Abstract: A vehicle interior panel includes a diffuser spanning an air discharge opening. The diffuser has a spiral slot formed therethrough such that changing an axial distance between opposite ends of the slot changes an air flow capacity of the diffuser. The diffuser has an elegant and simplified design and can be made as one piece from a sheet material. Air is discharged from the diffuser radially and substantially equally in all radial directions. The diffuser can also function to provide ambient light from a light source and/or to deliver an air freshening agent to the passenger cabin.

Abstract: A vehicle interior panel for use over a deployable airbag includes an outer substrate portion having a top side, a bottom side, a tear seam, and a structural rib extending from the bottom side of the outer substrate portion. The panel includes an inner substrate portion having a top side, a bottom side, and a deflector extending from the top side of the inner substrate portion. The deflector is configured to contact the structural rib and the tear seam during deployment of the airbag. A method of manufacturing the panel includes injecting the outer substrate portion with the inner substrate portion and folding the inner substrate portion at a hinge region toward the outer substrate portion.

Abstract: A vehicle interior panel is configured to split along a tear seam during airbag deployment. The tear seam has an unconventional shape with one or more segments forming an oblique angle with other segments. The tear seam shape is useful to further enhance the safety of vehicle passengers and to provide unobstructed pivoting of one or more airbag doors formed during airbag deployment. The panel can also be structured to ensure that the airbag forces used to split the tear seam are properly directed to enhance tear seam function.

Abstract: A vehicle interior assembly includes a frame and a fall away door that closes off an opening in the frame when in a closed position. The door moves between the closed position and an open position via sequential vertical and horizontal movements. From the closed position, the door first drops vertically to a dropped position. A final portion of this vertical movement may be damped movement. From the dropped position, the door moves horizontally to the open position, at which the door is concealed from view from the exterior of the assembly. Various guides can be provided to define the movement path of the door. Various types of non-visible sensors can be used to detect a user's intention to open and close the door.

Abstract: A sanitizing shield for a vehicle includes a separation surface configured to at least partially shroud a shielded seat. The separation surface has an inner seat facing side and an outer shielding side. The sanitizing shield includes a sanitization station coupled to the separation surface. The sanitizing shield can have one or more of a hand sanitizer dispenser, an air purifier, and/or an ultraviolet-C (UVC) sanitizer. The sanitizing shield provides for improved physical separation within the passenger cabin while enhancing the sanitization potential available to rear passengers of the vehicle.

Abstract: A vehicle interior panel includes an in-vehicle support substrate and a docking station for a mobile device. The docking station includes a top edge, a bottom wall, and a reception surface for the mobile device between the top edge and the bottom wall. The reception surface is pivotably attached with respect to the support substrate. A first portion of the bottom wall is configured to hold the mobile device, and a second portion of the bottom wall is configured to remain recessed within the support substrate when the docking station is in a tilted position. This structure for a docking station helps improve within vehicle integration.

Abstract: A vehicle interior panel such as an instrument panel includes a substrate having a thickness between 0.5 mm and 2.25 mm, inclusive, a decorative layer, and an intermediate layer located between the substrate and the decorative layer. A post-form warpage of the substrate is less than 15 mm at an edge region of the substrate. A serpentine rib located near the edge region helps impart structural rigidity to the panel during a foaming process to achieve an adequate degree of post-form warpage.

Abstract: A backlit vehicle interior panel includes a non-polymeric decorative layer and a mask layer. The mask layer includes an aperture formed through a layer of opaque material. The decorative layer can be a wood layer that is part of a wood sheet complex that overlies the mask layer. A blind hole is formed in the decorative sheet complex and extends through the decorative layer. The blind hole is aligned with the aperture. Light from a light source passes through the aperture of the mask layer and the aligned blind hole of the sheet complex to partly define an illuminated symbol along at outer surface of the panel. The illuminated symbol can be generated through the decorative layer even when the decorative layer is opaque, and the symbol can have sharper features than can be produced through a translucent decorative layer.

Abstract: A vehicle interior component and method of making a vehicle interior component where a plurality of hollow stitch acceptance holes are formed in a component substrate to accommodate a stitch seam in a decorative covering that is attached to the component substrate. The stitch seam extends through the decorative covering to create filled stitch acceptance holes from the hollow stitch acceptance holes. The stitch seam can be created after an in-mold grain process in which the component substrate and decorative covering are laminated together.

Abstract: A sanitizing cup that is advantageously used in a vehicle interior. The sanitizing cup includes a cup base and a sanitizing compartment extending at least partially from the cup base. The sanitizing compartment has a sanitizing area which can be used to sanitize an object, such as a user's face mask. The sanitizing cup also includes a hand sanitizer dispenser extending at least partially from the cup base, from the sanitizing compartment, or from both of the cup base and the sanitizing compartment. A combined hand and mask sanitizing cup provides enhanced in-vehicle disinfection capabilities.

Abstract: A vehicle interior panel includes a thermoelectric air conditioner capable of providing conditioned air locally within a passenger cabin of the vehicle. Air is drawn from the passenger cabin through an intake port in the panel, conditioned locally along a back side of the panel by a thermoelectric device, and discharged back into the cabin through a discharge port in the panel. Additional air flows along a waste side of the thermoelectric device and can be discharged outside the passenger cabin. The panel can be an interior door panel from which the waste side air is discharged within a B-pillar of the vehicle body.

Abstract: A vehicle interior control panel includes a pressure-sensitive slider switch embedded within the thickness and beneath a decorative surface of a deco panel. The slider switch in non-visible and includes a variable resistance layer that sequentially and electrically connects different pairs of electrical contacts in the deco panel as a user-applied pressure is moved across the decorative surface and over the slider switch. The slider switch operates to change a parameter or characteristic of a display panel during use. Light from a light source beneath the deco panel is emitted at the decorative surface through otherwise non-visible perforations. The control panel appears to be only a wood panel until activated via user-applied pressure.

Abstract: A vehicle interior panel and method of making a vehicle interior panel having a substrate that can be used in either a seam-based or seamless application. The vehicle interior panel includes a substrate having a seam ditch, a first retaining step adjacent a first side of the seam ditch, and a second retaining step adjacent a second side of the seam ditch. The vehicle interior panel includes a bridging support member situated in the seam ditch at least partially between the first retaining step and the second retaining step in the substrate. A decorative covering is situated over the bridging support member, the decorative covering having a continuously contoured seamless surface that extends over the seam ditch.

Abstract: A sealing member for a powder slush molding apparatus includes an elastomeric main body comprising a head portion, an anchor portion, and a neck portion extending between and joining the head portion and the anchor portion. The head portion of the sealing member defines at least one interior channel that is centered on a midline of the elastomeric main body and which has a polygonal sectional shape. The polygonal sectional shape of the at least one interior channel, and its location on the midline, permits the head portion of the sealing member to attain a measure of compressibility that helps limit the force needed to compress the head portion without rendering the sealing member too flexible that it cannot adequately retain its shape. The sealing member is useful in establishing a seal between a shell and a powder box of a powder slush molding apparatus.

Abstract: A vehicle includes a compartment mounted to a frame of the vehicle. The compartment includes a box coupled to the frame in a fixed position relative to the frame and a latch system coupled to the box to allow a user to access the box. The latch system includes a shape-memory alloy wire guided by a pulley during actuation of the latch system.

Abstract: A modular display assembly that can easily be installed in a vehicle interior part. The modular display assembly includes a carrier panel having an outer frame and a recessed display region, a display panel situated in the recessed display region of the carrier panel, a diffuser layer that at least partially covers the recessed display region at a location spaced from the display panel to thereby create an optical transmission layer between the display panel and the diffuser layer, and a surface panel that at least partially covers the diffuser layer. The surface panel at least partially rests against the outer frame of the carrier panel.

Abstract: A latch assembly for a vehicle, in applications such as an armrest console or a glove box, includes a shape memory alloy (SMA) actuator. The SMA actuator includes an actuator housing, an SMA wire, and an actuator lever arm. The actuator lever arm is configured to pivotably rotate or linearly translate with respect to the actuator housing upon activation of the SMA wire. A connecting link is coupled to the actuator lever arm. The connecting link is configured to translate linearly along a connecting link axis when the actuator lever arm pivotably rotates or linearly translates. A striker is coupled to the connecting link and configured to rotate about a striker axis to engage a closing surface.

Abstract: An opening switch for a vehicle having a decorative cover assembly, a sensor housing region, and a microelectromechanical (MEMS) sensor mounted in the sensor housing region. The decorative cover assembly has an inner surface, an outer surface, an anchor portion, and a deflection portion. When contact from a vehicle user occurs at the deflection portion in the decorative cover assembly, a microdeflection occurs. The microdeflection has a microdeflection apex, and the microdeflection apex is spaced from other surfaces in the sensor housing region when the contact from the user occurs at the deflection portion in the decorative cover assembly. The MEMS sensor is configured to generate an output signal that is indicative of a force of the contact from the user. The force integrated switch can include haptic feedback and/or backlighting.

Abstract: A vehicle includes a compartment mounted to a frame of the vehicle. The compartment includes a box coupled to the frame in a fixed position relative to the frame and a latch system coupled to the box to allow a user to access the box. The latch system includes a shape-memory alloy wire guided by a pulley during actuation of the latch system.

Abstract: A privacy screen for a vehicle that can provide for an enhanced passenger experience. The privacy screen includes a blocking body configured to at least partially shroud a shielded seat of the vehicle. The blocking body has an inner seat facing surface, an outer shielding surface, and a concave contour that is configured to extend at least partially around the shielded seat. The privacy screen further includes a passenger enhancement feature that is configured to be controllable via input from a passenger of the vehicle that is remote from a driver of the vehicle.