quantity of gas to deploy the airbag 6 upon impact with the vehicle 3. The generator 7 is capable of releasing gas in a very short time so that the airbag 6 can be deployed and then inflated in less than 150 ms. The airbag 6 is shaped to deploy downwards and to protect at least the heads 8 and shoulders 9 of two passengers 4, as illustrated in Figures 2 and 3. To this end, the airbag 6 has a suitable shape and contours 10, illustrated in [Fig. 2], enabling the delineation of lobes 11 sized to surround the shoulder 9 and the head 8. Advantageously, the airbag 6 presents a plane of symmetry so as to provide the same protection for each passenger 4 seated on either side of cushion 6.

[0023] The device 1 is designed to be installed in the roof structure 2a, 2b. The cushion 6 is shaped to occupy, in its deployed configuration, a space 12 located between two rear passengers 4 of the vehicle 3. To this end, the roof structure 2a, 2b has at least one housing 13 shaped to allow the installation of at least one device 1 according to the invention. Each housing 13 is configured to allow the deployment of the inflatable cushion 6, initially contained in the housing 13 in its folded configuration, in the space 12 located between two passengers 4 seated in rear seats 5a, 5b of the vehicle 3. In the embodiment illustrated in the figures, each housing 13 is at least partially formed in a rear roof crossmember 14a, 14b, partially illustrated in Figures 2 and 3.To facilitate understanding of figures 2 and 3, the rear roof crossmember 14a, 14b is illustrated over half the width of vehicle 3, the other half having been omitted.

[0024] In [Fig. 2], a first embodiment of the roof structure 2a comprises two rear seats 5a arranged side by side and occupying the entire available width of the structure 2a. The rear roof crossmember 14a then includes a recess 13 located approximately in its middle. In the vehicle 3, the device 1 is therefore able to deploy from the recess 13 provided in the crossmember 14a, between the two passengers 4 seated in the seats 5a. In this embodiment, the inflatable airbag 6 is symmetrical.

[0025] In [Fig. 3], a second embodiment of the roof structure 2b includes three rear seats 5b arranged across the width of the structure 2b. The cross member 14b therefore has two recesses 13 arranged so that two devices 1, located in each recess 13, are positioned to deploy between each rear passenger 4. Thus, the passenger 4 seated in the central seat 5b, in the event of deployment of the airbags 6, is protected by two airbags 6 separating him from each of the other passengers 4.

[0026] Advantageously, as illustrated in [Fig.3], the housing 13 of the structure 2a, 2b is partly delimited by a pavilion reinforcement 15.

[0027] Thus, the device 1 according to the invention makes it possible to equip a roof structure 2a, 2b according to the invention to offer all rear passengers 4 of the vehicle 3 according to the invention active protection, including against collisions between passengers 4. The device 1 and the roof structure 2a, 2b should therefore make it possible to reduce the consequences of a side impact on the passengers 4 further from the vehicle 3.

[0028] The invention is not limited to the embodiment of the inflatable safety device or vehicle structure described above, only by way of example, but Other embodiments can be devised by a person skilled in the art without departing from the scope and scope of the present invention.

Claims

Demands

1. Inflatable safety device (1) for a motor vehicle (3), comprising an inflatable cushion (6) configured to undergo deployment, in the event of a collision to the vehicle (3), from a folded configuration, in which the inflatable cushion (6) is folded, to a deployed configuration, in which the inflatable cushion (6) is inflated, the device (1) being designed to be installed in a housing (13) provided in a roof structure (2a, 2b) of the vehicle (3), the cushion (6) being shaped to occupy, in the deployed configuration, a space (12) located between two passengers (4) of the vehicle (3), in particular rear passengers (4), characterized in that the cushion (6) has delimitations (10) enabling the delimitation of lobes (11) dimensioned to surround the shoulder (9) and the head (8).

2. Device (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a gas generator (7) designed to generate a sufficient quantity of gas to deploy the inflatable cushion (6) during a shock suffered by the vehicle (3).

3. Roof structure (2a, 2b) of a vehicle (3) having at least one housing (13) shaped to allow the installation of a device (1) according to one of claims 1 or 2, each housing (13) being configured to allow the deployment of an inflatable cushion (6), contained in the housing (13) in folded configuration, in the space (12) arranged between two passengers (4) seated in rear seats (5a, 5b) of the vehicle (3).

4. Roof structure (2a, 2b) according to claim 3, characterized in that each housing (13) is provided at least in part in a rear beam (14a, 14b) of the pavilion.

5. Roof structure (2b) according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that it has at least two housings (13) each to accommodate a device (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, each housing (13) being arranged between two rear passengers (4).

6. Vehicle (3) comprising at least one roof structure (2a, 2b) according to claim 3 or 4 and at least one device (1) according to one of claims 1 or 2 located in a housing (13) of the roof structure (2a, 2b).

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