Abstract: A safety system for preventing injury to passengers of transport vehicles. In response to a collision each seat of the vehicle is automatically moved into a position wherein its occupant is protected within a structurally stable protective enclosure. Forming the enclosure are both movable portions secured to the seats and fixed portions secured to the vehicle. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the movable seat is provided with a guidance system that normally facilitates selective adjustment of the seat into positions comfortable for its occupant but additionally produces automatic movement of the seat into the protective enclosure in response to a collision.

Abstract: A restraint system for preventing injury to passengers occupying seats in a transportation vehicle. The restraint system comprises a plurality of individually inflated bags, one pair straddling each of a plurality of seats linearly aligned between side walls of the vehicle. A collision detector activates the restraint system to inflate the bags in a linear array adjacent the abdomens of the seats' occupants. Because of their storage locations directly adjacent each seat, the individual pairs of bags can be deployed rapidly at the outset of a collision into positions wherein they obstruct forward movement of an occupant and thereby prevent injury-producing contact thereof with potentially dangerous portions of the vehicle. Belt stays extending between the bags and the vehicle are provided to exert restraining forces that prevent separation of the bags by an occupant who has been propelled foward after a frontal collision of the vehicle.