Textron Automotive Company Inc.

Davidson Textron Inc.

David R McCooey

Craig B Labrie

Claude E Bemis

Gordon Warren

An inflatable restraint deployment system includes a simplified hold-down assembly for fastening an air bag door in a tamper-proof closed position. The deployment system includes an air bag door pivotally supported adjacent an air bag deployment opening in an automobile dashboard and two fasteners that releasably secure the door in a closed position over the air bag deployment opening. The fasteners each include an elongated shaft portion that either extends integrally upward from an air bag canister flange or integrally downward from an air bag door substrate. The fasteners are aligned in the direction of door movement. Each fastener shaft portion extends through one of a pair of fastener holes formed either in the air bag door substrate or in the canister flange. A fastener flange extends outward from around the shaft portion of each fastener and engages a rim that defines one of the fastener holes. Each fastener hole defines an area slightly smaller than the cross-sectional area of the thickest portion of each fastener flange. Either the fastener hole rims or the fastener flanges yield when air bag inflation forces the air bag door to pivot out of the closed position.

Release assembly and method for deploying a supplemental restraint system

An automotive interior trim panel has an outer flexible skin that overlies a rigid backing panel formed with a foam entry hole through which foam precursors are poured into a space between the skin and panel and they react and expand to generate a foam layer within the space. Tab projections are carried by the panel and extend into the foam space to at least partially cover the opening and provide rigid backing support for foam expanding in the region of the entry hole to control the density of the foam in this entry hole region such that it conforms more closely with the density of the immediate surrounding foam.

Method for manufacturing an automotive interior trim component and the resultant construction thereof

Method for manufacturing an automotive interior trim component and the

A door cover assembly for concealing a supplemental inflatable restraint (SIR) system of an automotive interior trim component includes a substrate having a door section in which formed depressions are provided to strengthen the door. The depressed regions are filled with a secondary foam insert to level the outer surface of the substrate. A primary foam layer overlies the substrate and is covered by an outer vinyl shell. The leveling of the substrate by the secondary foam insert eliminates 'show through' of the depressed regions on the outer Class A surface of the vinyl shell.

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Dover, NH, United States of America

David R McCooey