The present invention provides an igniter assembly in which reliability in operation is enhanced.

An igniter assembly includes an igniter main body, a resin portion enclosing a periphery of the igniter main body, a metallic collar being arranged on a periphery of the resin portion and integrated with the resin portion, a cup-like shaped ignitor housing filled therein with a gas generating agent or a transfer charge. The metallic collar includes a combination of a cylindrical collar and an annular collar, and the cup-like shaped ignitor housing abuts against a portion with a reduced diameter on the side of a first end portion of the cylindrical collar, thereby being fixed from the outside.

In an illustrative embodiment, a seat is oriented at an oblique angle with respect to a centerline of an aircraft fuselage, the seat having an Aircraft Passenger Restraint System (APRS) with a pre-tensioner and integral retractable shoulder and seat belt webbing. In an illustrative example, the ARPS may be a three-point restraint to control a seat occupant's upper body, head and torso area. In some embodiments, the ARPS may further control the forces on the lower spine and torso. In some applications, the ARPS may operate to control the Head Injury Criteria (HIC) levels for the seat occupant's head, as well as the neck twist and upper spinal forces, to meet aircraft certification requirements imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and/or European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). In response to a deceleration event, the ARPS may rapidly retract the belt webbing to substantially remove slack.

A vehicle occupant protection apparatus has a strap configured to extend across the front of a body of an occupant sitting on a seat of a vehicle, a pre-tensioner configured to retract the strap, a vehicle orientation sensor configured to detect either one of a change in the orientation of the vehicle and an operation for changing the orientation, and a controller configured to cause the pre-tensioner to start retracting the strap prior to a collision or when a collision occurs. After the retracting of the strap starts, the controller temporarily stops or eases the retracting of the strap in accordance with the change in the orientation of the vehicle.

A seatbelt pretensioning retractor assembly for use in a vehicle is provided. The seatbelt pretensioning retractor assembly includes a housing adapted for being mounted to a frame and having an interior cavity, a pretensioner tube having an arcuate and curved shape, a sprocket rotatably mounted to the housing and fixedly coupled to a spindle, a driving element as a pretensioner rod disposed within the tube and a guide plate having a guide portion and a rod guide. The pretensioner rod extends in a longitudinal direction from a proximal end portion to a distal end portion. In addition, the pretensioner rod forms a recessed portion or a recessed section to facilitate engaging with the sprocket during pretensioning.

A seatbelt pretensioning retractor assembly for use in a passenger vehicle is provided. The pretensioning assembly includes a tube in fluid communication with a gas generator and a driving element disposed therein that travels in a first direction in response to actuation of the gas generator. The driving element includes a plastically deformable polymer rod with a recessed portion. A stopper is coupled to an end portion of the plastically deformable polymer rod. A seal member is disposed between the gas generator and the stopper. The tube includes a projection extending within the tube adjacent to the exit to define a constriction portion. The constriction portion is sized to permit the recessed portion of the plastically deformable polymer rod to pass therethrough while preventing the stopper from passing therethrough.

In a method of producing a tubular structure for a gas generator, a tubular body is positioned relative to a forming device having inner and outer tools, which are moved relative to an end portion of the tubular body until an inner circumferential surface of a neck of the end portion rests against a support surface of the inner tool to reduce a diameter of the end portion by a tool contour of the outer tool and thereby form a shoulder. The outer tool is held in position upon the end portion and the neck inner circumferential surface is calibrated by a calibrating surface on a calibrating member of the inner tool while an outer circumferential surface of the neck is supported by the outer tool, as the inner tool is removed from the end portion. The outer tool is then removed from the end portion of the tubular body.

When disassembling after a gas being supplied into a tube member, the gas in the tube member is discharged before the tube member and a moving member become separable. In a webbing take-up device, a cover plate cannot be removed from a frame and thereafter a cylinder and a piston inside the cylinder cannot be separated before covering of a fixing screw with a covering section of a plate being released by removing a screw from an exhaust port of the cylinder and by removing the plate from the cylinder. Thus, after a high-pressure gas being supplied into the cylinder, the high-pressure gas inside the cylinder can surely be discharged by removing the plate from the cylinder and the exhaust port is opened by the screw before the cylinder and the piston being separated.

A belt retractor for a motor vehicle seat belt device, with a rotatably mounted belt reel onto which a seat belt is wound, and a belt tensioner with a drive wheel (1), which drives the belt reel in the event of an activation. A positively controlled tensioner coupling transfers the drive movement from the drive wheel (1) onto the belt reel. At least one coupling pawl (2,3) mounted on the drive wheel (1) and which is moved into and out of engagement with a toothing (20) rotationally fixed in relation to the belt reel to establish and disconnect a rotational connection of the drive wheel (1) with the belt reel. A friction ring (4) has a control arm (11) coupled with the coupling pawl (2,3), wherein in the event of an activation of the belt tensioner, the friction ring (4) performs a relative movement to the drive wheel (1) by frictional forces and, controls via the control arm (11) the movement of the coupling pawl (2,3) into engagement and disengagement with the toothing (20). The friction ring (4) and/or the coupling pawl (2,3) has a blocking contour (12), positioned such that the coupling pawl (2,3) abuts thereon after the disengaging movement out of the toothing (20) and is blocked in the direction of a repeated engagement movement into the toothing (20).

Provided are a pretensioner, a retractor, and a seat belt device that can achieve weight reduction of a device by improving slidability of a power transmission member used for the pretensioner. A pretensioner includes a drive wheel for rotating the spool, and a power transmission unit for transmitting power to the drive wheel in an emergency. The power transmission unit includes a power transmission member for rotating the drive wheel, a pipe that contains the power transmission member, a gas generator for supplying a working gas into the pipe, and a housing that defines a passage for the power transmission member on an outer periphery of the drive wheel. The housing has a sliding member that is disposed at an outlet part of the pipe and that reduces frictional force between the housing and the power transmission member.

A belt retractor (40) having a belt reel (14), a seat belt (12) which can be wound thereon to form a belt reel, and at least one first assembly, the first assembly being arranged coaxially with the axis of rotation of the belt reel (14) and in series with the belt reel (14). The belt retractor is especially adapted for mounting inside the frame member of a motor vehicle seat.