US 7,455,314 B2
Occupant protection system
Sean Ryan, Farmington Hills, Mich. (US); Manoharprasad K. Rao, Novi, Mich. (US); Jerry Brown, Northville, Mich. (US); Rich Ruthinowski, Taylor, Mich. (US); and Brian Spahn, Plymouth, Mich. (US)
Assigned to Ford Global Technologies, LLC, Dearborn, Mich. (US)
Filed on Nov. 04, 2005, as Appl. No. 11/163,946.
Prior Publication US 2007/0102905 A1, May 10, 2007
Int. Cl. B60R 21/16 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 280—729  [280/730.2; 280/730.1] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An occupant protection system for a vehicle having a roof portion, wherein the roof portion includes at least one airbag recess, the system comprising:
at least one occupant seat having a frame integrated with a backrest section and a seat section, wherein the seat section includes a seat cushion;
a first airbag assembly having a first inflatable airbag and a deployment location, the first airbag assembly being mounted to the frame that is integrated with the seat section, the frame being external to the seat cushion;
a second airbag assembly having a second inflatable airbag, the second airbag assembly being containable within the airbag recess; and
the first inflatable airbag being configured to extend upward from the deployment location through a passenger pelvic-thorax protection region while in an inflated state, and the second inflatable airbag being configured to extend downward from the roof portion to below a passenger shoulder-thorax protection region while in the inflated state, wherein the first airbag assembly and the second airbag assembly are deployed sequentially.