Land vehicles – Wheeled – Attachment
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-27
2003-09-23
Dickson, Paul N. (Department: 3616)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Attachment
C280S732000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06623030
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to airbags and, more particularly, to an airbag door assembly which can be incorporated into the instrument panel of a passenger vehicle. The invention is also directed to a method of making the airbag door assembly.
2. Background Art
There is an increasing trend to incorporate airbags at other than the driver's location in a moving vehicle so as to protect passengers. A typical airbag system consists of an expandable airbag encased within a housing that is attached to the back of an instrument panel in front of an occupant's seat. The instrument panel typically has an opening through which the airbag projects as it is expanded upon being deployed. The undeployed airbag within the housing is normally concealed by a door which covers the opening through the instrument panel. Typically, the external surface of the door has an appearance that is matched to the other exposed portions of the instrument panel.
In the event that the vehicle is subjected to a shock, as by that resulting from a collision, the airbag deploys. As the airbag expands, it opens the door over the instrument panel opening and projects therethrough into a deployed state.
Conventionally, the door provided over the instrument panel opening is not integrally formed with the instrument panel. Instead, the door is separately manufactured and joined with the instrument panel. One known process for effecting this combination is known as bi-chromaticforming. Through this process, different resins are used to construct the airbag door and the remainder of the exposed instrument panel.
This conventional structure has some inherent drawbacks. First, by reason of using a separate door element, the door may not visually blend with the remainder of the instrument panel. Thus, the overall appearance of the instrument panel may be compromised. Second, the door and instrument panel may be joined in such a manner that the junction edges may not flushly match. Again, this may detract from the overall appearance of the instrument panel by reason of their being steps or gaps at the points of juncture. Further, the integrity of the connection of the door to the remainder of the instrument panel may not be as good as desired. Still further, the resin materials conventionally used for the instrument panel may not be desirable for use in making the door. Performance requirements for the door may be different than for the instrument panel. Again, this may compromise the appearance of the overall instrument panel.
To address the above problems associated with the separate door and instrument panel, different alternatives have been proposed whereby the external surface of the instrument panel is continuous and uninterrupted at the door region. Such an integral construction is shown in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-44910. This structure is shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
herein. More specifically, in those figures, an instrument panel is shown at
10
. The instrument panel
10
has a layer
12
with a surface
14
that is exposed to a vehicle compartment
16
. The layer
12
has a V-shaped groove
18
through an inside surface
20
, facing oppositely to the surface
14
, which groove
18
produces a frangible, reduced thickness portion
22
between an apex
24
of the groove
18
and the surface
14
. The groove
18
extends continuously in a substantially rectangular pattern to define a “door”
26
for an airbag (not shown) that is deployed by expanding from the inside of the instrument panel
10
so as to project into the compartment
16
.
The door
26
is rigidified by a reinforcing assembly at
28
. The reinforcing assembly
28
consists of a reinforcing plate
30
which abuts to the back surface
32
of the door
26
. The reinforcing plate
30
has a rearwardly bent flange
34
which is connected to one leg
36
of an L-shaped bracket
38
. The other leg
40
of the bracket
38
is attached to a boss
42
, fixed to and projecting rearwardly from, the layer
12
. The leg
40
is connected to the boss
42
through a fastener
44
. A threaded fastener
46
secures the bracket leg
36
to the flange
34
. Separate threaded fasteners
48
extend through the reinforcing plate
30
and into the layer
12
to maintain the reinforcing plate
30
in place thereon.
The end
50
of the reinforcing plate
30
, remote from the flange
34
, is captive between the layer
12
and an L-shaped bracket
52
. One leg
54
of the bracket
52
abuts to the flange end
50
. The other leg
56
of the bracket
52
is secured by a fastener
58
against a boss
60
, fixed to and projecting rearwardly from, the layer
12
.
With the above construction, the door
26
, with the reinforcing plate
30
attached thereto, is securely held in place so that the region around the door
26
is rigidified. With this arrangement, the expanding airbag repositions the door
26
without causing significant deformation or breakage of the remaining part of the instrument panel
10
around the door
26
. However, to provide this reinforcement, it is necessary to separately form and attach the bosses
42
,
60
on the back side of the layer
12
and to use a series of fasteners
44
,
46
,
48
,
58
to maintain the overall integrity of the structure.
Another conventional airbag deployment system is shown in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 7-291078 and at
70
in
FIG. 3
herein. The system
70
consists of an instrument panel
72
with a layer
74
having an exposed, outside surface
76
and an oppositely facing inside surface
78
. A reinforcing plate
80
is secured against the inside surface
78
of the layer
74
and has a forward projection
82
, which defines a reduced thickness, frangible portion
86
in the layer
74
, which ruptures under the force of the expanding airbag
88
, which is contained in a cup-shaped, forwardly opening, housing
90
.
The reinforcing plate
80
has a series of openings
92
therethrough which accommodate heat deformable bosses
94
projecting rearwardly from the layer
74
. The housing
90
has oppositely projecting flanges
96
,
98
which are attached to the reinforcing plate
80
through bolts
100
.
With this arrangement, a pivotable door
102
is defined. The door
102
itself is rigidified, as is the region of the instrument
72
therearound. Thus, the airbag
88
can be deployed without causing deformation or breakage of the instrument panel
72
around the door
102
. At the same time, the outside surface
76
is not interrupted in the region of the door
102
, so that a neat, continuous, external surface
76
is provided.
One potential difficulty with the system
70
relates to the selection of the size of the bosses
94
. If the bosses
94
are too large, there may be shrinkage of the layer
74
. To avoid this shrinkage problem, smaller bosses
94
may be utilized. However, at some point, the integrity of the bosses
94
may be compromised such that upon inflation of the airbag
88
, the reinforcing plate
80
separates from the layer
74
. The result of this may be damage to the region of the instrument panel
72
around the door
102
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In one form, the invention is directed to an airbag door assembly consisting of an instrument panel section, a reinforcing assembly, and a lining assembly. The instrument panel section has a core portion with an inside surface and an outside surface. An expanding airbag can project through the core portion of the instrument panel section. The reinforcing assembly is placed against the inside surface of the instrument panel section. At least part of the reinforcing assembly resides between the core portion and the lining assembly. The lining assembly and core portion are vibration joined at at least one location so as to maintain a part of the reinforcing assembly captively between the core portion and the lining assembly.
In one form, the core portion has a weakened portion that facilitates passage through the core portion of an expanding airbag,
Dickson Paul N.
Mitsuboshi Belting Ltd.
Rosenberg Laura B.
Wood Phillips Katz Clark & Mortimer
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