Patent 7172212 was granted and assigned to Honda on February, 2007 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
An occupant protection device is provided which includes a roof side airbag mounted to a roof side rail of a vehicle to be inflated and deployed along the insides of side glasses by gas generated by an inflator. A slit is formed in a seatbelt interfering area of the roof side airbag which is interfered with by a seatbelt when the roof side airbag inflates and deploys. When the roof side airbag is inflated and deployed, the seatbelt enters the slit, dividing the interfering area into two parts.