Abstract: A storage compartment for a passenger cabin of a vehicle can provide a large opening and increased accessibility, while maintaining a large working surface. The storage compartment comprises a plurality of walls forming an interior storage area, the plurality of walls including an exterior comprising at least a first panel and a second panel. The first panel has an access end and the second panel has an access end. The access end of the first panel and the access end of the second panel are configured to create a working surface on the exterior when in a closed position. In an open position, the first panel or the second panel is configured to allow access to the interior storage area from two or more different sides of the exterior.

Abstract: A vehicle interior panel for use over an airbag includes a hinge layer with a folded portion having nested folds. The folded portion interconnects a first portion embedded in an airbag door region of a panel substrate with a second portion embedded in the panel substrate outside the airbag door region. The nested folds are simpler and faster to form than other types of folds and contribute to improved airbag door kinematics.

Abstract: An interior panel for a vehicle includes a first plate, a second plate, and a hinge extending between and interconnecting the first plate and the second plate. The hinge establishes a plate pivot axis about which the first plate is configured to pivot from a closed position to an opened position.

Abstract: A method of making a vehicle interior panel having a molded-in airbag door includes cutting a hinge layer of the panel while the hinge layer is supported in a panel molding tool. The hinge layer can be in the form of a reinforcing net and is cut along a perimeter of the airbag door away from the airbag door hinge. The cutting occurs in the molding tool either before or after molding material is introduced into the mold cavity. The cutting also occurs before, during, or after the molding tool is closed from an open condition. A cutter of the molding tool is either stationary or moveable with respect to the portion of the molding tool from which it extends.

Abstract: A vehicle interior panel with an airbag net having a strategically configured reinforcement fold. The vehicle interior panel includes an airbag lid configured to cover a deployable airbag and an adjacent panel portion situated adjacent to the airbag lid. The panel includes an airbag net having a hinge that forms between a first net segment on a first side of the hinge and a second net segment on a second, opposite side of the hinge. The first net segment is coupled to the adjacent panel portion and the second net segment is coupled to the airbag lid. The airbag net includes a reinforcement fold, the reinforcement fold extending through the hinge from the first net segment to the second net segment.

Abstract: A vehicle interior assembly includes a foldable layer that is convertible between an unfolded condition, in which it provides the working surface of a tabletop, and a folded condition, in which it supports one or more portable electronic devices in a tilted position. When deployed as part of a device holder, the foldable layer uncovers a portion of a base layer that includes edge supports for the mobile device(s). A plurality of polygonal segments interconnected by a corresponding plurality of hinge joints permits the foldable layer to change from a flat sheet to a hollow, self-supporting three-dimensional structure with a clean angular appearance in an origami-like manner that does not require complex linkages or mechanisms for the conversion.

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 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 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 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 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.