Invisible Pre-Weakened Seam for an Air Bag Deployment Cover
OwnerRaymond E. Kalisz, Kenneth J. Kwasnik +1inventors
InventorsRaymond E. Kalisz, Kenneth J. Kwasnik, Deepak N. Patel
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Abstract
A cover panel for the air bag in an automotive vehicle with a pre-weakened tear seam being formed by a series of voids formed in a predetermined repeat pattern of varying depths. The voids are formed by ablating the cover panel base substrate from its under side at varying depths to weaken both the base substrate and an outer finish layer.
Claims20
A cover panel for an automotive vehicle that contains a defined air bag deployment door, comprising:
- a relatively rigid base substrate structure having an outer surface and an inner surface;
- an outer finish skin material being attached to and overlying said outer surface;
- a series of spaced apart voids formed in said base substrate to define the outline of a deployment door in said cover panel, said voids being formed along a line on at least one portion of said base substrate to define a hinge seam of said deployment door and being formed along other continuous portions extending from said hinge seam to define the opening edges of said deployment door and a corresponding tear seam;
- wherein said series of voids formed in said base substrate extend from said inner surface of said base substrate define said tear seam and are at varying depths in a predetermined repeat pattern of depth.
A method of forming an air bag deployment cover integrated with an interior cover panel in an automotive vehicle, comprising the steps of:
- providing a cover panel having a relatively rigid base substrate structure with an outer surface and an inner surface;
- providing and attaching an outer finish skin material to and overlying said outer surface;
- forming a series of spaced apart voids that extend from said inner surface of said base substrate to define the outline of an air bag deployment cover in said cover panel;
- wherein said step of forming includes the step of forming said voids along a line on at least one portion of said defined the outline to define a hinge seam of said air bag deployment cover;
- wherein said step of forming further includes the step of forming said voids along other continuous portions of said base substrate extending from said hinge seam to define the opening edges of said air bag deployment cover and a corresponding tear seam;
- wherein said step of defining said tear seam includes the step of forming said voids in said base substrate to extend from said inner surface at varying depths in a predetermined repeat pattern of depths.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.