Impact protection device for a motor vehicle occupant

Impact protection device for an occupant of a motor vehicle, comprising a prefabricated air bag module configured to be insertable into a recess of a dashboard and having a housing, a folded inflatable air bag and an inflating device for the air bag, holders mounted on the air bag module and having opposed contact surfaces configured to allow the air bag module to be pushed toward and onto a body-side transverse support of the vehicle as the air bag module is inserted into the recess and held in position thereon, and, on a side facing the occupant, a cover closing the recess and being swivellably connected with the air bag module, wherein the air bag module, the cover and the holders mounted on the air bag module are assembled in alignment with each other so as to be aligned between the recess and the transverse support and to form a prefabricated modular unit, the opposed contact surfaces of the holders are operatively associated with spaced movable adjusting elements to compensate for tolerances between the holders and the transverse support, and an edge area of the cover is configured to be received in a groove on the dashboard such that the cover is held in a predetermined installed position upon completion of insertion of the air bag module into the recess.