ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,617,367, issued on May 5, was assigned to ZF PASSIVE SAFETY SYSTEMS US INC. (Washington, Mich.).
"Pleated airbag construction" was invented by Kurt Fischer (Rochester, Mich.), Douglas Gould (Lake Orion, Mich.), David Varcoe (Bruce Township, Mich.), Paul Lange (Dryden, Mich.) and Alexandra Smith (Richmond, Mich.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An airbag for helping to protect an occupant of a vehicle includes first and second panels each comprising a periphery having substantially identical configurations, wherein the first and second panels are positioned overlying each other and connected to each other via a perimeter connection that exten...