Provided is an airbag which further reduces the degree of injury to a vehicle occupant while also exhibiting sufficient occupant protection performance using less output from the inflator, by both preventing airbag internal pressure from rising excessively when making contact with the occupant and increasing the speed of deployment in an occupant-protection area. This hollow-weave airbag has an opening in a main chamber that inflates for the purpose of occupant protection, a structure wherein a first yarn extending separatingly from a first fabric layer of the opening to a non-inflating portion is caught on a float yarn extending on the inside of a second fabric layer and subsequently caught on a float yarn extending on the inside of the first fabric layer, this structure being repeated at least once and forming a pair with another structure wherein a second yarn extending separatingly from the second fabric layer of the opening to the non-inflating portion is caught on the float yarn extending on the inside of the first fabric layer and subsequently caught on the float yarn extending on the inside of the second fabric layer, this structure being repeated at least once.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a hollow weave airbag wherein gas leakage from cut surfaces of a hollow weave airbag formed by lamination can be suppressed and internal pressure retention can be improved. Provided is a hollow weave airbag that is formed in an expandable bag shape by weaving at least two pieces of fabric, wherein: the hollow weave airbag includes an outer peripheral joining part positioned on the outer periphery of an expanding part, and an outer edge part extending to the outside of the outer peripheral joining part; at least part of the outer peripheral joining part and/or the outer edge part is provided with a twill-like structure area formed from a single weave structure; the twill-like structure area is configured such that when a continuous connection line is formed by tying peak crossover points or valley crossover points in any of the up, down, left, and right directions in a minimum unit mapping for weave structure mapping, the connection line can extend diagonally in the weave structure mapping when viewed as a whole; and the outer surface of the hollow weave airbag is formed by lamination.

The invention relates to a one-piece woven airbag (OPW), in particular for vehicle restraint systems, with an upper fabric (OG) and a lower fabric (UG) which are joined together in a single-ply seam area (NB) forming the border of the airbag, with tether threads (TF) which are woven partially into the upper fabric (OG) and partially into the lower fabric (UG) and float there between over a defined length, which is characterised by upper limiting threads (OBF) which are woven into the upper fabric (OG) and/or lower limiting threads (UBF) which are woven into the lower fabric (UG), the limiting threads (OBF, UBF) between upper fabric (OG) and lower fabric (UG) floating over a defined number of floating tether threads (TF) and being attached to attachment points (AP) of their fabric layer (OG, UG).

Device for fixing a connection to an OPW airbag, with an expansion sleeve (2), with a plurality of expansion shells (4), and a mandrel (6) extending longitudinally through the expansion sleeve (2) having a stretching piece (8) arranged in the vicinity of the expansion shells (4), the outer diameter of which stretching piece is greater than the inner diameter of the expansion shells (4).

An airbag assembly includes an airbag and a tether. The tether includes a first end portion extending from the airbag, a second end portion spaced from the airbag, and an intermediate portion having a first strap and a second strap extending between and meeting each other at the first end portion and the second end portion. The first end portion, the second end portion, and the intermediate portion are monolithic.

An airbag fabric for an airbag comprises a mounting area (22) for mounting the airbag. The mounting area (22) includes a mounting hole (24), a load portion (26) which is adjacent to the mounting hole (24) in a load direction (B), and a transition portion (28) which is adjacent to the mounting hole (24) against the load direction (B). Furthermore, the load portion (26) and the transition portion (28) include different weaves. The fabric in the load portion (26) exhibits lower resistance to displacement than in the transition portion (28) so that a fiber bead forms of the fabric fibers of the load portion (26), which fiber bead is adjacent to the mounting hole (24) in the load direction (B), if bearing stress acts upon the mounting hole (24) in the load direction (B).

A knee airbag includes a cushion portion, which includes overlying panels interconnected along a perimeter connection to define an inflatable volume of the knee airbag. The panels are interconnected within the perimeter connection along one or more interior connections that define inflatable chambers within the inflatable volume. The knee airbag also includes a tether connected to an exterior surface of the cushion portion at spaced locations. The tether has a length that is shorter than the distance between the locations on the cushion portion to which the tether is connected. The tether is configured to become tensioned in response to inflation of the cushion portion and causing a bend to form in the cushion portion.

A multi-layer fabric, and an airbag formed of the multi-layer fabric are provided. The multi-layer fabric can provide an airbag capable of sufficiently protecting a driver or a passenger by minimizing damage caused by broken glass fragments when a vehicle is overturned. The multi-layer fabric includes an inflating part, and a co-woven part surrounding the inflating part. At least one layer of the inflating part includes a first region formed of two or more types of weaves comprising 1/1 plain weave.

A method for manufacturing a one-piece woven (OPW) air bag includes method for manufacturing an OPW airbag. The method includes providing yarns, warping the yarns on at least one beam of a loom, and simultaneously weaving yarns into a fabric air bag structure having two layer portions defining an inflatable volume and single layer portions forming seams delimiting the inflatable volume. A plurality of the yarns overlay one another to form nonwoven alignment elements in at least one of the single layer portions. The air bag structure is cut to define the OPW air bag. The alignment elements are aligned with alignment elements on a panel. The air bag structure is sewn to the panel with the alignment elements aligned with one another.

A one-piece woven pressure-responsive air outlet, for use as a vent, for application to airbag discharge openings, includes a lower fabric layer, a middle fabric layer and an upper fabric layer. The lower fabric layer includes warp and weft threads and an inflow region in which the warp and weft threads float. The middle fabric layer includes warp and weft threads and a flow-through region in which the warp and weft threads float. The lower and middle fabric layers include a first chamber and a second chamber downstream of the first chamber in a flow direction. At least one of the chambers is sealed with a thread breakage zone, in which between the fabric layers, selected (warp) threads of one fabric layer are merely tacked to selected (weft) threads of the other fabric layer and are capable of breaking or rupturing at a predefined internal pressure in the chamber.