Abstract: An inflatable knee bolster for a vehicle occupant is mounted to the bottom of the vehicle's instrument panel, having an outer wall that is projected outwardly from a stored position to an extended position adjacent the occupant's knees by inflation of an expansible chamber by an inflator, characterized by. The bolster is an expansible chamber comprising a unitary hollow blow molded polypropylene body that has an outer wall and an inner wall which are interconnected at their bottoms by a bottom wall and at their tops and sides by U-shaped normally folded accordion pleats. These pleats extend from the bottom side corners of the body up the sides and across the top of the body. A pair of spaced attachment tabs extend from the bottom wall for attachment to vehicle structure, and a pair of spaced frangible tabs extending from the top of the outer wall for attachment to vehicle structure to maintain the outer wall in stored position.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
January 7, 2000
Date of Patent:
March 20, 2001
Assignees:
General Motors Corporation, ABC Group Interior Systems
Inventors:
Graham Thornton Spencer, James Kent Conlee, Nicole M. Mahmood, George E. Marshall, Samin A. Wahabi, Martin B. Fisher
Abstract: An inflatable knee bolster for a vehicle occupant is mounted to the bottom of the vehicle's instrument panel. Having an outer wall that is projected outwardly from a stored position to an extended position adjacent the occupant's knees by inflation of an expansible chamber by an inflator, characterized by. The bolster is an expansible chamber comprising a unitary hollow blow molded polypropylene body that has an outer wall and an inner wall which are interconnected at their bottoms by a bottom wall and at their tops and sides by U-shaped normally folded accordion pleats. These pleats extend from the bottom side corners of the body up the sides and across the top of the body. A pair of spaced attachment tabs extend from the bottom wall for attachment to vehicle structure, and a pair of spaced frangible tabs extending from the top of the outer wall for attachment to vehicle structure to maintain the outer wall in stored position.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
August 7, 1998
Date of Patent:
March 7, 2000
Assignees:
ABC Group Interior Systems, General Motors Corp.
Inventors:
Graham Thornton Spencer, James Kent Conlee, Nicole M. Mahmood, George E. Marshall, Samin A. Wahabi, Martin B. Fisher