Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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ANTI-SUBMARINING SEAT-BELT ASSEMBLY
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This is an application of the CA-serial number 2,447,580 related to a division
of an
international application number PCT/DE98/03270 (WO 99/24:294, European Patent
EP 1
037 773 B1, German Patent DE 197 49 780 C2) filed Nov. 10, 1998.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention:
It is an object of the present invention to prevent a restrained passenger of
a transport
system (motor vehicle, ship, train or aeroplane) from submarining, absorb
impact energy of
the passenger and dampen vibration in the event of any accident (front-, side-
, rear-end
collision and/or rollover or pile up/mass collision) or during in-flight
turbulence.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art:
1 S It is known in the prior art to provide for a passenger of a transport
system an anti-
submarining device in order to prevent severe/fatal injury in a rear-end
collision.
In order to formulate in single terminology a generalized definition is
presented for the
proper term:
Definition: Proper Term:
"Stifffirst transport-system Floor 6 of the transport system adjacent to a
first seat-side
member" SR (Fig. 1 ) or seat-cushion frame at the first seat-side or
mid-tunnel (not drawn) of the motor vehicle adjacent to the
first seat-side.
"Stiff second transport-system Floor 6 of the transport system adjacent to a
second seat-
member" side SL or seat-cushion frame at the second seat-side or
post section (not drawn) of the motor vehicle adjacent to
the second seat-side or side rail of the motor vehicle
adjacent to the second seat-side
"Seat frame" Seat-cushion frame or seat-backrest frame
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In order to prevent whiplash front seats of SAAB 9-5 cars are equipped with
active head
restraints (rests) that, each activated by the mass inertia force of the upper
part of the body
(torso) in rear-end collisions, move up and closer to head of the front-seated
occupant. See
shortcomings, undermentioned.
In collaboration with Autoliv Corp., the biggest car-supplier in the world,
Volvo Corp. has
developed WHIPS (Whiplash Injury Prevention System), installed in the front
seats of Volvo
S80s. Under load of mass inertia forces of a passenger's torso in a rear-end
collision the
hinge of the seat backrest yields and partially rotates backwards and
downwards to facilitate
l0 the head rest to intercept the head and the seat backrest, filled with
pads, to absorb forces.
When a car crashes into the rear section of a Volvo S80 and both catch fire,
the front-seated
passengers and their seat backrests, rotated backwards and downwards, impede
the
evacuation of the back-seated passengers, who may be severely injured. The
front-seated
passengers must sit up in order to take further action. Taken as given, the
rotated seat
backrests cannot be returned to the home position precious time elapses to
step out of the
car. This raises the question of how the front-seated, back-seated passengers
and/or back-
seated children, exposed to explosion, burn and/or toxic smoke, can evacuate
themselves out
of Volvo S80 and V70, both catching ftre while travelling on roads, and/or how
rescue
workers can evacuate all the severely injured back-seated passengers.
Due to lack of space, in which the SAAB and Volvo protective devices should be
installed,
heads of back-seated passengers are unprotected, hence, subjected to whiplash
and
severe/fatal injury resulting from submarining. For sure, both protective
devices remain
ineffective in a mufti-crash when the front-seated passengers, being
submarining underneath
their respective lap belt portions, is crushed into death by the airbags,
deployed in the front-
end crash or falsely deployed in the rear-end crash.
Exemplified in DE 43 36 351 A1, a pan, moveable along a pair of rails beneath
the seat
cushion, is activated in a rear-end collision and moved out therefrom to
intercept a passenger
when submarining and falling down therefrom. Ref. to EP 0 403 072 AZ a pair of
U-shaped
ramps is built in a rear seat. Each ramp comprises two longitudinal members,
both fastened
to the vehicle floor, and a lateral member, which, arranged along the front
portion of the rear
seat, intercepts a submarining passenger in a rear-end collision.
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Both anti-submarining devices can never prevent severelfatal injuries linked
to great belt
force, deployed or falsely deployed airbags, different weights and/or
different body
proportions.
When a Ford Mondeo, swerving on a road outside the city Idstein, crashes twice
into a
S barrier and finally into a bus, the face of an obese female driver,
submarining, is fractured and
crushed by the airbag into her skull. In the real-world mufti-front-end
collision at far higher
speed and strong yaw-acceleration great rotatory- and longitudinal-
acceleration dependant
forces (Figs. 4, 5) enormously elongate the lap belt portion underneath which
the belted
passenger submarines in the direction "Ly" or "ZE" (Figs. 4 and. 7) due to the
limitation of
the belt pretensioner which can only retract the seat belt up to 30 cm. All
the anti-
submarining devices, above-mentioned, can never prevent obesf; passengers from
submarining when their car is involved in a real-world mufti-front-end
collision.
Any belted passenger, lying in a sleeping position ref. to DE 37 41 831 CZ
(Fig. 7),
submarines when being loaded by great mass inertia force "Sy" i,n the
direction "ZE" in the
IS event of accident.
US 3,977,696 discloses a four-point seat belt, comprising a thxee-point seat
belt and an
upper shoulder belt, both of which, provided with belt retractor s, are guided
in two rails and
dryven by electrical motors of a heavy device. When the vehicle :roof is
totally deformed in a
rollover-accident the heavy device crushes the passengers into death.
US 5,123,673 discloses a four-point seat belt, comprising a three-point seat
belt and an
upper shoulder belt, both of which are provided with belt retractors. An
intricate, automatic
release device facilitates the release of both buckle assemblies, each
equipped with an
actuator to release them, regardless of which one is manually released first.
When an MB 200
crashes into the vehicle door of an MB S in the city of Geisenheim, a lateral
intrusion of
about 80 cm is measured. When used, the buckle assembly, actuator and other
parts, all of
which face the totally deformed vehicle door, are destroyed. Hence, the other
one does not
function. The severely injured driver remains restrained. This rescue workers
can't evacuate
him within seconds.
In the NHSTA side crash test, which, currently legislated, idealizes an SUV
crashing at an
angle of 30° into a door or vehicle side. As a result, the buckle
assembly, actuator and other
parts are destroyed.
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A complicated latch-plate-feeding device, installed to the side of seat
cushion, moves
forwards to present the latch plate of the three-point seat belt to the
passenger, after having
sat down. This device, facing the vehicle door totally deformed in a side
crash, is destroyed.
US 5,641,200 discloses a child restraint seat for securing a child in a
shopping cart,
provided with a seat cushion and backrest on which the child is seated. A pair
of shoulder
belts, fastened at the mid portions to the seat backrest, has two pairs of end
portions which,
equipped with a pair of belt connectors, consisting of tabs and receptacles,
extend across in
an X-shape over the child, being restrained when the tabs are inserted into
the respective
receptacles.
Harness restraint systems ref. to US 4,231,616, US 4,402,548, US 5,131,683, US
5,524,928, US 6,139,111, US 6,179,329 B 1 and US 6,705,641 B2 are well-known
as
suspender belts. Each belt portion of the suspender belt or each belt must
always be adjusted
to an appropriate length depending on the size of the passenger as well as on
what he is
wearing. All these suspender belts have the following drawbacks:
D1. In general, suspender belts are not popular because finding all the belt
portions and
connecting all the attachment ends to the release device is a lengthy process,
especially in
the dark. Moreover, all the belt portions make an untidy impression and are
not
beneficial for sales.
D2. Exemplified in US 6,139;111, all four belts are retracted to different
lengths and blocked
by the four respective pretension retractors within different time frames in
milliseconds in
an accident. It doesn't work. Each five-person car additionally needs 15
pretension
retractors. No car corporation will waste money for additional pretension
retractors
installed in millions of motor vehicles produced annually.
D3. Under the load of the same belt force in a front collision the deformation
of the seat
backrest, wherein both belt ends are fastened, is larger, thus increasing the
forward
motion.
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D4. The biggest drawback is the failure of the restraint. When the belt force
exceeds 24,000
N due to lack of energy absorbers in real-world accidents tile passengers are
severely/fatally injured. Moreover, the restraint fails because the belt
elongates at a force-
dependant rate over 25 °/o, shown in Fig. 6 of PCT/US99/13362. A belted
heavy driver
of AUDI A6 freed himself out of the restraint in a rollover accident.
Despite being properly restrained and properly seated an a child-seat,
perfectly secured
to the rear seat, a six-year old child, freeing himself out of the restraint,
was ejected out
of a Toyota Yaxis, travelling at 100 km/h, when laterally slamming into a
concrete wall.
Ref. to Figs. 8 and 9 of US 5,524,928 the harness restraint system is defined
by
a) two shoulder belts 12, 14, each equipped with a belt retractor 20 (see D2),
b) a pair of lap belts 46, fastened to the vehicle floor and equipped with
eyelets 44 loosely
connected to both shoulder belts, and
c) a Y-shaped connector 26, comprising
~ a first web 26a fastened to the shoulder belt 14,
IS ~ a second web 2bb, serving as a buckle assembly having a release button 34
to be
plug-in connected to a latch plate 32b (not drawn) of shoulder belt 12, and
~ a third web 26c, serving as a buckle assembly having a release button 28 to
be plug-in
connected to a latch plate 32c (not drawn), fastened to one end of an anti-
submarining belt 24, projected through a sleeve 50 of the seat 16 and the
other end of
which is fastened to the vehicle floor.
This restraint system, characterized by the drawbacks Dl to D4, has the
following
drawbacks:
D5. When the lap belts 46 with fixed length are laid out for, say, skinny, 1.5
metre tall
Asians, obese, over 2 metre tall passengers cannot use the restraint systems
at all. Due to
the failure of the principle feature to protect various sizes of the
passengers from
submarining no agencies world-wide give approval to motor vehicles, equipped
therewith, thus resulting in bankruptcy of the car core.
D6. Because all three belts 24, 46 have fixed lengths the seat can neither be
moved in any
direction, particularly in the furthest forward or rearward position, nor be
tilted in
different sloping seat-positions nor can the passenger remain restrained in
any seat-
position. Due to the failure of the principle feature to co-operate with seat-
adjusting
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mechanisms nobody buys motor vehicles, equipped therewith, thus resulting in
bankruptcy of the car core.
D7. Given, all five belts are equipped with belt retractors and pretensioners,
skinny and
normal passengers 18 18 would be "protected" against submarining when the
latch
plate 32c is plug-in connected to the third web 26c. For sure, passengers 18
18.
restrained in slack mode, under great submarining force "Sy" (Fig. 7) are
forced into the
stiff, Y-shaped connectors 26 and are severely/fatally injured or castrated,
if they are
male! In addition thereto, the respective airbags crush the heads of the
passengers, while
submarining, into the seat backrests. Compensatory damages of millions of
dollars are
due.
D8. Crotch pads 160, designed to absorb submarining energy and each placed in
between the
crotch and the hole of sleeve S0, in different sizes must be designed for
passengers from
skinny to obese size! Putting them into use consumes time:
D9. When an obese passenger 18B takes his seat, he, covering the hole of
sleeve 50, can
never be restrained to prevent submarining. Hence, this feature discriminates
against 51
million obese US-adults, 30 million obese Chinese children and millions of
obese Asians,
Europeans and Canadians!
D10. The belt user has to depress two release buttons 34, 28 to release the
respective latch
plates from the buckle assemblies 26b, 26c. This two-click operation causes
discomfort
and hinders rescue work. See one-click operation by depressing the master
release
button, mentioned below.
D11. Ford Corp. has recalled 1.4 million brand-new motor vehicles due to the
unreliability of
the plug-in connection of latch plate with buckle assembly, Moth of which are
standard
parts manufactured by the renown supplier TRW! The latch plate, when inserted
into the
buckle assembly and connected thereto, can be detached therefrom during normal
use.
Y-shaped connectors 26 and energy-absorbing crotch pads 160 have to undergo
lengthy,
expensive testing and certification for reliability during normal use and in
real-world
accidents.
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D12. The space underneath of the seat cushion 3-11, 3.1B of front or rear seat
3, 3B of a
motor vehicle is exploited for a storage bin 15. 15B (Figs. 8 to 11) which,
defined by
three fixed side wails 15.1 a, 15.2, 15.3, a front- or side opening door
15.4a, 15.4B,
15.4aB, a bottom bin-floor 15.6 and the seat cushion itself 3-11, 3.1B, is
patented by the
inventor and found in VW-, Renault- and Opel vans. Due to the anti-submarining
belt 24
eliminating the space for the storage bin, engineers of those car corporations
must
redesign vans without storage bins if this invention is put into use.
Of course, car corporations world-wide have no intention of taking the risk of
going
bankrupt resulting from lack of agencies' approval of cars, equipped with such
harness
restraint systems, the drawbacks D1 to D12, pouring billions of dollars into
the tests,
redesigning, recall actions, 20 additional belt retractors and pretensioners
per five-person car,
lawsuits and compensatory damages linked to severe/fatal injuries. Doubtless,
only the
features, listed herein, in co-operation with vibration-dampening energy
absorbers are
capable of resolving all these problems and others and the advantages thereof
are obvious!
I S Ref. to US 4,231,616 a harness restraint system comprises a pair of belt
deflectors, loosely
connected to a pair of side attachment points at the seat-sides, a.n upper
attachment point,
located over the head, and a pair of length-adjustable belts, fastened
together to the upper
attachment point, projected through the belt deflectors and provided with a
latch plate and
buckle assembly at the respective distal ends.
Ref. to US 4,402,548 a safety seat, invented for transporting a physically
handicapped
child, comprises a shell-shaped seat, consisting of
a) a seat backrest, having
~ a pair of lateral head-supporting pads,
~ a pair of side portions and
~ several pairs of anchorage slots on the back portion,
b) a seat cushion and
c) a harness restraint system, having
~ a pair of length-adjustable shoulder belts, projected through the anchorage
slots and
fastened to attachment points at the side portions,
~ a pair of length-adjustable lap belts, projected through a pair of anchorage
slots and
fastened to junctions between the pair of side portions and the seat cushion,
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an anti-submarining belt, projected through an anchorage slot of the seat
cushion and
fastened to the seat cushion, and
a centrally positioned three-point release device, by which all five belts are
interconnected.
S Ref. to US 5,131,683 a harness restraint system comprises
a) a Y-shaped belt, consisting of a pair of shoulder belt portions, looping
over the seat
backrest and provided with two belt retractors fastened to the vehicle floor,
b) an abdomen belt portion, provided with a webbing ring, .
c) a right lap belt, one end of which is fastened to the seat and the other,
equipped with a
latch plate, projecting through the webbing ring, and
d) a left lap belt, one end of which fastened to the seat and the other,
equipped with a buckle
assembly.
To buckle up an actress pulls the latch plate, positioned to the headrest,
over her shoulder
and the Y-shaped belt, damaging her hat and hair-style, over the; upper part
of her body. She
IS misses the film festival.
Ref. to US 6,139,111 a harness restraint system comprises
a) a pair of shoulder belts, projecting through a head rest and connected to
load-limiting belt
retractors mounted on a cross member of the seat backrest,
b) a pair of leg belts, connected to pretension retractors mounted on a pair
of seat rails,
c) a buckle assembly, to which the shoulder belt and lap belt are coupled, and
d) a latch plate, to which the other shoulder belt and lap belt are coupled.
Ref. to US 6,179,329 B 1 a harness restraint system comprises a pair of length-
adjustable
shoulder belts, a neck belt, a pair of length-adjustable lap belts, an anti-
submarining, length-
adjustable belt and a conventional five-point release device, to which all the
belts are
connected. The manufacturing of each length-adjustable shoulder belt, defined
by a lower and
upper vertical belt, an abdomen- and a shoulder belt adjuster and other parts,
is very intricate.
The harness is attached to the seat at four attachment points. The top
portions of shoulder
belts, the neck belt and a neck strap cover are sewn together into a neck unit
attached to the
top attachment point by a neck belt component. The belted passenger is
crippled under great
yaw load due to the rupture of the neck belt component and the single top
attachment point,
incapable of sustaining the yaw load.
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Ref. to US 6,705,641 B2 an inflatable harness restraint system comprises
a) a pair of inflatable shoulder belts, filled with inflatable members, such
as gas or gas pellets,
and extending over the upper part of the body of a passenger,
b) a pair of inflatable leg belts, filled with inflatable members, provided
with belt retractors
and restraining the lower part of the body,
c) a pair of anti-submarining belts, restraining the legs,
d) a buckle assembly, to which the inflatable shoulder belt, inflatable lap
belt and anti-
submarining belt are coupled, and
e) a latch plate, to which the other inflatable shoulder belt, inflal;able lap
belt and anti-
l0 submarining belt are coupled.
The explosion of one front airbag of VW Golf IV, reported by the television
program
"Plusminus" of German Broadcasting Station ARD on Sept. 21, 98, was measured
at over
167 dB, exceeding the EU's threshold value of 140 dB, thus resulting in
hearing damage or
deafening. Dr. Beat W. Hohmann from Suva, a Swiss Accident Insurer in Lucerne,
IS accomplished this test and a research work, in which the results, based on
the theories, are
validated by the test data.
Due to the burning of faces andJor hands by hot gases leaking from the
airbags, a US-court
imposed a fine of $ 123.6 millions on Daimler Chrysler. In a front collision
in Rotterdam a
female driver of Volvo sufl"ered face-burns of first and second degree. When a
VW bus
20 collided into the left front fender of a 6-day old, ~ 98,000 expensive MB
SL 500, both at 30
km/h cruising speed in the city Geisenheim according to the MB driver, the
airbags inflicted
burns of first to third degree on the MB driver and co-driver and the seat
belt squeezed the
bosom of the MB co-driver.
If this inflatable harness restraint system, when inflated, inflicts
dleafening, injury and/or burns
25 of first to third degree on an American, compensatory damages of three-
figure millions of
dollars are due.
In view of foregoing shortcomings, injuries and deficiencies, there is a need
to ensure the
restraint of any passenger as well as the operation of the anti-submarining
devices in any
accident.
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SLt~~IMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the principle object of the present invention is to provide for
passengers of a
transport system anti-submarining seat-belt assemblies which resolve all the
above-mentioned
shortconungs and deficiencies, prevent submarining and injuries, absorb impact
energy and
dampen vibration in the event of an accident or during in-flight turbulence
and are suited for
two-, three- and mufti-point seat belts. They are suited for suspender belts
as long as an anti-
submarining latch plate can be moved along the lap belt portion and that lap
belt portion can
be subdivided by an anti-submarining latch plate into two anti-submarining
belt portions
when plug-in connected to the anti-submarining buckle assembly.
A second object of the present invention resides in one-click operation by
means of a
master release button, when depressed, to release the main and anti-
submarining latch plates
from the respective buckle assemblies. In emergency cases paraanedics and fire-
fighters can
easily rescue the injured passengers.
A third object of the present invention resides in a cost-, space;-saving
integration of a
mufti-point seat belt, equipped with vibration-dampening energy absorbers, the
anti-
submarining seat-belt assembly and the seat into a safety seat, which can be
converted into a
baby-cot, child-seat or adult seat and vice-versa, illustrated in Fiigs. 1, 5.
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY
It should be apparent that the invention provides substantially improved
restraint including
the following features:
a) The survival chance is substantially enhanced by using a mufti-point seat
belt ref. to CA
Patent 2,313,780 (WO 99/24294, PCT/DE98/03270, European Patent EP 1 037 773 Bl
and German Patent DE 197 49 780 C2) to restrain
* both shoulders and the torso, when the passenger is thrown forward (Table 3)
and/or
subjected to the yaw O-acceleration-dependent torque "To", and
* both thighs and the lower part of the body, when the passenger submarines.
See
Claim 1, 2 or 3.
b) In corporation with a three- or two-point seat belt ref. to Claim 4 or 5
the anti-
submarining seat-belt assembly protects the belted passenger from submarining.
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c) A number of sets of vibration-dampening energy absorbers ref. to CA Patent
2,314,345
(WO 99124292, PCTlDE98/03271, European Patent EP 1 037 771 B i and German
Patent DE 197 58 498 C2) or German Patent DE 197 58 497 C2 can be attached to
coupling fittings of anti-submarining seat belt assemblies (Figs. 3a, 3b, 3c).
Hence, large
impact energy can be gradually absorbed below the respective injury-related
values.
Several sets of vibration-dampening energy absorbers can be attached to a
length-
adjustable belt of the anti-submarining seat belt assembly 8b, 8c (Fig. 1).
The inventor of
the present application has submitted those patent documents and applications
to CIPO as
well as USPTO. The vibration-dampening energy absorber consists of a number of
clamping elements, having sites of predetermined fracture, and a retaining
element, which,
fastened to the seat backrest frame and/or seat frame, can serve as an
integral part thereof.
When the clamping elements, biased on the retaining element, under great belt
force move
therealong vibration is dampened by friction.
d) Owing to the different positions of anti-submarining buckle assemblies, in
plug-in
IS connection with the respective anti-submarining latch plates, passengers of
dii~erent body
proportions, thighs and weight can adjust the length of the anti-submarining
belt portions
1.3R, 1.3L by themselves. Moreover, the adult seats, equipped therewith, can
be modified
for children and vice versa, thus increasing the rate of seat occupancy in a
bus, train or an
aeroplane, exemplified in Fig. 5. In another embodiment (Claim 23) the length-
adjustable
belt 8.1 of the anti-submarining seat belt assembly 8b, 8c enables, for
example, a female
passenger to adapt the belt length to her long gown or to herself, when lying
in sleeping
position (Figs. 1, 7) or an obese passenger to adapt the belt length to his
king-size
stomach 18B (Fig. 9).
e) For safety reasons and easy access the anti-submarining latch plates 11,
25, when not
being used, are stored in a storage box 25.5 (Fig. 5). The belvt-detachable
anti-submarining
latch plates 25 (Fig. 2) are attached to the lap belt portion when needed.
f) For the convenience of the passenger, when stepping out, or for a fast
rescue of the
passenger injured in an accident, the master release button 84 of the buckle
assembly 9.1
is depressed to release all latch plates from the buckle assemblies.
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
A number of embodiments, other advantages and features of the present
invention will be
described in the accompanying tables and drawings with reference to the xyz
global
coordinate system:
Table 1 shows test data such as left / right thigh-force, belt force and pitch-
angle of driver
and co-driver in SO% offset crash test of several European vehicles at crash
speed of 55
km/h.
Table 2 shows yaw angle O of driver / co-driver in a 50% offset crash tests.
Table 3 shows test data of the safest child-restraint system Chico Shuttle~ at
the converted
velocity of 55 km/h in comparison with the safest vehicle among them listed in
Table 1.
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a seat with upper buckle assemblies and anti-
submarining
buckle assemblies 7, 8, 8a to 8d, attached to the seat backrest and seat
cushion, as well
as of a restraint system consisting of a mufti-point seat belt 1, latch plate
11 along the lap
belt, shoulder latch plate 2 of belt end, in the direction of arrow "Z" in
plug-in
connection with an upper buckle assembly 4, and a seat belt in X-shape, formed
by
crossing both shoulder belt portions 1.1, 1.2.
Fig. 2 is a schematic view of a detachable anti-submarining latch plate 25.
Fig. 3a is a schematic, perspective view of a 1~' embodiment of a buckle
assembly 4a,
equipped with a release cable 4.2.
Fig. 3b is a schematic, perspective view of a 2°° embodiment of
a buckle assembly 4b,
equipped with an electrical release-motor 4.2b.
Fig. 3c is a schematic, perspective view of a 3~' embodiment of a buckle
assembly 4c,
equipped with a release cable 4.3.
Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a anti-submarining latch plate 11 of a lap
belt portion 1.3 in
plug-in connection with the anti-submarining buckle assembly 8.
Fig. S is a front view of the seat 3a to 3d, in which the restraint systems la
to ld, anti-
submarining seat-belt assemblies and storage boxes 25.5 are integrated, for
passengers of
different weights, diilerent circumference of thighs and different body
proportions
(sizes), where anti-submarining buckle assemblies are in plug-in connection
with the anti-
submarining latch plates 11, 25.
Fig. 6 illustrates two curves of strain/elongation rate dependent from force
ref. to
PCT/US99/13362.
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Fig. 7 is a top view of a ~'- shaped seat belt ref. to DE 37 41 8:31 A1, where
a belted
passenger, in sleeping position, under load of great mass inertia force "Sy"
in the
direction "ZE" submarines.
Fig. 8 is a front view of a fixed seat equipped with a harness restraint
system ref. to US
5,524,928.
Fig. 9 is a side view of the fixed seat equipped with the harness restraint
system ref. to US
5,524,928.
Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a seat, moveable along a pair offloor rail
assemblies
equipped with a storage bin 15 ref. to DE 196 55 OS 1 C2.
Fig. 11 is a perspective view of a fixed seat equipped with another storage
bin 1 SB ref. to
DE 196 55 O51 C2.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF
THE INVENTION
The advantages of the preferred embodiments in the Chap. "II~JDUSTRIAL
APPLICABILITY" are outlined hereinafter with regard to the fi.~nctions and
features thereof.
Just at a crash speed of 55 km/h the belt force of a driver of th.e premium
car AUDI A8 is
measured 9,130 N (Table 1) equivalent to 2,015 pound by which the seat belt is
elongated
(strained) about 19 % (Fig. 6). The elongation ranges from 47.5 to 57 cm when
the seat belt
is 2. S to 3 m long. In case the belt pretensioner remains inoperative and, in
particular, the
total mass inertia force "SY" of the lower part of the body of the passenger
is far larger than
that of the upper part thereof his body slips (submarines) underneath the lap
belt portion in a
real-world accident. The method of the present invention capitalizes on the
premise that a lap
belt portion, restraining a lower part of the body of the belted passenger, is
subdivided into
two anti-submarining belt portions 1.3R, 1.3L which properly restrain as well
as hold his
thighs when plug-in connecting at least one anti-submarining latch plate 11,
25 to the
respective one of anti-submarining buckle assemblies 7, 8, 8a to 8d (Figs. 1,
4 and 5), all of
which are equipped with vibration-dampening energy absorbers. As a result, the
anti-
submarining seat-belt assembly in association with vibration-dampening energy
absorbers
- substantially lowers large belt force, for example, of 15,190 N at only 55
km/h (Table 1),
in a real-world accident or during in-flight turbulence,
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- prevents large elongation of the seat belt webbing, severe/fatal injury and
the passenger of
a Mercedes Car, lying in the sleeping position (Fig. 7), from submarining and
- ensures the operation of the active head restraint of SAAB 9-S and
- resolves all the drawbacks of Volvo's WHIPS and the prior art.
In an embodiment the release button 84f, 84e of free-moving anti-submarining
buckle
assembly 8b, 8c (Fig. 1), whose housing is free-moving on the ;>eat cushion
and whose
length-adjustable belt 8.1 is fastened to the seat frame, can be controlled
neither by a release
cable 4.2 nor by an electrical release-motor 4.2b. Hence, the release button
84e, 84f can only
be activated by an electrical signal emitted from the master release button
84, when
depressed, to remove the protection from submarining.
Because the reel (spool) of the conventional belt retractor can accommodate
only a limited
length of belt, it is possible that the length of the seat belt for the
sleeping position is
insu~cient. The length-adjustable belt 8.1 compensates for the length of seat
belt 1 and
accommodates the passenger, particularly when being obese, in all positions
between the
sleeping and normal position.
An anti-submarining buckle assembly 8d, provided with a release button 84d, is
attached to
the front portion of the seat cushion. This feature facilitates the obese
passenger or a lady in a
gown to restrain the thighs by plug-in connecting the anti-submarining latch
plate 11 thereto.
Due to the plug-in connection of the anti-submarining latch plates 11, 25 with
the anti-
ZO submarining buckle assemblies a lady in a long gown as well as a child are
well protected
from submarining. The anti-submarining belt portions, restraining a child's or
baby's thighs
with small circumference, are secured to the seat cushion by the latch plate
11, plug-in
connected to one of the anti-submarining buckle assemblies 8, 8a to 8d, and
the detachable
anti-submarining latch plates 25, plug-in connected to at least one pair of
anti-submarining
buckle assemblies 7 (Figs. 1, 5). For safety reasons and easy access the anti-
submarining
latch plates, when not being used, are stored and secured in a storage box
25.5 of the seat
(Fig. 5).
In the 1'', 2°d and 3~ embodiment (Figs. 3a to 3c) the buckle assembly
4a, 4b, 4c is form-
and/or force-locking connected to the seat-backrest frame. For the convenience
of the
passenger when egressing from the vehicle and in cases of emergency the
following
embodiments of detachment are proposed:
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To disconnect the latch plates 2, 11 and/or 25 from the upper buckle
assemblies 4,18,18a,
18b, 18.1 to 18.3, 19, 19a, 19b, 19.1 to 19.3 (Figs. 1 and 5) of the seat
arrangement,
particularly in the case of children, as well as from the anti-submarining
buckle assemblies 7,
8, 8a to 8d (Figs. 1, 4), the master release button 84, when depressed,
activates the release
cables 4.2 and/or electrical release-motors 4.2b, which pull the :release
button 84a and/or 84b
of all the buckle assemblies (Figs. 3a, 3b, 3c).
By law passengers travelling in a motor vehicle or experiencing flight-
turbulence must
remain belted. The need for a belted mother to turn around becomes apparent,
when she
must attend to her children sitting on the rear seat. The separately operated
release buttons
840, 84d, 84e, 84f, when depressed, detach only the anti-subma~rining latch
plates 11, 25 of
the lap belt portions from the assemblies 7, 8, 8a to 8d (Figs. 1, 4 and 5) to
free the mother
and/or children from the anti-submarining protection while the mother and/or
children remain
belted. The anti-submarining buckle assemblies 7, 8, 8a, whose housings are
located in the
seat cushion 3.1, 3.1a to 3.1d, have the common release button 840 on the
seat.
In order to ensure the survival chance engineers must take care of the
limitation of energy
absorption depending on the permissible elongation of the anti-submarining
belt portions
1.311, 1.3L and/or the length-adjustable belt 8.1. Tests can determine that
permissible
elongation up to which the anti-submarining seat-belt assembly in co-operation
with the
energy-absorbing seat belt 1 and/or the energy-absorbing length-adjustable
belt 8.1, attached
to the seat frame, always ensures the survival chance of the belted passenger
in any accident.
In order to absorb great energy and dampen strong vibration vibration-
dampening energy
absorbers must be put into use.
Although the present invention has been described and illustrated in detail,
it is clearly
understood that the terminology used is intended to describe rather than
limit. Many more
objects, embodiments, features and variations of the present invention are
possible in light of
the above-mentioned teachings. Therefore, within the spirit and scope of the
appended
claims, the present invention may be practised otherwise than as specifically
described and
illustrated.
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