An apparatus for helping to protect a vehicle occupant includes an airbag having primary and secondary chambers fluidly connected by a first passive vent and an active vent having an open condition and a closed condition. The primary chamber has a stored condition and a deployed condition to cover a portion of the vehicle. An interior panel divides the primary chamber into upper and lower inflatable volumes and includes a second passive vent fluidly connecting the upper and lower inflatable volumes. The secondary chamber has a stored condition and a deployed condition to cover portions of the vehicle left uncovered by the primary chamber. An inflator is actuatable to provide inflation fluid to the primary chamber. The active vent is controllable to prevent fluid communication between the primary and secondary chambers in response to occupant penetration into the primary chamber and controllable to allow fluid communication between the primary and secondary chambers in response to occupant penetration into the secondary chamber. The second passive vent automatically closes to prevent fluid flow from the lower inflatable volume to the upper inflatable volume in response to occupant penetration into the secondary chamber.

In a driver's seat airbag apparatus for vehicles, which includes a driver airbag which is deployed and expanded from a hub region towards a driver's seat via the inner peripheral side of a rim of a steering wheel surrounding this hub region, the driver airbag is configured so as to include: a back panel which is attached and fixed to an inflator provided in the hub region, and a bag body which is provided so as to be bonded to this back panel and deployed and expanded from this back panel towards the driver's seat, and wherein the attachment center S of the inflator to this back panel is set with respect to the center P of the back panel so as to be close to the 6 o'clock direction side in the 12 o'clock direction and the 6 o'clock direction of the steering wheel.

A vehicle side airbag device including: inflator that operates to generate gas; airbag that is provided at side section of seatback of vehicle seat, that inflates and deploys using gas generated by the inflator, that protects occupant from at least head to abdominal region, and in which, in inflated and deployed state, rearward sloping portion configured by location at lower end side of front edge portion of the airbag extends diagonally toward vehicle upper rear on progression from lower end toward upper end of the rearward sloping portion; and flow regulating section that is provided at lower section of the airbag, and that ejects gas generated by the inflator from upper ejection opening toward upper section side of the airbag, and from lower ejection opening along lower edge portion of the airbag toward rearward sloping portion side.

Airbag cushion assemblies comprising an airbag inflation tunnel positioned within an airbag cushion. Some embodiments may comprise an airbag cushion comprising an inflator opening and an airbag inflation tunnel coupled to the airbag cushion. The inflation tunnel may be configured to direct inflation gas from an inflator positioned within the inflator opening down the airbag inflation tunnel upon deployment of the inflator. A plurality of directional vent openings may be positioned within the airbag inflation tunnel that may be configured to direct the inflation gas laterally relative to the inflator. The inflation tunnel may further be configured such that the inflation gas contacts a terminal end of the inflation tunnel prior to exiting the plurality of directional vent openings.

An airbag includes at least one panel defining an interior of the airbag, a divider positioned in the interior so as to divide the interior into an upper chamber and a lower chamber, and at least one tethering mechanism positioned within the lower chamber. The at least one tether mechanism is structured and attached to the at least one panel so as to restrict movement of a portion of the at least one panel during airbag inflation such that a first recess is formed along an exterior surface of the airbag when the airbag is inflated.

A vehicle seat provided with a side airbag device including: a side airbag that is stored within a side portion of a seat back, and that receives gas supplied from an inflator so as to inflate and deploy at a side of a seated vehicle occupant; seat back upholstery that forms upholstery for the seat back, and in which a burst line portion, which is a seam portion, ruptures when it receives inflation pressure from the side airbag, and in which a three-way junction is formed in a seam portion as a result of a seam portion that branches off from the burst line portion being provided; and reinforcement fabric that is joined to both a portion of the burst line portion that bridges an intersection point of the three-way junction and a seat back frame, and that stretches when it receives inflation pressure from the side airbag.

An airbag includes on the rear plane a passenger protection portion for protecting a front seat passenger. The passenger protection portion includes a front-collision arresting plane for protecting a head of the passenger as he moves forward in the event of a frontal collision of the vehicle and an oblique-collision arresting plane that is disposed at least either on the left or on the right of the front-collision arresting plane in such a manner as to protrude rearward out of the front-collision arresting plane for protecting the head of the passenger as he moves diagonally forward in the event of an oblique or offset collision of the vehicle. The passenger protection portion further includes an arresting recess that is disposed between the front-collision arresting plane and oblique-collision arresting plane in such a manner as to be sunken forward for receiving and arresting the head of the passenger.

A front airbag apparatus for a vehicle may include an airbag chamber including front panels, and internal tethers connecting the front panels of the airbag chamber to an airbag housing and dividing the airbag chamber into a plurality of sections, in which lengths of the internal tethers may be smaller than a length of the airbag chamber in a front-rear direction of the vehicle, and when the airbag chamber is fully inflated, joints of the internal tethers on the front panels may be recessed, whereby the front panels may form a prominence-depression shape.

A driver seat airbag device restrains an occupant seated in a driver seat of a vehicle, and includes, a chest protecting cushion that expands and deploys behind a yoke steering wheel; and a head protecting cushion that expands and deploys adjacent to and above the chest protecting cushion. The head protecting cushion extends from an upper portion of the chest protecting cushion to an upper surface of an instrument panel when expanded and deployed, and contacts and restrains the head of the occupant from the front.

An airbag is configured by six base materials of two side wall configuration panels, a projecting portion configuration panel, a front panel, and two rear panels. Each of the side wall configuration panels configure a left wall portion or a right wall portion facing each other on a side in a rightward-leftward direction in a main body inflation portion, and a projecting portion configuration portion configuring a projecting inflation portion is located in one of the side wall configuration panels. The front panel configures a region from an upper wall portion to a lower wall portion, which face each other on a side in an upward-downward direction in the main body inflation portion. Each of the rear panels configures a rear surface in the main body inflation portion when the main body inflation portion is completely inflated. The projecting portion configuration panel has an external shape substantially coincident with that of the projecting portion configuration portion. The projecting portion configuration panel and the rear panel on the projecting inflation portion side include a recess portion configuration portion configuring a restraining recess portion.