US 12,233,813 B2
Airbags inflatable vehicle forward of bumper
S. M. Iskander Farooq, Novi, MI (US); Mohammad Omar Faruque, Ann Arbor, MI (US); Dean M. Jaradi, Macomb, MI (US); and Saeed D. Barbat, Novi, MI (US)
Assigned to Ford Global Technologies, LLC, Dearborn, MI (US)
Filed by Ford Global Technologies, LLC, Dearborn, MI (US)
Filed on Jul. 27, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/360,333.
Prior Publication US 2025/0033593 A1, Jan. 30, 2025
Int. Cl. B60R 21/36 (2011.01); B60R 19/20 (2006.01)
CPC B60R 21/36 (2013.01) [B60R 19/205 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A vehicle comprising:
a vehicle frame;
a vehicle bumper;
a plurality of airbag assemblies each fixed directly to the vehicle bumper, each airbag assembly including an airbag inflatable below the vehicle bumper and upwardly vehicle-forward of the vehicle bumper from an uninflated position to an inflated position;
the airbags including a leftmost airbag, a rightmost airbag, and at least one airbag between the leftmost airbag and the rightmost airbag;
the airbag assemblies being spaced from each other when the airbags are in the uninflated position;
external tethers each extending from one of the airbags to another of the airbags in the uninflated position, the airbags and the external tethers being in alternating arrangement in a cross-vehicle direction from the leftmost airbag to the rightmost airbag when the airbags are in the inflated position;
at least one tether retractor fixed directly to the vehicle frame;
a first retractable tether extending from the at least one tether retractor to the leftmost airbag; and
a second retractable tether extending from the at least one tether retractor to the rightmost airbag;
the at least one tether retractor being operatively connected to the first retractable tether and the second retractable tether to retract the first retractable tether and the second retractable tether.