Steering wheel and air bag assembly attachment to a steering shaft

An apparatus for mounting on a vehicle steering shaft which rotates about an axis to steer the vehicle and which has a threaded end portion, said apparatus comprising:

• an assembly comprising:
• a steering wheel armature;
• a hub fixedly connected to said steering wheel armature and for non-rotatable attachment to the steering shaft;
• an inflatable vehicle occupant restraint;
• an inflator for providing inflation fluid for inflating said vehicle occupant restraint, said inflator having a housing and a guide portion, said guide portion being formed integrally with said housing and extending downwardly from said housing toward said hub;
• support means for supporting said vehicle occupant restraint and said inflator on said steering wheel armature;
• and
• cover means for covering said steering wheel armature, said vehicle occupant restraint, and said inflator;
• and
• a rotatable fastener for axially forcing said assembly onto the steering shaft with said hub non-rotatably attached to the steering shaft, said fastener having a first portion for threaded engagement with the threaded end portion of the steering shaft and being movable axially toward the steering shaft due to the threaded engagement when rotated in one direction, said fastener including a second driven gear portion fixed to said first portion;
• said assembly having means for supporting said fastener on said assembly for rotation relative to said assembly;
• said guide portion of said inflator having an axial bore which receives a portion of said fastener and a transverse bore for receiving a portion of a driving tool for rotating said second driven gear portion of said fastener.