An apparatus for helping to protect occupants of a vehicle in the event of a collision includes a deployable restraint having a stored, predeployment condition in a vehicle floor. The restraint is deployable from the floor to restrain the feet and/or lower legs of an occupant from swinging forward and upward in response to a vehicle collision. In one configuration, the deployable restraint can include a module comprising an airbag and an inflator for inflating and deploying the airbag. The module can include a door that opens in response to deployment of the airbag and that serves as a reaction surface for the airbag. In another configuration, the deployable restraint can include a restraining panel configured to move to a deployed position extending above the vehicle floor adjacent the occupants lower leg and feet.

Methods and systems for preventing serious injury or vehicle damage resulting from collisions between automotive vehicles and people, animals, or other objects are described. In some instances, the system may comprise an object detection system configured to detect a human prior to impact with an automotive vehicle comprising the object detection system, and further configured to send a first activation signal upon detection of the human; a first actuator attached to the automotive vehicle; and a protection plate operatively connected to the first actuator and mounted on a structural component of the automotive vehicle; where upon receipt of the first activation signal by the first actuator, the protection plate is deployed from a non-vertical orientation into a vertical orientation and is vertically-positioned between a level of a front bumper of the automotive vehicle and a surface on which the automotive vehicle is traveling.

Airbag assemblies are disclosed that include inflatable knee airbags. The knee airbags can include panel(s) forming a main chamber that provides a primary cushioning protection zone to a lower leg of a vehicle occupant. The knee airbags can further include an external chamber panel coupled to a rearward surface of an occupant-facing panel, external to the main inflatable chamber, to form an external chamber facing the occupant. Vent(s) through the occupant-facing panel can communicate inflation gas from the main chamber to the external chamber to fill a space between the vehicle and the lower leg of the occupant, and to control timing of inflation of the external chamber to cause it to inflate on lateral sides of the lower leg of the occupant to thereby limit lateral movement of the lower leg relative to the vehicle.

A passenger protection apparatus includes a seat, an activation member, a first detector, a second detector, and a controller. The seat has a seat cushion on which a passenger can sit. The activation member is configured to be activated upward in the seat cushion. The first detector is configured to detect or predict a collision of a vehicle. The second detector is configured to detect a sitting state of the passenger sitting on the seat cushion. The controller is configured to control activation of the activation member. The activation member can change an activation point at which the activation member is activated upward. When the first detector detects or predicts a collision of the vehicle, the controller sets the activation point on a basis of the sitting position detected by the second detector, and activates the activation member upward in the seat cushion at the determined activation point.

A system includes a bumper, an actuator fixed to the bumper, and a panel fixed to the actuator and moveable relative to the bumper. A first bracket is fixed to one of the bumper and the panel, and a second bracket is fixed to the other of the bumper and the panel. The second bracket is moveably engaged with the first bracket. A spring-loaded lock is fixed to the first bracket and is biased against the second bracket. The actuator may be triggered in response to a sensed pedestrian impact. In that case, the actuator moves the first and second brackets relative to each other to move the panel from a recessed position to an extended position.

There is provided a mounting structure of a vehicle periphery monitoring device, the structure including (i) a front bumper reinforcement of a vehicle, (ii) a headlamp having a lamp housing, the headlamp being disposed further in a vehicle body upward direction than the front bumper reinforcement and at an outward end section in the vehicle width direction of the vehicle, (iii) a vehicle component disposed further in a vehicle body downward direction than the headlamp, and (iv) a vehicle periphery monitoring device disposed further in a vehicle body downward direction than a lower surface of the lamp housing, the vehicle periphery monitoring device separated by a first gap from an outward end surface in the vehicle width direction of the front bumper reinforcement, and being separated by a second gap from an upward end surface of the vehicle component.

A safety device for a vehicle, in particular a motor vehicle, including a door that is movably situated at a body of the vehicle, a crash bolt that protrudes laterally from the body at a retaining section, in the direction of the door, and a recess that is provided at the door and designed to partly accommodate the crash bolt. It is provided that the crash bolt is fastened to the body, and a crash element that extends at least essentially over the length of the door is situated at the door, the crash element being designed to be supported, at a first end thereof having the recess, on the retaining section of the body in the event of a side collision.

Provided is an occupant's leg restraint device suitable for restraining the legs of an occupant when an automobile has an oblique collision or an offset barrier collision. The occupant's leg restraint device has an airbag and an inflator for supplying gas to the lower part of the airbag to inflate the airbag, and the airbag has a first panel on the occupant side and a second panel on the side opposite thereto. An upper part of the inside of the airbag is divided into small chambers by vertical separating panels that are joined to the first panel and the second panel and that extend vertically. In a state where the airbag has inflated, recessed portions having a depth of 20 to 40 mm are formed in the occupant-side surface of the airbag along the vertical separating panels.

An airbag system includes an airbag. The airbag system includes a base defining a track extending from a first end to a second end. The airbag system includes a carrier releasably fixed to the base and removable from the base at the second end. The airbag system includes a tether extending from the carrier and secured to the airbag. The airbag system includes a spring disposed at the first end. The spring is disposed between the carrier and the base. Upon application of a force to the carrier, e.g., via the tether when the airbag is inflated, the carrier is released from the base and compresses the spring. Upon removal of the force, the spring urges the carrier toward the second end where the carrier is ejected.

An assembly includes a base and a seatbelt anchor. The seatbelt anchor has a first end defining a circular hole pivotally supported by the base and a second end fixed in position relative to the first end. The assembly includes a buckle fixed in position relative to the second end. The assembly includes a pyrotechnic actuator secured to the base. The assembly includes a connector extending from the pyrotechnic actuator to the seatbelt anchor.