Air bag apparatus for motorcycle, method of manufacturing air bag apparatus for motorcycle, and motorcycle with air bag apparatus
View Patent ↗An air bag apparatus is provided on a motorcycle. The apparatus includes an air bag that is restricted so as not to be expanded toward a body constituent part, and is guided to be expanded toward a rider protection region in the expansion direction by providing the air bag so it is rolled and folded outwardly from the body constituent part of the motorcycle, allowing it to be expanded and inflated toward the rider protection region, which is formed in front of a motorcycle rider, and above the body constituent part of the motorcycle in the case of the forward collision of the motorcycle.
1. An air bag apparatus for a motorcycle having body parts including a frame for supporting a seat in which a rider sits rearwardly of handle bars, the air bag apparatus comprising:
a retainer mounted to a portion of the frame;
an inflator in the retainer;
an air bag housed in the retainer for being deployed in a generally vertical upward direction in the event of forward crash conditions generally occurring forwardly of the handle bars;
a rolled portion of the air bag in the retainer that is rolled in a predetermined rotary direction in the retainer so that the air bag unrolls in an opposite rotary direction during inflation in the generally vertical, upward direction and above the handle bars;
a bellows-shaped portion of the airbag in the retainer having a plurality of straight uninflated portions that are interconnected by generally U-shaped bent portions so that adjacent straight uninflated portions lay flat on and against each other in the retainer with the bellows-shaped portion being between the rolled portion and the inflator in the generally vertical, upward direction with inflation gas from the inflator flowing through the bellows-shaped portion and then into the rolled portion so that the bellows-shaped portion is fully inflated before and below the rolled portion is fully inflated;
wherein the airbag is rolled in an orientation that is centrally aligned over the straight uninflated portions of the airbag bellows-shaped portion for being inflated in the vertical, upward direction over the inflated bellows-shaped portion; and
a lowermost uninflated portion of the rolled portion in the retainer that is directly connected to an uppermost one of the straight uninflated portions of the airbag bellows-shaped portion and which extends in the vertical upward direction therefrom from a lateral position that is spaced laterally across the uppermost straight uninflated portion from an uppermost one of the U-shaped bent portions of the airbag bellows-shaped portion so that with airbag deployment and prior to full inflation of the bellows-shaped portion with the straight uninflated portions reoriented to extend in general vertical alignment with each other, the rolled portion of the airbag will already have begun to unroll.
2. The airbag apparatus of claim 1 wherein the airbag rolled portion and the airbag bellows-shaped portion have approximately the same size in the vertical, upward direction when inflated.