Mercedes-benz Aktiengesellschaft

Hans-Wilhelm Uphues

Wolfgang Henseler

Manfred Muller

Thomas Fischer

Zivojin Petkovic

Rolf Schumacher

Thomas Witkovsky

Stephan Schreiner

Impact protection devices, arranged in steering wheels or dashboards of motor vehicles, for vehicle occupants are provided with covers which open in the event of an accident in order to release an inflating air bag of the protection device. The cover, which consists of at least one cover flap, is injection molded onto a carrier part by a tough elastic plastic. The plastic surround has along an edge, intended as pivot axis, of the cover flap a cross-sectional tapering which serves as a hinge. At the other edges, the plastic surround is constructed towards the corresponding edges of the carrier part as a groove which, in the event of pressure on the cover flap in the opening direction, easily releases the carrier part edge.

Cover for vehicle occupant impact protection device

The application relates to a mount of a front seat passenger airbag unit in the upper area of a dashboard of a motor vehicle. The mount uses a holder which consists of flat material and on the one hand can be attached to the housing of the airbag unit and on the other hand can be attached securely to the vehicle. In order to ensure a certain degree of resilience of the airbag unit during the unfolding of the bag, the holder, which is made of a flat material, is guided along below the floor area of the housing and is connected there to the latter. The holder projects beyond the housing, on both sides and is attachable securely to the vehicle at a spacing from said housing in such a way that between the lateral ends of the housing and the mounting points of the holder fixed to the vehicle at a distance from the housing. The holder forms a deformable bridge area which serves to absorb energy and during loading permits the holder to rotate in both directions about its longitudinal axis.

Mount of a front seat passenger airbag unit

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Magstadt, Germany

Hans-Wilhelm Uphues