A restraint system includes a retractor housing; a spool rotatably coupled to the retractor housing and defining an axis of rotation; a torsion bar elongated along the axis of rotation and positioned coaxially in the spool; a cylinder elongated along the axis of rotation, extending coaxially around the torsion bar, and positioned coaxially in the spool; and a cutter fixed to the spool, the cutter including a cutting edge engaging the cylinder.

Four-point seat belt comprising two thoracic branches configured to anchor the chest of a user to a backrest of a vehicular seat; two abdominal branches configured to girdle and anchor the waist of the user to the vehicular seat; at least one damping device configured to be activated upon exceeding a first predetermined value of a tension force imparted by the user to the belt; wherein the damping device is configured to cause, upon its activation, a controlled advancement of the chest of the user while limiting the acceleration of the head of the user.

In this buckle device, a base end portion of a belt is folded back on itself to form a ring-shaped portion, and the belt is wound onto a spool in a state in which the ring-shaped portion of the belt has been inserted through an insertion hole in the spool. This enables a winding radius of the belt to be increased by the base end portion of the belt and enables a load at which the belt is permitted to be pulled out to be reduced, when the belt is pulled out from the spool.

In this buckle device, when a second wind of a belt is pulled out from a spool, a load at which the belt is permitted to be pulled out is small, whereas slide resistance of the belt with respect to a slide face is large. When a first wind of the belt is then pulled out from the spool, the belt pull-out permitting load is large, whereas the slide resistance of the belt with respect to the slide face is small. This enables variation in a load at which extending of a buckle body is permitted to be suppressed.

An energy absorbing device, a seat belt retractor, and a seat belt device, that can change an energy absorption characteristic continuously, and improve durability. A base plate that is connected to a spool and has a corrugated groove annularly formed, a cover plate that is opposingly connected to the base plate and has a corrugated groove synchronized with the corrugated groove of the base plate, a plurality of driving pins with a first end inserted into the corrugated groove of the base plate and a second end inserted into the corrugated groove of the cover plate, a plurality of mass bodies that are arranged in respective intermediate portions of the driving pins, and intermediate plates that are inserted with the driving pins, arranged on both sides of the mass bodies, and connected to a locking base.

Provided are a seat belt retractor and a seat belt device with which it is possible to improve an occupant-restraining property and energy absorption characteristics. A seat belt retractor 1 including a spool 2 that winds up a webbing W for restraining an occupant, a shaft 3 inserted through an axial center of the spool 2, and a locking base 4 connected to the shaft 3 and capable of switching between a rotating state and a non-rotating state, further includes an energy absorption device 5 capable of changing an energy absorption amount according to a relative rotation speed between the spool 2 and the shaft 3, and a load adjustment member 6 that blocks or reduces load transmission when a load equal to or greater than a threshold is applied to the shaft 3 or the spool 2. The spool 2, the shaft 3, the locking base 4, the energy absorption device 5, and the load adjustment member 6 are serially connected.

A belt retractor comprises a frame (10), a belt reel (12) rotatably arranged in the frame (10) and having a first end (16) and an opposite second end (17) as well as comprising a blocking mechanism (18) arranged at an end face of the belt reel (12) by which the belt reel (12) can be blocked within the frame (10). The belt retractor further comprises an axially extending first load limiter which is releasably coupled to the belt reel (12) by means of a disconnecting clutch (24), a second load limiter which is coupled to be rotationally fixed to the first load limiter or a hub, and a third load limiter which can be coupled to be rotationally fixed to the belt reel (12) by means of a connecting clutch (38). Moreover, a method for controlling such belt retractor is provided.

A restraint system includes a retractor housing; a spool rotatably coupled to the retractor housing and defining an axis of rotation; a torsion bar elongated along the axis of rotation and positioned coaxially in the spool; a cylinder elongated along the axis of rotation, extending coaxially around the torsion bar, and positioned coaxially in the spool; and a cutter fixed to the spool, the cutter including a cutting edge engaging the cylinder.

A safety belt retractor having a load limiting device is provided. The load limiting device comprises: a hollow spool (1) on which a webbing can be wound, a locking disk (2) having a flange (21) and a sleeve (22) attached thereto, and a torsion bar (3); the locking disk (2) can be mounted with the flange (21) on an end of the spool (1) and can extend with the sleeve (22) into a hollow chamber of the spool (1), and the spool (1) is rotatable in relation to the locking disk (2); the torsion bar (3) can be arranged in the hollow chamber of the spool (1) and is fixed on the spool (1) and on the locking disk (2) in a rotationally secured manner. The load limiting device further comprises a load limiting ring (5) with a thread (51) on the inner circumference, the load limiting ring (5) can be rotated around the sleeve (22) with the rotation of the spool (1), and the sleeve (22) is provided on its outer circumference with an engaging section (221) and with a resistance part for applying a resistance to the load limiting ring (5), the sleeve (22) having in the engaging section (221) a mating thread which matches with the thread (51) of the load limiting ring (5) and the resistance part being arranged downstream of the engaging section (221) in the axial displacement direction of the load limiting ring (5).

A seat belt retractor comprises (a) a rotatable spool on which seat belt webbing is wound and (b) a load-limiting system to limit a load applied to a vehicle occupant by the webbing. The load-limiting system includes a flow control orifice through which fluid is forced when a load in excess of a predetermined load is applied to the rotatable spool by the webbing. The cross-sectional flow area of the flow control orifice is adjustable in response to unwinding of webbing from the rotatable spool prior to a vehicle crash event and ceases to be adjustable after the crash event is in progress. The load-limiting system also includes a piston in a cylinder. The piston and cylinder are operatively coupled to the spool such that rotation of the spool causes the piston to move relative to the cylinder, which movement causes fluid to be forced through the flow control orifice.