ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,240,400, issued on March 4, was assigned to Autoliv Development AB (Vargarda, Sweden).
"Side airbag device" was invented by Yuto Kobayashi (Kanagawa, Japan) and Hiroyuki Shima (Kanagawa, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The present invention is provided with an inflator arranged on the occupant side of the side frame positioned on the side portion inside the seatback that generates expansion gas and an airbag that is expanded by the expansion gas and protects an occupant seated on the vehicle seat. The airbag includes a main chamber that deploys toward the front of the seatback, and a pre-chamber that houses the inflator inside and i...