The present invention relates to a thorax occupant protection device (10) comprising a side airbag (12), especially for being mounted in a door or the seat of an automotive vehicle, which in the inflated and mounted state of the side airbag (12) at its upper end includes at least one occupant-side inflatable inner wing (22) for shifting the occupant's adjacent arm forward and at least one door-side inflatable outer wing (24) for protecting the thorax, wherein the inner and outer wings (22, 24) in the inflated state are juxtaposed at least in portions and are separated from each other by an indentation (26) of the airbag wall (13) extending from the upper end in the downward direction. The present invention further relates to a method of protecting the thorax of a vehicle occupant in the event of a side impact.

A vehicle side airbag device including: a side airbag that is accommodated in a folded-up state within a side portion, which is at a vehicle transverse direction outer side at a seatback of a vehicle seat, and, at a time of a side collision, the side airbag inflating and expanding between an upper body of a vehicle occupant and a vehicle side portion, and a vehicle transverse direction inner side surface of the side airbag, which faces the vehicle occupant, sinking in toward a vehicle transverse direction outer side; and a cloth body that is disposed at a vehicle occupant side with respect to the inflated and expanded side airbag, and that spans between front and rear both end portions of the side airbag and is stretched between the front and rear both end portions, a gap being formed between the side airbag and the cloth body.

A steering wheel airbag, arranged to cover a steering wheel when inflation is completed, includes: a front-collision receiving surface which is arranged on a side of a driver when inflation is completed, so as to receive the driver moving forward during a head-on collision of a vehicle, the front-collision receiving surface being arranged substantially along a vertical direction to be tilted with respect to a ring surface of the steering wheel when inflation is completed; and arm restraining parts which are arranged near arms of the driver steering a ring part of the steering wheel on both right and left sides of the front-collision receiving surface when inflation is completed, the arm restraining parts coming into contact with the arms during an oblique collision or an offset collision of the vehicle, so as to prevent a movement of the driver to an obliquely front side.

Provided is a vehicle side airbag device including a shoulder protection part and a chest protection part and being capable of protecting the chest by the chest protection part that lifts an arm softly without flipping the same as required depending on a collision state while protecting a shoulder by the shoulder protection part. When a side airbag 1 is provided at a seat 2 and spread out flat in a non-inflated state, the contour of the side airbag on the front side in the vehicle body front-back direction has an inflection position C with a curvature change midway between the shoulder protection part X and the chest protection part Y, an upper edge line U oriented upward from the inflection position and a lower edge line L oriented downward from the inflection position, the inflection position is positioned ahead of the shoulder protection part and above a center line F that extends in the lengthwise direction of an upper arm A of the occupant P and divides the upper arm into upper and lower portions, and the lower edge line crosses the center line from an upper side to a lower side and is positioned under the center line in a lower end position Au of the upper arm of the occupant.

A vehicle input-operation assistance device includes: a traveling state detection section that detects a traveling state of a vehicle; an operation state detection section that detects an operation state of an operation member gripped by an occupant during operation; a support section that is capable of being stowed in an interior component of the vehicle, and that is capable of projecting from the interior component to a support position where the support section is capable of supporting an elbow of the occupant when the occupant is operating the operation member; and a controller that determines whether or not the elbow of the occupant operating the operation member needs to be supported based on information detected by the traveling state detection section and the operation state detection section and, in cases in which support is determined to be needed, controls the support section to project to the support position.

A seat assembly for a motor vehicle includes: a supporting structure, designed to be mounted on the floor panel of the motor vehicle; a seat, which is mounted on the supporting structure and includes a sitting portion and a backrest portion; and an airbag unit, including at least one airbag, which is folded into a housing provided in the seat assembly and is inflatable into an expanded condition outside the housing, whereby the at least one airbag has a conformation such that, in the expanded condition, the at least one airbag identifies a protection wall that surrounds the backrest portion of the seat.

An airbag includes a manifold having an outer panel and an inflation chamber defined at least in party by the outer panel. The airbag further includes a first compartment and a second compartment spaced from the first compartment connected to the outer panel and positioned external to the inflation chamber. A first one-way valve is in fluid communication with the manifold and the first compartment, and a second one-way valve is in fluid communication with the manifold and the second compartment.

A vehicle side airbag device includes a side airbag, an inner tether that extends in the seat forward direction at the seat width direction inner side of the side airbag in the inflated and deployed state and has a distal end portion anchored to the side airbag, and an outer tether that extends outward in the seat width direction from the seat rear side of the side airbag in the inflated and deployed state and has a distal end portion anchored to the side airbag. An upper end portion of the distal end portion of the outer tether is positioned further toward an upper end side of the side airbag than an upper end portion of the distal end portion of the inner tether.

A seat assembly for a motor vehicle includes: a supporting structure, designed to be mounted on the floor panel of the motor vehicle; a seat, which is mounted on the supporting structure and includes a sitting portion and a backrest portion; and an airbag unit, including at least one airbag, which is folded into a housing provided in the seat assembly and is inflatable into an expanded condition outside the housing, whereby the at least one airbag has a conformation such that, in the expanded condition, the at least one airbag identifies a protection wall that surrounds the backrest portion of the seat.

A side airbag for protection for vehicle occupants includes an interior wall separating the airbag into upstream and downstream chambers and defining an opening between two chambers adjacent a lower end of the airbag. A flow deflector between the opening and an exterior vent combines with the wall to define a channel therebetween. The channel directs inflation gasses exiting the opening into an upper end of the airbag, after which the gasses must flow around an upper end of the deflector (adjacent an outlet end of the channel) before reaching the exterior vent. The resulting S-shaped flow path serves to maintain the airbag in the inflated state for a longer time and urges an outboard arm of an occupant in a forward an upward direction to reduce the likelihood that that arm may be trapped between the inflating airbag and the occupant's thorax.