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AssigneeTip Engineering Group, Inc.
InventorsDavid J. Bauer, John W. Bauer JR.
Estimating the term…
An arrangement for forming an opening in an auto interior trim panel or piece normally having no visible indication of the opening just prior to inflation of an inflatable air bag, allowing deployment of the air bag into the passenger compartment of vehicle, the arrangement including a linear element positioned below the skin of the trim panel or wheel cover in a pattern corresponding to the opening. In a first embodiment a heat generating element is employed as the linear element which when activated degrades the covering skin layer of the trim piece in pattern shape. In a second embodiment detonating cord enclosed in a metal tube is employed with a series of holes directing the energy of detonation to sever the panel skin material. In a third embodiment a split sleeve having explosive coating on the inside is used to create a flame front severing the panel kin in the appropriate pattern. The skin may be mechanically preweakened prior to assembly by a precision cutting operation performed on the inside surface, in a pattern matching with the pattern of the linear element, aiding the process of forming the opening in the trim piece at the instant of deployment.
An automotive interior trim piece for covering a stored air bag device located at a particular location in a passenger compartment of an automotive vehicle, said trim piece comprising an instrument panel including a structural substrate member having an opening formed therein located over said particular location of said air bag device, a hinged deployment door panel fit into said opening, and a plastic outer covering layer extending smoothly and uninterruptibly over said deployment door at said particular location of said air bag device, a preweakening groove cut into the inside of said covering layer after said covering layer is formed in a pattern of a deployment opening overlying said deployment door and said stored air bag device, whereby inflation of said air bag device will cause severing of said covering layer along said cut groove to enable deployment of said air bag into said passenger compartment by opening of said deployment door and formation of said deployment opening in said covering layer.
A method of preweakening a plastic automotive trim piece covering a stored air bag device located at a particular location in a passenger compartment of an automotive vehicle including a folded stored air bag which is deployed into said passenger compartment by being inflated with a gas causing tearing of said trim piece under pressure from said inflating air bag to form a deployment opening and allow deployment of said air bag through said opening, said method comprising forming said trim piece with a covering layer, said covering layer preweakened by cutting a preweakening groove of a consistently controlled depth into said covering layer from the inside of said covering layer, said cutting carried out by a step which avoids substantial compression of said covering layer to thereby consistently control the depth of said groove, said cutting extending along a pattern defining a deployment opening overlying said stored air bag device, whereby inflation of said air bag will cause said inflating air bag to sever said covering layer along said cut groove to enable deployment of said air bag device into said passenger compartment by formation of said deployment opening in said covering layer.
A method of preweakening a plastic automotive trim piece covering a stored air bag device located at a particular location in a passenger compartment of an automotive vehicle including a folded stored air bag which is deployed into said passenger compartment by being inflated with a gas causing tearing of said trim piece under pressure from said inflating air bag to form a deployment opening and allow deployment of said air bag through said opening, said method comprising forming said trim piece with a covering layer, said covering layer preweakened by partially cutting into said trim piece to a consistently controlled depth into said covering layer from the inside of said covering layer, said cutting carried out by a step which avoids substantial compression of said covering layer to thereby consistently control the depth of said cutting, said cutting extending along a pattern defining a deployment opening overlying said stored air bag device, whereby inflation of said air bag will cause said inflating air bag to sever said covering layer along said cut pattern to enable deployment of said air bag device into said passenger compartment by formation of said deployment opening in said covering layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.