Abstract: A motor vehicle steering wheel and method, the steering wheel including a circular rim made from a hollow, seam-welded steel tube and a plurality of spokes made from solid steel rods. The seam-welded tube is indented in the center thereof perpendicular to the plane of the rim to form a plurality of integral troughs elongated in the circumferential direction of the rim and each flanked on opposite sides by a pair of integral resistance welding projections having inverted U-shape cross sections for structural rigidity. The spokes are arrayed across respective ones of the troughs in point contact with the corresponding ones of the resistance welding projections. The spokes are pressed against the resistance welding projections while electric current passes between the two to resistance weld the spokes to the hollow metal tube at the resistance welding projections.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for reversing and flattening a driver's restraint cushion composed of a pair of overlapping sheets. The apparatus includes a loading platform having an aperture therein of a size generally corresponding to the size of a circular opening centrally formed in one of the sheets of the restraint cushion. A retainer ring surrounds the aperture and extends into the circular opening of the restraint cushion when the latter is positioned on the loading platform. Subsequently, a vertically movable ram engages and forces the other of the sheets of the restraint cushion through the aperture so as to cause the inside and outside surfaces of the two sheets to reverse after which pressurized air flows through the ram to inflate the cushion and a flat plate presses the inflated cushion into a pancake form.