Air bag restraint including selectively operable venting elements

Abstract

An air bag safety system for cushioning restraint of a vehicle occupant during an impact event. The safety system includes a variable depth inflatable air bag cushion having at least one vent opening. A cover element of substantially pliable material is located in overlying relation to the vent opening. The cover element is selectively displaceable relative to the vent opening in response to the inflation depth of the air bag cushion so as to adjust venting characteristics.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] This invention relates to an air bag assembly, and more articularly to an air bag assembly including an inflatable air bag cushion and one or more selectively actuated vents across the surface of the air bag cushion. The vents are selectively actuated in conjunction with control of the inflated profile of the air bag cushion such that venting is properly matched to the inflated profile characteristics of the air bag cushion. The venting characteristics of the air bag cushion and the profile of the air bag cushion may be controlled by the selective adjustment of tethering elements based upon the measured size and / or position of the vehicle occupant to be protected. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] It is well known to provide an air bag assembly including an inflatable air bag cushion for protecting the occupant of a transportation vehicle. In an automotive vehicle such air bag assemblies are typically located within the hub of the steering wheel and in a rece...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008] According to one aspect of the present invention, an air bag assembly is provided having an inflatable cushion selectively deployable to a controlled geometry with a controlled venting character desired in view of crash severity and / or the position of the occupant to be protected and / or the size of the occupant to be protected such that an air bag of desired volume and venting capacity matched to the impact and occupant conditions is available to protect a range of occupants during impact events of various severity.

[0009] The air bag assembly provides a simple, cost effective and highly reproducible mechanism for controlling the venting character of the air bag cushion in conjunction with control of the profile and performance of deployed air bag cushions even when using a traditional single stage inflator.

Problems solved by technology

However, these dual-stage inflators are more complex than typical inflators and have the limitation of typically providing only discrete levels of gas output.

While the various known systems for controlling the shape of the air bag cushion and the volume of inflation gas entering the air bag cushion are believed to provide a number of benefits to a user, such systems have heretofore not provided adjustment to the venting character of the air bag cushion.

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