Flexible vehicle door with airbag

Abstract

A side door for a motor vehicle is formed from a flexible material such as a fabric and has a chamber formed therein which houses an occupant protection side airbag or curtain airbag.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising: a fabric door adapted for attachment to a motor vehicle for repeated movement between a closed position wherein it covers a side door opening defined by a body of the vehicle and an open position wherein it allows an occupant to enter and exit a passenger space of the vehicle through the door opening, the fabric door having a chamber defined therein and a tear-seam oriented toward the passenger space of the vehicle when the fabric door is in the closed position; and an airbag housed in the chamber when in a non-inflated state and inflatable by a gas generator.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the airbag is configured as a side airbag.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the airbag is configured as a curtain airbag.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the gas generator is secured to the body and in fluid connection with the airbag via a gas-conveying line.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the door comprises a window portion formed of a transparent material.

6. A fabric side door for a motor vehicle comprising: a panel formed of a flexible material and adapted for fastening to a vehicle body to at least partially cover a side door opening formed therein when the door is in a closed position and repeatedly movable to an open position wherein it allows an occupant to enter and exit a passenger space of the vehicle through the side door opening, the panel having an opaque section and a transparent window portion disposed above the opaque section, the window portion having a chamber formed therein; and an airbag housed in the chamber in a non-inflated state and inflatable by a gas generator.

7. The fabric side door of claim 6, wherein the airbag is configured as a side airbag.

8. The fabric side door of claim 6, wherein the airbag is configured as a curtain airbag.

9. The fabric side door of claim 6, wherein the gas generator is secured to the vehicle body and in fluid connection with the airbag via a gas-conveying line.

10. A motor vehicle comprising: a body defining a side door opening; a side door comprising at least one panel formed of a non-rigid material and secured to the body to cover at least a portion of the side door opening when in a closed position and repeatedly movable to an open position wherein it allows an occupant to enter and exit a passenger space of the vehicle through the side door opening; a chamber defined within the at least one panel; and an occupant protection airbag housed in a non-inflated condition within the chamber.

11. The motor vehicle of claim 10, wherein the airbag is configured as a side air bag.

12. The motor vehicle of claim 10, wherein the airbag is configured as a curtain air bag.

13. The motor vehicle of claim 10, further comprising a gas generator secured to the body and in fluid connection with the airbag.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of a motor vehicle with a fabric door with an airbag.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(2) As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention that may be embodied in various and alternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale; some features may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particular components. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention.

(3) The motor vehicle 2 in the depicted exemplary embodiment is a passenger vehicle.

(4) The motor vehicle 2 in this case is designed as a pick-up truck with a flat, open loading area (or bed) at the rear. Traditional pick-up trucks generally comprise a ladder frame with a cab or driver's compartment separately screwed thereon and a loading area (also bed) with a rigid rear axle and leaf suspension.

(5) A pick-up may be designed as an off-road vehicle. Off-road vehicles are intended for use on very poor tracks and on unpaved terrain. This means that they must, in particular, be extremely robust and all-terrain in design. The off-road capability may be improved by a high ground clearance and short, frequently also beveled, body overhangs which help prevent overturning on steep gradients. Skid plates on the underside of the chassis protect sensitive components such as the fuel tank, engine, transmission and differentials against impact. Reliable forward propulsion is assisted by features such as four-wheel drive, often in conjunction with engageable short reduction gears and also differential lock(s), an interlockable chassis (partly with rigid axles) and off-road tires with deep treads. In a similar manner to trucks, many off-road vehicles today also still have a robust ladder, box or backbone chassis with a non-bearing body fitted on top.

(6) Unlike in the present exemplary embodiment, the motor vehicle 2 may, however, also be configured as a different type of vehicle such as, for example, a sports car, a roadster, a cabriolet, a truck or a semitrailer, without solid vehicle doors in each case.

(7) The motor vehicle 2 in the present exemplary embodiment has left and right side door openings (only the left side door opening being visible in FIG. 1), over each of which a fabric door 4 is secured. The fabric doors 4 are movable between the closed position (show) and an open position (not shown) to allow a driver and/or front-seat passengers to enter and exit the passenger space of the motor vehicle 2.

(8) In order to keep the fabric door 4 in the closed position while driving and prevent the penetration of dirt and/or rain in the passenger space, a retaining cable, Velcro strip, zip fastener or similar is provided, in order to fix the fabric door 4 in the closed position over the door opening formed in the vehicle body.

(9) The fabric door 4 primarily comprises a generally planar panel formed from one or more segments of flexible (non-rigid) material. The non-rigid material may be textile, such as a woven, knitted or crocheted fabric, a mesh or stitch-bonded fabric, for example. The planar textile panel in this case may be made of artificial (man-made) and/or natural fibers. Alternatively, the fabric door 4 may also be produced from a plastic film. Furthermore, the fabric door 4 may be designed to be sectionally opaque, i.e. impervious to light. In addition, the fabric door 4 may comprise a window portion 12, in other words, a light-permeable portion. In this portion, the fabric door 4 may comprise a transparent film made of plastic.

(10) In the present exemplary embodiment, the fabric door 4 is essentially made of a flexible material. The planar textile structure and/or the plastic film is flexible in design. The flexible panel may be configured in such a manner that it becomes deformed under the force of its own weight.

(11) In addition, the planar textile structure and/or the plastic film simultaneously form an outer panel and an inner panel of the fabric door 4. In other words, the fabric door 4 has no separately-formed inner door trim panel, meaning that it is inner door trim panel-free.

(12) In order to improve safety of the vehicle occupants, the fabric door 4 is equipped with an airbag 6. An airbag 6 in this case is understood to be part of an occupant restraint system of the motor vehicle 2. The airbag 6 is made up of an air-tight bag which is deployed between the driver or other passengers and parts of the vehicle interior in the event of an accident. Deployment of such an airbag typically occurs within 20 to 50 milliseconds. This prevents the driver, front-seat passenger or other occupants from hitting hard parts of the interior, such as the steering wheel or dashboard of the motor vehicle 2, for example. The occupant restraint system is only actuated by high negative acceleration values beyond the kind of values reached by fully applying the brakes.

(13) Apart from the airbag 6, an occupant restraint system of this kind has an airbag control unit with sensors for detecting negative acceleration values and at least one gas generator 8 which supplies gas to inflate the airbag 6 when triggered by the airbag control device. The gas generator 8 may be a pyrotechnical gas generator, a cold gas generator or a hybrid gas generator.

(14) The airbag 6 may, for example, be configured as a side airbag and/or as a curtain airbag.

(15) If the airbag 6 is designed as a side airbag, it is deployed within 20 ms between a vehicle seat and the fabric door 4. It thereby reduces the risk of injury to the upper body by supporting the driver over a large area of the chest and pelvis, for example, and relieving the strain on the abdominal area.

(16) If the airbag 6 is configured as a curtain airbag it deploys along the plane of a side window opening of the motor vehicle 2 and preferably covers the entire area of the window pane. It prevents contact being made with a side panel, B-pillar or penetrating objects and protects the head over a large area, in order to prevent hyperextension of the cervical spine. A curtain airbag typically remains inflated for approximately 5 seconds and thereby also offers protection during rollovers or multiple collisions.

(17) The gas generator 8 may be located in the engine compartment or behind the dashboard of the motor vehicle 2, for example. A gas-conveying line 16 connects the gas generator 8 to the airbag 6.

(18) The fabric door 4 has a chamber 10 defined therein for accommodating the airbag in the non-inflated state. Consequently, the airbag 6 is integrated in the fabric door 4. In the present exemplary embodiment, the chamber 10 may be completely enclosed by a textile having a tear-seam 14 (depicted as a dashed line in FIG. 1) formed therein to serve as a predetermined breaking point and which fails to allow the airbag 6 to exit the chamber 10 when the airbag expands when inflated by the gas generator 8. Alternatively, the chamber 10 may be closed off by a plate (not shown) made of a rigid material which is at least partially dislodged from the door 4 to uncover the chamber 10 when the airbag 6 is inflated.

(19) The size of the chamber 10 may vary depending on the requirements. In addition, the air bag of the airbag 6 may also be formed directly from the fabric door 4.

(20) Hence, safety is improved by the fabric door 4 with the integrated airbag 6 and the same level of occupant protection is achieved as in the case of motor vehicles with solid doors.

(21) While exemplary embodiments are described above, it is not intended that these embodiments describe all possible forms of the invention. Rather, the words used in the specification are words of description rather than limitation, and it is understood that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Additionally, the features of various implementing embodiments may be combined to form further embodiments of the invention.