US 5,630,617 AGranted

Horn pad for a steering wheel

AssigneesToyoda Gosei Co., Ltd., TG North America Corporation

InventorTakahiro Hashiba

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Abstract

A horn pad for a steering wheel incorporating an air bag device. The horn pad comprises a pad main body, a planar switch opposed to a lower side of a horn operating portion and a support plate. A plurality of pressing protrusions are formed on the lower surface of the horn operating portion. The support plate is urged upwardly by the air bag and comprises a first support plate and a second support plate separatable from each other. Work preventive protrusions are formed passing through the planar switch and the first support plate between the second support plate and a lower surface of the horn operating portion such that a non-press-contact state can be maintained between the pressing protrusion and the planar switch when the horn operating portion bears no load. Accordingly, even if the support plate should be urged upwardly by an air bag or the like, this will not cause erroneous operation of the planar switch and, in addition, the thickness of the support plate can be made as thin as possible.

Claims13

Dependent claims

A horn pad for a steering wheel, the steering wheel having an air bag device, the horn pad being constructed and arranged to cover an upper surface of said air bag device, the horn pad comprising:

a main body including a horn operating portion, said horn operating portion having an upper surface and a lower surface,
a plurality of pressing protrusions extending from said lower surface of said horn operating portion,
a planar switch opposing said pressing protrusions of said horn operating portion so as to define a gap therebetween when said horn operating portion bears no load, said switch being operable upon contact with said protrusions due to a load on said horn operating portion,
a support plate constructed and arranged to support said planar switch and including first and second support plates, said first and second support plates being movable relative to each other,
at least one work preventive protrusion provided between said lower surface of said horn operating portion and said second support plate so as to define a space, said at least one work preventive protrusion extending through said planar switch and through at least a portion of said first support plate, said at least one work preventive protrusion being constructed and arranged to prevent contact between said pressing protrusions and said planar switch.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.