Preweakened automotive interior trim piece for covering an air bag installation in an automotive vehicle

A preweakened automotive interior trim piece for overlying an air bag device for an automotive vehicle, said preweakening extending in a predetermined pattern enabling formation of an air bag deployment opening in said trim piece at a particular location overlying said air bag by pressure exerted by deploying of said air bag mounted behind an inner surface of said trim piece at said particular location, said trim piece comprising of one or more layers and having an outer visible surface extending smoothly and uninterruptedly across said preweakening pattern, said preweakening comprising a partial scoring of said trim piece along said pattern overlying said air bag, said partial scoring including a continuous groove in said inner surface of said trim piece extending along said pattern, and further including stepped depth penetrations extending partially into said trim piece from the inner surface of said trim piece but not completely penetrating said outer visible surface of said trim piece.

A preweakened automotive interior trim piece for covering an air bag installation for an automotive vehicle, said preweakening extending in a predetermined pattern enabling formation of an air bag deployment opening in said trim piece by pressure exerted by deployment of said air bag mounted on the inside of said trim piece at a particular location, said trim piece having a plurality of layers including an outer layer and an inner layer, said outer layer having an outer visible surface extending smoothly and uninterruptedly across said preweakening at said particular location, said preweakening comprising a groove extending in said pattern, but without completely penetrating the outer layer of the said trim piece, said groove having a stepped bottom portion lying along said predetermined pattern.

A preweakened automotive interior trim piece covering an air bag installation for an automotive vehicle, said preweakening applied in a predetermined pattern at a particular location so as to enable formation of an air bag deployment opening in said trim piece for said air bag installation covered at said location by pressure exerted by deployment of said air bag, said trim piece having a cover layer with an outer surface visible from within said vehicle interior and extending smoothly and uninterruptedly across said preweakening at said particular location, said trim piece also having an inner surface:

• said preweakening comprising a groove in said inner surface of said trim piece extending along said predetermined pattern;
• said groove being formed with a bottom portion comprised of a series of spaced apart partial penetrations in the inside of said cover layer spaced along said predetermined pattern without completely penetrating said cover layer.

A preweakened automotive interior trim piece for covering an air bag installation in an automotive vehicle, said preweakening applied in a predetermined pattern at a particular location so as to enable formation of an air bag deployment opening in said trim piece for an air bag installation covered at said location by pressure exerted by deployment of said air bag, said trim piece having an outer cover layer visible from within a passenger compartment of said automotive vehicle and extending smoothly and uninterruptedly across said preweakening at said particular location, said trim piece further including a rigid substrate layer underlying said cover layer;

• said preweakening comprising a complete penetration of said substrate layer and a partial penetration of said cover layer at spaced apart points along said predetermined pattern without completely penetrating said cover layer.

An automotive interior trim piece for covering an air bag installation, said air bag installation including a folded air bag adapted to be inflated and deployed upon detection of a collision, said trim piece having a smooth, uninterrupted covering layer overlying a substrate panel associated with an air bag deployment door:

• said trim piece preweakened in a predetermined pattern to enable formation of an air bag deployment opening extending through said trim piece by said inflating air bag pushing through said trim piece;
• said trim piece preweakened by a scoring pattern on inner side of said covering layer by extending to a depth on the order of 20% to 80% of the thickness of said covering layer.

A preweakened automotive interior trim piece for covering an air bag installation, said preweakening applied in a pattern enabling formation of an air bag deployment opening in said trim piece by pressure exerted by a deploying air bag mounted on the inside of said trim piece at a particular location, said trim piece having at least one layer defining an inside surface of said trim piece, said trim piece having an outer visible surface extending smoothly and uninterruptedly across said preweakening at said particular location, said preweakening comprising a partial scoring of said at least one layer in a predetermined pattern to a depth varying from approximately between 20% and 80% of said at least one scored layer thickness.

A preweakened automotive interior trim piece for covering an air bag installation, said preweakening applied in a pattern enabling formation of an air bag deployment opening in said trim piece, by pressure exerted by a deploying air bag mounted on the inside of said trim piece at a particular location, said trim piece having an outer visible surface extending smoothly and uninterruptedly across said preweakening at said particular location, said preweakening consisting of a series of perforations in said trim piece.