Piercing tool and process for forming airbag tear seams
AssigneeFaurecia Interior Systems, Inc.
InventorsMichael Twork, Mathew Barr
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A non-visible tear seam can be formed in a vehicle interior panel in a mechanical piercing process with a piercing tool that radially supports a needle during the process. The radial support enables the use of higher gauge needles and the formation of non-visible microholes through a visible surface of the panel. The piercing tool is capable of forming each of the microholes of the tear seam individually and may be disposable and/or may be configured with a replaceable needle.
Claims16
A method of making a vehicle interior panel for use over an airbag, comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a decorative covering having a decorative skin layer;
- (b) forming a plurality of microholes through the decorative skin layer along a pre-determined tear seam location using a piercing tool that includes an individually extendable and retractable 26-gauge or higher gauge needle;
- (c) radially supporting the needle during step (b) with a housing so that, during formation of each one of the microholes, the housing is in contact with the decorative covering and needle movement is restricted to axial movement;
- and
- (d) disposing the decorative covering over a vehicle interior panel substrate.
A piercing tool for use in forming a tear seam in a vehicle interior panel, comprising:
- a needle mount;
- a needle having a piercing end and an opposite mounting end, each of the ends being arranged along an axis of the needle, wherein the mounting end of needle is attached to the needle mount so that the needle mount and the needle move together;
- a housing coupled with the needle mount for relative axial movement with respect to the needle mount between a retracted configuration and an extended configuration, wherein the piercing end of the needle is inside the housing in the retracted configuration and the piercing end of the needle is outside the housing in the extended configuration, the housing being configured to radially support the needle during movement between the retracted and extended configurations;
- and
- a spring that is dedicated to the needle and biases the needle mount toward the retracted configuration.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.