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US 6,474,687 B2Granted
One-piece knee bolster
AssigneeVisteon Global Technologies, Inc.
InventorsDouglas Michael Cappabianca, Dale Paul Moore, Joseph A. Bollo, Kumar Balakrishna Kulkarni, Ravi Thyagarajan, Venkat Reddy
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A one-piece knee bolster for a motor vehicle includes a knee bolster cover adapted to mount to vehicle structure in an interior of a motor vehicle and at least one hollow reinforcing channel member extending along the knee bolster cover to reinforce the knee bolster cover.
Claims2
A one-piece knee bolster assembly for a motor vehicle comprising:
- a knee bolster cover made of a thermoplastic resin material adapted to mount in an interior of a motor vehicle having a generally smooth rear surface and a front surface forming a plurality of frontwardly projecting reinforcing channel members integrally molded with said cover extending transversely, each of said channels having a generally rectangular base, first and second upwardly extending opposed flanges, and an internal hollow passageway extending longitudinally through the base;
- and
- a generally U-shaped metal reinforcement extending horizontally and adapted to be affixed to said vehicle and captured by said knee bolster cover in a region between a pair of adjacent reinforcing channel members, whereby said reinforcement is prevented from sliding against said knee bolster cover in the event of a vehicle impact.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.