A passenger restraint system for roller coasters designed to maintain a passenger in an essentially seated or lying posture, with suspended feet. The passenger restraint system includes a fixed column and a seat column designed to support and hold the passenger, which seat column is coupled to the fixed column so as to be displaceable with respect to the fixed column during a roller coaster ride. The seat column is coupled to the fixed column by an articulated linkage, and the passenger restraint system further includes a balancing device ensuring a balancing of the seat column, which balancing device is fixed, at a first end, to the fixed column and, at a second end, to the seat column. The balancing device can advantageously be configured to ensure a vertical travel of the seat column during the roller coaster ride in dependence of a vertical acceleration exerted on the passenger.

A vehicle includes a chassis and a seating system. The seating system includes a frame coupled to the chassis, a seat cushion supported by at least one of the frame and a floor of the vehicle, a first recoverable insert configured to provide a first energy attenuation response, and a second recoverable insert configured to provide a second energy attenuation response different than the first energy attenuation response. The seat cushion defines a cavity shaped to interchangeably receive either the first recoverable insert or the second recoverable insert to thereby selectively vary an energy attenuation provided by the seating system.

An improved occupant restraint system is provided which includes a torso support unit that provides external support to an upper torso of an individual, who may be the occupant of a vehicle exposed to upward acceleration events. The torso support system provides support to the occupant's upper torso including rib cage, arm pit, upper arm and/or shoulder region. This support can be accomplished by one or more straps, one or more bars, one or more hooks or any other support device(s) that are connected to structure of the vehicle, such as a seat or standing platform, and in turn connected to the upper torso of the occupant to transfer upward vehicle forces to various parts of the upper torso independently of the forces transferred to the lower body such as the feet, legs and seat through other vehicle structure. With such a torso support system, when an upward acceleration event occurs, the compressive forces impinging on the occupant's spinal column are reduced wherein the likelihood of occupant paralysis or death due to spinal and other acceleration-induced injuries are significantly reduced.

Presented herein is a restraint system comprising an attachment point configured to attach to a hatch opening of a vehicle, a harness having a seat and a strap attached to the attachment point and to the seat. The harness is configured to accept an occupant and support a portion of the occupant at a position below the hatch opening. The restraint system further comprises an energy absorption mechanism configured to dampen rapid acceleration or deceleration of the occupant. The strap is attached to the attachment point by a quick release mechanism. The energy absorption mechanism may comprise a retraction mechanism having a damper mechanism that is a spring, a coil spring, a viscous fluid, a fluid having a dynamically changeable viscosity or a magnetorheological fluid. The energy absorption mechanism may comprise tear-away sections configured to dampen vehicle motion energy.

A seat installation for a combat vehicle which protects an occupant from the effects of an explosion detonated beneath the vehicle in which breakaway structures are interposed between a seat pan and the vehicle floor which initially rapidly drives the seat up after the explosion, but which quickly breaks away to avoid spinal compression injury. A crushable energy absorbing structures thereafter absorb the floor motion, each structure comprised with a vertical stack of crushable energy absorbing cells which are successively crushed at higher force levels to adapt the seat installation to varying weight occupants. A pivoted foot rest provides spaced above the floor which mitigates injuries to the feet and legs by allowing the feet to avoid contact with the floor and which swing up and away from the floor while avoiding tipping of the seat.

A vehicle seat comprising a stand and a bucket having a seat pan and a seat back. Said stand serves to fasten said bucket to a floor of said vehicle and to absorb deformation of said floor while limiting the mechanical stresses that are transmitted to said bucket. Said pan is connected to said bucket via a revolute joint for pivoting about a transverse direction and by energy absorber devices. The stand has two first legs forming a fork and connecting the front of said bucket to said floor via ball joint connections. The bucket is connected to said floor at the rear of the seat via two ball joint connections. The stand is thus connected to said bucket via three points and to said floor via four points making it possible to avoid twisting said bucket as a result of deformation of said floor.

An assembly for absorbing energy in an overload event has an energy absorber for reducing the load on an object being transported on a loading unit. The energy absorber, in the case of a one-off overload event with an energy input that is sufficiently high that damage to the object would be possible or highly likely in the absence of the energy absorber, to absorb energy in order to reduce the load on the object. Measured values relating to the current state of the loading unit are periodically acquired by a sensor device. A control device identifies an overload event from the acquired measured values. A weight of the object to be transported and a limit value for a load on the object are determined. Following identification of the overload event, damping by the energy absorber is controlled to keep the load on the object below the limit value.

A generally vertical pillar extends between a floor and a ceiling of a vehicle chassis and carries a seat. A damper is secured between an attachment point on the pillar and an attachment point vertically offset therefrom on the vehicle chassis. This damper comprises a plurality of C-shaped springs each attached at one of the attachment points to the pillar and extending therefrom at an angle of 45° relative to the pillar and an opposite end attached at the other attachment point to the chassis and extending therefrom at an angle of 45° relative to the pillar. The springs each are elastically deformable and form force absorbers that return to a starting shape after elastic deformation. Each C-shaped spring defines a gap open at an acute angle to the vertical and that varies in dimension on deformation of the respective spring.

A seat bottom assembly including a seat bottom frame having a front side and a back side, a seat plate having a front side and a back side, webbing stitches, and tear away stitches. The back side of the seat plate is coupled to the back side of the seat bottom frame. The webbing straps are coupled to and extending between the front side of the seat bottom frame and the front side of the seat plate, and tear away stitches connect two points of the webbing straps along a longitudinal axis so that the webbing straps are partially looped at locations of the respective tear away stitches. The tear away stitches separate and increase a length of the webbing straps in response to experiencing a threshold load in a direction perpendicular to the seat plate.

An active system and a computer-implemented method for reducing vibrations of seats in a vehicle is described. The system and method adjust a damping and/or a stiffness of a vibration damper based on system input signals from the vehicle or seat system. The signals include one or more of a signal associated with a user weight, a signal associated with time-dependent movement of a vehicle frame, and a signal associated with time-dependent movement of a seat back or a seat pan. The damping or the stiffness are adjusted by a closed loop control.