Abstract: Proposed is an impact protection device for installation in the backrest of motor vehicle seats, including an air bag module with a gas bag, an inflator and an ignition device, as well as including a cap covering the installation opening, capable of being hinged from a closed position into an opened position and permitting in the opened position unobstructed forward deployment of the gas bag. To ensure that total deployment of the gas bag cannot be obstructed by intruding side structural parts, the impact protection device in accordance with the invention is characterized in that the cap is configured mechanically reinforced, that it is capable of being hinged from a closed position oriented substantially parallel to the vehicle longitudinal axis into the opened position oriented substantially perpendicular to the vehicle longitudinal axis and that it forms in the opened position a stable spacing structure between the backrest of the vehicle seat and the portion of the vehicle body opposite thereto.

Abstract: The invention relates to a device for the detachable fastening of a steering wheel on a steering shaft having an axis. The steering wheel has a hub provided with a through-bore arranged perpendicularly to the axis of the steering shaft and the through-bore intersects a groove arranged in the steering shaft. The device comprises a fastening means arranged in the through-bore. The fastening means has a bolt with a head and a shaft provided at least partially with an external thread and has a nut able to be screwed onto the shaft of the bolt. The nut is able to engage into the groove and the through-bore has two oppositely directed radial support surfaces arranged between the bolt head and the nut. One support surface is arranged on the bolt head side and the other support surface is arranged on the nut side. A spring element is provided which engages one of the bolt and the nut and exerts a force onto one of the bolt and the nut. The force aims for an increase of a distance between the bolt head and the nut.

Abstract: To produce a steering wheel having a wheel skeleton with a hub, a rim and spokes interconnecting the hub and the rim, a shaped body of a dissolvable material and corresponding in shape to an airbag module is attached to the hub. The skeleton with the shaped body is placed in a mold. A plasticized molding material is molded around the rim and the spokes and over the shaped body forming a steering wheel body with a seamless casing. The steering wheel body is removed from the mold. The shaped body is then dissolved and removed, leaving a hollow space for accommodation of the airbag module.

Abstract: A steering device for a motor vehicle is proposed, with an actuating member for the introduction of the steering movement and with a steering linkage to transfer the steering movement to the wheels.

Abstract: An airbag for vehicle-passenger protection devices that inflates rapidly in response to pyrotechnically generated gases and optionally to gases released from a compressed-gas cylinder is made at least to some extent of a textile or knit with a surface that carbonizes when exposed to hot gases. The carbonizing material also improves the airbag's resistance to total combustion by at least 20 percent without additional expense.

Abstract: A steering device for a motor vehicle, with an actuating member for the introduction of the steering movement and with a steering linkage to transfer the steering movement to the wheels. The device is characterized in that the actuating member consists of a “steering wheel” (1) which is rotatable about a small angle and of a measured value transmitter (2) to generate an electrical or electronic position signal, and that the steering linkage is actuated by an adjustment drive which is controllable by an electrical or electronic regulating device as a function of the position signal.

Abstract: A steering device for a motor vehicle is proposed, with an actuating member to introduce a steering movement and with a steering linkage to transfer the steering movement to the wheels.The steering device is characterized according to the invention in that the actuating member consists of a non-rotatable "steering wheel" (1), in the rim (2) of which a band-shaped or chain-like actuating ring (3), movable relative to the rim (2), and a measured value transmitter (4) for generating an electrical or electronic position signal for the actuating ring (3) are arranged, and that the steering linkage is actuated by an adjustment drive which is controllable by an electrical or electronic regulating device as a function of the position signal.

Abstract: For the production of a steering wheel with a seamless casing, surrounding the steering wheel rim, the steering wheel spokes and the central region for an airbag covering with tear-open lines, of a plastic moulded part produced in one piece by casting or injection moulding, with a closed surface and a possibly foamed base body, a method is proposed which is characterized in that a core of a low-melting material is fastened to the central base part of the steering wheel skeleton structure, that thereafter the steering wheel skeleton structure and the core are placed into a mould for the formation of the plastic moulded part, that the plastic moulded part is produced and that after the setting of the plastic moulded part, the core is melted by an increase in temperature and the material is removed in liquid form from the plastic moulded part.

Abstract: In a device with a gas generator and an airbag for protecting passengers in the event of an accident, the gas generator is accommodated inside an airbag that is essentially closed all the way around by a seam along the edge. Material and manufacturing costs are considerably reduced in that separately fastening the airbag to the gas generator is unnecessary and in that the two components can be fastened together while the resulting module is being fastened to the inside of the vehicle or to a separate housing.

Abstract: A steering-wheel skeleton has a hub, spokes, and a rim made in one piece out of a single sheet-metal blank and provided with its final shape by separation and bending without machining. The hub is provided with a cone facing the vehicle. The spokes, which extend up and out, are provided with unthreaded bores, cutouts, or threaded bore for attaching an airbag module. A nut can, if necessary, be forced into one cutout. The hub can be reinforced by using two layers of the material.

Abstract: A covering for an airbag module accommodated in the door lining and/or in the instrument panel of a vehicle. The covering has a main part of plastic comprising an airbag-attaching component and an airbag-covering component. The airbag-covering component can optionally be covered with expanded plastic. The module has a cover of real or imitation leather. There is at least one area in the form of a flap that can be ripped open in the vicinity of the airbag-covering component. The rip-open area is demarcated by a break-open line, constituted by a weakening of the material and by a hinging line. The covering is characterized by a groove-like outer depression along the break-open line that extends over the whole width of the covering and in that the cover is forced into the depression, doubling the material.

Abstract: An armature for a motor-vehicle steering wheel. The hub, spokes, and rim are at least partly made out of a single sheet of metal. The metal is folded at the edge to produce a cross-section in the form of a U or L. The base of the section is essentially perpendicular to the axis of the steering wheel. The sides of the section essentially parallel that axis. The sides of the U or L are provided with an undulation as viewed longitudinally, that is almost non-existent in the vicinity of the base, and that increases continuously to a maximum as it approaches the edge.

Abstract: A lid (1) for an airbag accommodated in the instrument panel of a motor vehicle. For economy and simplicity of manufacture it is made of a relatively hard plastic. It is characterized in that it comprises a lower layer (2) of soft and resilient plastic and an outer layer (3) of hard plastic and in that both layers (2 & 3) are essentially fastened together adhering totally surface to surface. The outer layer (3) can be made of a plastic that matches the material of the surface of the instrument panel in appearance, feel, and acoustics.

Abstract: For the protection of the occupants of a vehicle in case of a lateral impact, restraints (3) are integrated in the side structure of the vehicle and are adapted to be automatically stretched to extend tautly on the inside across the window opening and are connected to an airbag unit (25) for protection in case of an impact, which unit is accommodated adjacent to the side structure of the vehicle.

Abstract: In a gas bag collision safety system for the steering wheel of street vehicles, the bowl-shaped steering wheel, into which a gas bag is folded, is fastened to the hub of the steering wheel, and the marginal area defining the gas inlet of the gas bag is joined gas-tight to the steering wheel hub. An improvement in installation accuracy is brought about by the fact that the gas inlet opening of the gas bag is made concentric with a through-bore made in the steering wheel hub and the gas generator is contained in the steering spindle.

Abstract: An air bag apparatus for impact protection in motor vehicles comprises a unit, which is adapted to be installed so as to be concealed behind an exit opening provided in the front part of the passenger compartment and comprises an air bag, a gas generator, and a housing, which accommodates the air bag and the gas generator. To protect the air bag the opening in the housing is closed by a film which is attached to the outside surface of the housing.

Abstract: In an apparatus for transmitting electric power and data between the vehicle side and the steering wheel side of a motor vehicle, a transformer is used, which comprises a stationary primary coil on the vehicle side and a secondary coil, which is provided on the steering wheel side and is non-rotatably connected to the steering shaft. Data are transmitted by a capacitor, which comprises stationary conductor strips which are provided on the vehicle side and surround the steering column and conductor strips which are provided on the steering wheel side and register with the stationary conductor strips and surround and are non-rotatably connected to the steering shaft.

Abstract: In order to impart an adequate functional stiffness to a steering wheel comprising an injection-molded skeleton made of partly crystalline thermoplastic plastic, the skeleton of the steering wheel has a press-stretched structure.

Abstract: In an automotive vehicle provided with an inflatable gas bag for protection of an occupant in the event of collision, the improvement wherein the bag is made of a plain-weave woven fabric of synthetic threads and having a top and a bottom, the woven fabric having a sett of 16 to 23 threads per cm, its threads having a denier of at most 470 dtex, low-shrinkage threads being in the bottom of the gas bag and extensive thread being in the top of the gas bag.

Abstract: The hub and spoked of a steering wheel consist of a synthetic thermoplastic resin and just as the rim are covered with a layer of a deformable plastic. To provide a steering wheel which is light in weight and has a high temperature stability, the hub and spokes consist of a polyamide which has been modified with elastomers and fibers.