Steering wheel
AssigneesKolbenschmidt Aktiengesellschaft, Audi AG
InventorsHans G. Haldenwanger, Herwig Reim, Klaus Bieber, Harmut Kersten, Klaus Grothe, Martin Kreuzer, Peter Hartmann
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Abstract
The hub and spoked of a steering wheel consist of a synthetic thermoplastic resin and just as the rim are covered with a layer of a deformable plastic. To provide a steering wheel which is light in weight and has a high temperature stability, the hub and spokes consist of a polyamide which has been modified with elastomers and fibers.
Claims6
A steering wheel comprising a rim, a hub, spokes, and a layer of a deformable polyurethane foam covering the hub, spokes and rim wherein the spokes have in cross-section the shape of a U which is open on the side facing a steering column and are reinforced by a network of ribs and wherein the hub and the spokes consist of a composite consisting of a synthetic thermoplastic material based on polyamide which has been modified with 10 to 25% by weight of an elastomer consisting of one or more of the materials EPM, EPDM, polyethylene, butadiene or natural rubber and 30 to 50% by weight fibers, consisting of glass fibers, aramid fibers, carbon fibers or whiskers based on the total weight of the composite, and the rim of the steering wheel comprising steel or light alloy or wound continuous glass filaments embedded in a second plastic material in dependence on a selected mass of inertia.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.