Granted Patent B1

US 12,358,461 · App. 18/928,301 · Granted Jul 15, 2025

Inventors: S. M. Iskander Farooq (Novi, MI); Mohammad Omar Faruque (Ann Arbor, MI); Dean M. Jaradi (Macomb, MI)

Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC

B60R21/2338B60J5/0479B60R21/21B60R21/23138B62D25/025B60J2005/0475B60R2021/23386

Abstract

Claims (29)

1. A vehicle comprising:

a vehicle body including a door opening and a door opening frame encircling the door opening;

the door opening frame including a sill elongated along a vehicle-longitudinal axis from a front end of the sill to a rear end of the sill;

the door opening frame having a front portion extending upwardly from the front end of the sill and a rear portion extending upwardly from the rear end of the sill;

the door opening frame having a top portion extending along the vehicle-longitudinal axis from the front portion to the rear portion;

an airbag mounted to the sill and deployable upwardly toward the top portion of the door opening frame from an undeployed position to a raised position;

a front cable and a rear cable each connected to the airbag; and

at least one cable retractor mounted to the vehicle body above the top portion of the door opening frame, the front cable and the rear cable being operatively engaged with the at least one cable retractor to pull the airbag upwardly from the undeployed position to the raised position;

the front cable in the undeployed position being packaged along the front portion and the top portion of the door opening frame from the airbag to the at least one cable retractor;

the rear cable in the undeployed position being packaged along the rear portion and the top portion of the door opening frame from the airbag to the at least one cable retractor.

2. The vehicle as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the airbag is moveable with the front cable and the rear cable from the undeployed position to the raised position, the airbag being supported by the front cable along the front portion and top portion of the door opening frame in the raised position, and the airbag being supported by the rear cable along the rear portion and the top portion of the door opening frame in the raised position.

3. The vehicle as set forth in claim 1 , further comprising a front cable guide fixed to the vehicle body and a rear cable guide fixed to the vehicle body, the front cable being slideably engaged with the front cable guide, and the rear cable being slideably engaged with the rear cable guide.

4. The vehicle as set forth in claim 3 , wherein the front cable guide is fixed to a top half of the front portion of the door opening frame and the rear cable guide is fixed to a top half of the rear portion of the door opening frame.

5. The vehicle as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the at least one cable retractor includes a front cable retractor and a rear cable retractor spaced vehicle rearward of the front cable retractor, the front cable being engaged with the front cable retractor, and the rear cable being engaged with the rear cable retractor.

6. The vehicle as set forth in claim 5 , further comprising a front cable guide fixed to the vehicle body and a rear cable guide fixed to the vehicle body, the front cable being slideably engaged with the front cable guide, and the rear cable being slideably engaged with the rear cable guide.

7. The vehicle as set forth in claim 6 , wherein the front cable extends from the airbag around the front cable guide to the front cable retractor in the undeployed position and the raised position, and the rear cable extends from the airbag around the rear cable guide to the rear cable retractor in the undeployed position and the raised position.

8. The vehicle as set forth in claim 7 , further comprising a top front tether and a bottom front tether each extending from the front cable to the airbag, and a top rear tether and a bottom rear tether each extending from the rear cable to the airbag.

9. The vehicle as set forth in claim 8 , wherein the top front tether extends from the front cable to the airbag at the front cable retractor in the raised position, the bottom front tether extends from the front cable to the airbag at the front cable guide in the raised position, the top rear tether extends from the rear cable to the airbag at the rear cable retractor in the raised position, the bottom rear tether extends from the rear cable to the airbag at the rear cable guide in the raised position.

10. The vehicle as set forth in claim 5 , further comprising a front tether extending from the front cable to the airbag at the front cable retractor in the raised position and a rear tether extending from the rear cable to the airbag at the rear cable retractor in the raised position.

11. The vehicle as set forth in claim 1 , further comprising at least two tethers extending from the front cable to the airbag and at least two tethers extending from the rear cable to the airbag.

12. The vehicle as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the vehicle body includes a roof and the at least one cable retractor is mounted to the roof.

13. The vehicle as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the front cable extends vehicle rearward from the front portion of the door opening frame along the top portion of the door opening frame in the undeployed position, and the rear cable extends vehicle forward from the rear portion of the door opening frame along the top portion of the door opening frame in the undeployed position.

14. The vehicle as set forth in claim 1 , wherein a slack in the front cable and a slack in the rear cable are stored at the sill in the undeployed position.

15. The vehicle as set forth in claim 1 , further comprising at least one trim panel concealing the front cable, the rear cable, the at least one cable retractor, and the airbag against the door opening frame in the undeployed position.

16. The vehicle as set forth in claim 1 , further comprising at least one door in the door opening.

17. The vehicle as set forth in claim 1 , further comprising two doors in the door opening.

18. The vehicle as set forth in claim 17 , wherein the door opening is pillarless between the front portion and the rear portion of the door opening frame.

19. The vehicle as set forth in claim 17 , wherein the airbag deploys vehicle inboard of both of the doors in the raised position.

20. The vehicle as set forth in claim 1 , further comprising an inflator supported by the vehicle body, the inflator being in fluid communication with the airbag.

Assignments (1)

References Cited (21)