Air bag cover/molded article with integral cover layer of leather

A cover for housing an occupant restraint air bag in a vehicle, said cover comprising:

• a top wall having an outer surface adapted to face toward the interior of a vehicle when installed and an inner surface, a side wall extending at an angle and joined to said top wall and having outer and inner surfaces, and at least one securing member on said top wall for attaching said cover to a fixed vehicle portion over an inflatable air bag, at least said top wall and side wall being molded from resinous, plastic material;
• said top and side wall outer surfaces being covered with and joined to a layer of natural leather, said leather layer being a preformed, preshrunk, preshaped leather piece including a top portion and a side portion, said leather layer extending from said top portion to said side portion such that it generally conforms to the desired shape of said cover prior to joining to said top wall and side wall, having an exposed surface and an interior surface, and including a frangible tear seam formed in a desired tear pattern on said interior surface, said tear seam having an indentation forming a reduced thickness portion in said leather layer;
• said top wall having a groove defining a reduced thickness area aligned and in registry with said indentation of said tear seam;
• said resinous plastic material of said top and side wall outer surfaces being securely bonded and joined to said interior surface of said leather layer including said top and side portions during molding of said top and side walls, said top wall extending into said tear seam indentation and bonded to said indentation therewithin whereby said leather layer is smoothly and uniformly attached to said top and side walls without substantial distortion and said cover is frangible along said tear pattern through said aligned tear seam indentation and top wall groove for separation to release the air bag when pressure is applied to said top wall inner surface upon inflation of said air bag;
• an indented groove on said exposed leather surface, said groove extending along and being co-extensive with at least a portion of said tear seam;
• said exposed leather surface being embossed during manufacture with a predetermined pattern which remains visible in said exposed leather surface;
• said predetermined pattern being a leather grain to enhance the appearance of the natural grain of said exposed surface of said leather layer;
• said aligned tear seam and reduced top wall thickness including a series of spaced perforations therealong to facilitate separation of said cover along said tear seam pattern.

A cover for housing an occupant restraint air bag in a vehicle, said cover comprising:

• a top wall having an outer surface adapted to face toward the interior of a vehicle when installed and an inner surface, a side wall extending at an angle and joined to said top wall and having outer and inner surfaces, and at least one securing member extending from said top wall for attaching said cover to a fixed vehicle portion over an inflatable air bag, said top wall and side wall and securing member being molded in one piece from a moldable, resinous material;
• said top and side wall outer surfaces being covered and integrally joined by molding to the interior surface of a layer of natural leather having an exposed surface and an interior surface, said natural leather layer being in the form of a preformed leather piece which is preshrunk and preshaped and including a top portion and a peripheral side portion, said preformed leather layer extending from said top portion to said side portion such that it is shaped to the desired shape of said cover prior to being joined to said top wall, said preformed leather layer having a tear seam formed in a desired tear pattern on said interior surface, said tear seam including an indentation forming a reduced thickness portion along said tear pattern in said preformed leather layer;
• said top wall inner surface having a groove defining a reduced thickness area aligned and in registry with said indentation of said tear seam along said tear pattern;
• said resinous plastic material of said top and side wall outer surfaces being molded to and bonded with said tear seam indentation and to said interior surface of said preformed leather layer including said top and peripheral side portions such that said top wall extends into said tear seam indentation and is bonded to said indentation therewithin whereby said leather layer is smoothly and uniformly secured to said top and side walls without substantial distortion and said cover is frangible along said tear pattern through said aligned tear seam indentation and top wall groove to release the air bag when pressure is applied to said top wall inner surface upon inflation of the air bag.

A cover for housing an occupant restraint air bag in a vehicle, said cover comprising:

• a top wall having an outer surface adapted to face toward the interior of a vehicle when installed and an inner surface, a side wall extending at an angle and joined to said top wall and having outer and inner surfaces, and at least one securing member on said top wall for attaching said cover to a fixed vehicle portion over an inflatable air bag, at least said top wall and side wall being molded from resinous plastic material;
• a natural leather covering layer extending over and securely joined to said resinous, plastic top and side walls during molding of said top and side walls and having inside and outside surfaces, said leather covering layer being a preformed leather piece which is preshaped and preshrunk using heat and includes a top portion and a side portion, said leather extending from said top portion to said side portion such that it generally conforms to the desired shape of said cover prior to molding of said top and side walls, said inside surface of said leather layer having strands, filaments and projections thereon which are securely embedded within said resinous top and side walls during molding such that said leather covering layer and said resinous top wall are securely bonded to one another during molding with said top and side walls forming a backing layer for said leather covering layer;
• at least one of said top wall and said leather covering layer having a reduced thickness portion defining a desired frangible tear pattern in said cover whereby said cover is frangible along said tear pattern to release the air bag when pressure is applied to said top wall inner surface upon inflation of the air bag.