Abstract: Systems and methods that facilitate vehicle passenger protection during side impact events and, more particularly, to systems and methods which increase the survival space between the vehicle side structure and a vehicle passenger located in the vehicle passenger compartment while maintaining reasonable vehicle structure deceleration levels. The systems and methods enable the seat structure assemblies to move inboard during side impact events by coupling the seat structure assemblies to a deformable cross bar or beam. The embodiments include a deformable cross-car beam that is deformable in one or more locations along its length using changes in geometry and/or changes in material to initiate controlled deformation under a cross-car load due to a side impact event.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
March 25, 2010
Date of Patent:
December 20, 2011
Assignee:
Next Autoworks Company
Inventors:
Michael DeVor, Paul Elio, Frank Gabbianelli, Robert Glaspie, Hari Sankara Iyer, Edward Kustrzyk, Azhagu Nachimuthu Sennimalai Subramanian, Bogoljub Velanovich, Frank Varansano, Jerrold Lavine