Vehicle occupant restraining belt with device to provide an arrangement in which shoulder belt is prevented from touching seated occupant's neck

Claim 1

In a vehicle having a vehicle body including a floor and a roof defining an occupant compartment in which is mounted a vehicle seat accessible through a vehicle door opening selectively opened and closed by a vehicle body door whose front edge is pivotally secured to the vehicle body; an occupant restraining belt arrangement comprising: a lap belt having one end fixed adjacent a lower inboard portion of the door; a first inertia retractor mounted adjacent a lower inboard portion of the seat and receiving the other end of said lap belt; a shoulder belt having one end secured to an intermediate portion of said lap belt between said one end and the other end thereof; a second inertia retractor mounted on the roof within the occupant compartment adjacent an outboard upper rear portion of the seat; a belt hanger fixedly mounted on the vehicle body within the occupant compartment forward and above the seat and having a hook, said hook having an operative position in which when said shoulder belt is manually hanged on said hook, said hook receives said shoulder belt; drive means for moving said hook from the operative position to an inoperative position in which said hook will release said shoulder belt therefrom; control means for actuating said drive means to move said hook from the operative position to the inoperative position upon closure of the door with the seat occupied; and a channel member mounted to the roof within the occupant compartment, said channel member slidably receiving an intermediate portion of said shoulder belt, to provide an arrangement in which said shoulder belt extends diagonally across the chest of a seated occupant without touching the neck thereof when said shoulder belt is in its occupant restraining position.