Abstract
An airbag is provided for helping to protect a vehicle occupant. Upon the occurrence of an event for which occupant protection is desired, such as a vehicle collision, an airbag controller actuates an inflator to provide inflation fluid to the airbag to inflate and deploy the airbag from a stored condition to a deployed condition. The deploying airbag deploys cross-car (i.e., “side-to-side”) from a centrally positioned structure in the vehicle, instead of in a fore-aft direction from an instrument panel of the vehicle. The instrument panel may be reduced in order to accommodate a workstation for the occupant. The airbag may be configured to deploy around the workstation and provide adequate coverage for helping to protect the vehicle occupant. The airbag may include one or more internal tethers that cause a bend in the deploying airbag so that the airbag may deploy around the workstation. A panel of the airbag may also include pinch segments that are sewn, or otherwise connected, together to form a pinch in the panel. The pinch in the panel may help produce the bend in the airbag.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
"INSTRUMENT PANEL BAG FOR SMALL OFFSET AND REDUCED INSTRUMENT PANEL DEPTH", Technical Disclosure Commons, (September 27, 2021)
https://www.tdcommons.org/dpubs_series/4619