Vehicle Seat Headrest Tilting for Side Collision Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
In automatic driving mode, vehicle seats with reclined backrests pose a risk of the occupant's head being outside the curtain airbag's protection area during side collisions, leading to inadequate restraint.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle seat design with a head portion restraining mechanism that includes a headrest mounted on the seatback, capable of tilting rearward, featuring side portions that project outward to cover the occupant's head when the seatback exceeds a predetermined angle, ensuring protection during side collisions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the seatback is tilted rearward beyond a predetermined angle to provide a comfortable attitude in automatic driving mode, then the comfort of the vehicle occupant is improved, but the head portion of the vehicle occupant comes out of the head portion protection area of the curtain airbag, reducing collision protection
Solution Approach 1:
The headrest is designed with dynamic adjustability, allowing it to change position based on seatback angle. When the seatback is tilted rearward beyond a predetermined angle, the headrest automatically adjusts to a second position that extends laterally to cover the occupant's head, ensuring continuous protection while maintaining comfort.
Solution Approach 2:
The headrest is positioned in advance at different positions based on the expected seatback angle. When the seatback is in an upright position, the headrest is at a first position optimized for manual driving comfort. When the seatback tilts rearward for automatic driving mode, the headrest is preliminarily positioned at a second position that ensures head coverage and collision protection.
2Reliability
If the headrest is positioned to cover the head portion when seatback is reclined, then collision protection is improved, but the structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The headrest is integrated with the seatback structure, sharing common components and mounting mechanisms. This merging reduces overall structural complexity while enabling the headrest to adjust position based on seatback angle, maintaining collision protection without requiring entirely separate adjustment systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The headrest serves multiple functions: it provides head support during manual driving with the seatback upright, maintains comfort during automatic driving with the seatback reclined, and ensures collision protection by extending laterally when needed. This multi-functionality reduces the need for additional dedicated components.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle seat, which is provided in a vehicle equipped with a head portion protecting airbag that protects a head portion of a vehicle occupant at a time of a side collision, includes: a head portion restraining portion that is provided at an upper portion side of a seatback so as to be able to tilt rearward from an upright state, and that restrains a head portion of a vehicle occupant, wherein, when the seatback is tilted rearward beyond a predetermined angle with respect to a vertical direction, the head portion of the vehicle occupant can be protected due to at least a side portion that is at a vehicle transverse direction outer side of the head portion restraining portion covering a side of the head portion of the vehicle occupant.