| US 7,484,754 B2 | ||
| Steering wheel equipped with airbag device | ||
| Ippei Yamachi, Hiroshima (Japan); Ryoji Funahashi, Hiroshima (Japan); Naoki Kaneko, Hiroshima (Japan); Masanobu Fukushima, Hiroshima (Japan); Yasunori Sasaki, Hiroshima (Japan); and Akihiro Kobayashi, Hiroshima (Japan) | ||
| Assigned to Mazda Motor Corporation, (Japan) | ||
| Filed on Jul. 19, 2006, as Appl. No. 11/488,732. | ||
| Claims priority of application No. 2005-217673 (JP), filed on Jul. 27, 2005; application No. 2005-217705 (JP), filed on Jul. 27, 2005; application No. 2005-225169 (JP), filed on Aug. 03, 2005; and application No. 2005-225329 (JP), filed on Aug. 03, 2005. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2007/0024035 A1, Feb. 01, 2007 | ||
| Int. Cl. B60R 21/16 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 280—731 | 12 Claims |
| 1. A steering wheel equipped with an airbag device, comprising:
a ring portion to be gripped by a driver;
a pad portion coupled to said ring portion via a spoke portion and located at a central portion of the ring portion; and
an airbag device disposed in said pad portion,
wherein said airbag device comprises a bag portion that is accommodated in said pad portion substantially in a ring shape,
when viewed from the driver, and operative to inflate toward a driver's head at a vehicle frontal crash, part of said pad
portion located on a side of the driver includes a cover member that comprises a fixed cover portion that is located at a
central portion of the bag portion and does not open at inflation of the bag portion and an open cover portion that is disposed
around the fixed cover portion and opens outside so as to form a substantially-ring-shaped opening portion through which the
bag portion inflates toward the driver's head at the inflation of the bag portion, said ring portion is disposed to be inclined
relative to a vertical direction with an inclined angle between 40 and 90 degrees, when viewed from a vehicle width direction,
said bag portion has a larger configuration than said ring portion so as to cover over the ring portion, inflating outwardly
beyond an outer peripheral portion of the ring portion when the inflation is completed in such a manner that a chest portion
of the driver hits against a rear-side part of an outer peripheral portion of the inflated bag portion before hitting against
the ring portion, and
the bag portion is configured to inflate in such a manner that the bag portion gets out of the opening portion formed by opening
of the open cover portion and expands with a hollow portion thereof which is formed at a central portion of the bag portion
above the fixed cover portion and shrinks gradually according to an expansion of the bag portion, and that when the bag portion
is substantially fully inflated, an inner peripheral surface of the shrinking hollow portion contacts each other with a substantial
elimination of the hollow portion so as to make a central portion of a top end face of the inflated bag portion and the fixed
cover portion of the cover member be coupled via the inner peripheral surface of the hollow portion, whereby a forward movement
of the bag portion which is caused by pushing of the chest portion of the driver hitting against the rear-side part of the
outer peripheral portion of the inflated bag portion can be suppressed.
|