An occupant support adapted for use in a vehicle includes a seat bottom coupled to a floor of the vehicle and a seat back configured to pivot about a seat-back pivot axis relative to the seat bottom between an upright position and a folded-forward position. The occupant support further includes an upper-back support system configured to support an upper back of an occupant of the occupant support.

An air bag includes a bag portion formed by bonding two sheet members together. The bag portion includes an expansion portion including an annular joining portion extending in an annular shape, and a passage portion including a pair of parallel linear joining portions and connected to the expansion portion. Air filled in the bag portion flows through an internal space of the expansion portion surrounded by the annular joining portion and a passage sandwiched between the linear joining portions defining the passage portion. At a connection portion between the expansion portion and the passage portion, the linear joining portions extend in parallel, or the linear joining portions extend so as to expand toward a deep side of the passage from an opening position of the passage with respect to the internal space of the expansion portion.

A motor vehicle seat having a backrest and a seat part, at least one flexible, fluid-fillable hollow body attached to the seat part or the backrest, and at least two chambers that are in fluid communication with one another. The chambers are arranged one on top of the other and have in their walls corresponding passages which enable a fluid exchange between the chambers. The chambers are firmly connected to one another in the region of the passages, wherein the volume of the lowermost chamber adjacent to the seat part or the backrest is the largest and the volume of each additional chamber is smaller compared with the volume of the chamber below it. The chambers are arranged one on top of the other such that the maximum lift of the fluid-fillable hollow body when it is being filled with fluid is outside the center of the lowermost chamber.

A safety system and control method for a pneumatic seat of a vehicle, and a computer-readable medium, the pneumatic seat (10) including a plurality of airbags (101, 102, 103, 104, 105, and 106) corresponding to body parts of an occupant, an information collection module, an information integration module (3), and a control module (4), where the information collection module is configured to collect vehicle body data, motion information, and external environment information of the vehicle, the information integration module (3) is configured to determine a current working scenario of the vehicle based on the vehicle body data, the motion information, and the external environment information; and the control module (4) is configured to inflate a seat cushion airbag (105) when it is determined that the current working scenario is a first working scenario, so as to partially deploy the seat cushion airbag (105); and is configured to fully inflate and deploy the seat cushion airbag (105) when it is determined that the current working scenario is a second working scenario.

A method for operating a motor vehicle seat system, having at least two first fluid-fillable bladders and at least one second fluid-fillable bladder connected via a supply line to a common line and to a pump via this line and are fillable with fluid via this line, each first bladder having its own discharge outlet, and the second bladder not having its own discharge outlet, and having a controller which controls the filling or emptying of the bladders, the controller being configured to empty the second bladder via a discharge outlet from one of the first bladders, the second bladder being evacuated by detecting which of the first bladders is empty or is currently not used, establishing a fluid connection between the second bladder to be evacuated and the empty first bladder, and opening the discharge outlet belonging to the empty first bladder.

The invention concerns a system for controlling a smart vehicle seat (1) having a seat base (1b) and a backrest (1c), the surfaces of which are provided with flat pressure sensors, the pressure sensors being connected to a microcontroller (6) via which an actuator element is controllable via a drive unit (9), whereby the actuator element is adapted to change the surface of the seat base (1b) and/or the backrest (1c). It is the object of the invention to develop the system in a way that it automatically adapts to a sitting posture of a user and adjusts the surface of the seat base and of the backrest in an extremely flexible and exactly way depending on the user's posture. Therefore, the invention proposes, that the actuator element comprises one or more valves via which one or more airbags are controllable. Furthermore the invention proposes to use graphene sensors as pressure sensors and to integrate an artificial intelligence module (7) on the microcontroller (6).

An actuator includes a sliding body moveable along a guide between a rest position and a retracted position, a spring resting on a support body and acting to exert a bias force urging the sliding body to the rest position, and a SMA wire having opposite ends being mechanically and electrically connected to a respective one of two stationary contacts and forming a loop between the opposite ends which is connected to the sliding body, wherein the SMA wire is arranged to, when activated by electric energy supply, pull the sliding body away from the rest position to the retracted position, wherein the guide is fixed to a first end portion, the support body is fixed to an intermediate portion, and a contact holding body, in which the two contacts are incorporated, is fixed to a second end portion of a mounting bar.

A pump assembly includes a pneumatic pump with a pump body having a discharge passage. The pump is operable to discharge compressed air through the discharge passage. The pump assembly also includes a cap adjacent the pump body and at least partially enclosing a first volume in communication with the discharge passage, and a casing at least partially surrounding the pump. The pump assembly further includes a second volume defined between the casing and the cap, the second volume in fluid communication with the first volume via an opening in the cap, and a casing outlet in fluid communication with the second volume. The pump assembly is configured such that the compressed air flows through the first volume and the second volume before being discharged from the casing through the casing outlet.

An articulation assembly for a vehicle seat includes a planar engagement surface. An inflatable member is operably coupled to the planar engagement surface. The inflatable member includes a plurality of polyhedral bodies that are configured to be formed via additive manufacturing. Each of the polyhedral bodies has a foldable portion that defines crease lines. A plurality of elastomeric members are disposed on each crease line. A planar base includes a port fluidly coupled to the polyhedral bodies. A manifold is fluidly coupled to the port of the planar base and is configured to translate fluid through the port to the polyhedral bodies.

A passenger seat (10) with a sitting area (40), a side ottoman (42), an open space (44) that may be enclosed via use of a bed extension (50), and a backrest (14). The backrest may be divided into an upper portion and a lower portion. The seat may also be provided with one or more storage areas and/or a side console.