Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Li Lu

Nicholas Andrew Mazzocchi

Yi Yang Tay

Gary D Mullen

Linh Ngoc Doan

Bhavani Thota

Anthony Ligi, Jr

Kenneth J Kwasnik

Hui Wang

Deepak Patel

Sean Bayle West

Stacey H Raines

Paul Bryan Hoke

Dan G Busuioc

Michael G Orlowsky

Lisandro Trevino

Kris Allyn Warmann

Liying Qi

Jeffrey Kloberdanz

Brian Pietila

An instrument panel for a passenger compartment of an automotive vehicle comprises a molded plastic substrate and a skin covering the substrate. The substrate has inner and outer surfaces, and is adapted to be mounted in the passenger compartment adjacent a windshield. The inner surface is adapted to receive an air bag chute assembly for deploying an air bag. The inner surface is inscribed by a door groove defining a deployment door at least partially tearing open to expel the air bag. The outer surface is inscribed by a hinge groove following a chord path bisecting the outer surface of the deployment door and configured to bend in response to an edge of the deployment door impacting the windshield. The impact force against the windshield is reduced while stiffness of the door against the air bag remains high to facilitate tearing open of the door by the air bag.

Reverse-weakened passenger air bag door

A cross car beam assembly is provided herein. A composite beam structure extends transversely across a vehicle. A vehicle floor bracket is disposed below the composite beam. A composite reinforcement has a first portion fixedly engaged to the beam structure and a second portion engaged to the vehicle floor bracket.

Cross car beam assembly with composite beam structure and reinforcement

An armrest assembly includes a body outlining a crushable space. The body includes a first deformation initiating feature, a second deformation initiating feature, a deformation propagating feature and a fracture initiating feature provided at spaced locations around the crushable space. The features function to dissipate energy in the event of a side impact and therefore force or load that might be transmitted to a motor vehicle occupant as a result of a side impact.

Armrest assembly with engineered lateral bending stiffness

A bracket for a vehicle is provided including a four-way fastener locator portion and a slip plane portion. The fastener locator portion includes a cross-member configured to allow passage therethrough of a portion of a fastener received in the fastener-receiving portion on application of a force meeting or exceeding a predetermined impact load. Assemblies including the provided bracket are described.

Bracket for improved impact loading performance

An assembly includes a display screen, a bracket for receiving and holding the display screen, a deformable mounting feature and a frangible mounting feature. The deformable mounting feature is adapted to absorb initial energy in the event of an impact to the display screen. The frangible mounting feature is adapted to further dissipate energy to the extent that the impact energy exceeds the ability of the deformable mounting feature to absorb it.

Display screen assembly

A cross-car beam is provided herein. The cross-car beam includes a bracket operably coupled to an elongated panel. An attachment feature and a cowl attachment structure are disposed at opposing end portions of the bracket. The attachment feature interlocks with a corresponding attachment assembly disposed on the elongated panel.

Vehicle cross-car beam

An air bag chute assembly for an automotive instrument panel is injection molded to form an integral deployment chute, door, and attachment flange, The flange attaches to the instrument panel around an aperture in the instrument panel. The tubular chute extends interiorly from the flange to a lower end configured to receive an inflating air bag from an air bag module and defines a deployment path along a longitudinal axis. A door flap is disposed in an upper end of the chute rotatable from the flange to emerge through the aperture. The flap has an interior side impacted by the inflating air bag carrying a plurality of raised strengthening ribs. The flap has at least one closed-section hollow channel protruding from the interior side to a channel height extending beyond the strengthening ribs formed by gas-assist injection molding.

Molded air bag chute with door reinforced by hollow channel

A vehicular glove box bin has a molded substrate of a first durometer plastic material defining a concave body with bin sides, bottom, and open mouth. The sides include a front wall arranged to receive an impact load in a substantially normal direction, and at least one perforated wall substantially aligned with the normal direction which has at least one stiffness reducing gap. A substitution panel comprising a resilient material having a second durometer less than the first durometer is molded into and closes the gap. The gap and the substitution panel define locking surfaces for retaining the substitution panel. The combined first and second durometers provide a predetermined collapse in response to the impact load. The placement and sizes of gaps together with the selected durometers allow a designer to tailor the stiffness around various portions of the bin to match a desired impact performance.

Glove box bin with adjustable stiffness

An assembly includes a door trim panel, and an armrest assembly supported by the door trim panel. The armrest assembly includes a crushable member. The crushable member includes a substrate defining a gap extending through the substrate. The crushable member includes a plug disposed in the gap and fixed to the substrate on a perimeter of the gap. The substrate is rigid relative to the plug.

Crushable armrest assembly for side impact and structural performance

A door assembly for a vehicle includes a door panel and a door trim panel comprising a shaped pelvic load path energy-absorbing feature disposed on a door panel-facing surface of the door trim panel. The shaped pelvic load path energy-absorbing feature is defined by a plurality of stepped surfaces, which in turn may define as various cross-sectional shapes for the shaped pelvic load path energy-absorbing feature.

Pelvic load management using integrated collapsible features in door trim panel

An active glove box door is provided for a vehicle passenger compartment. A plastic-molded inner door liner forms a reaction plate. A plastic-molded front trim wall deploys toward a passenger in the passenger compartment. A plastic-molded bladder member is joined along an outer perimeter with the trim wall by a hot weld seam to form an inflatable bladder. The bladder member includes at least one substantially circumferential pleat adjacent the weld seam and a central attachment region with a plurality of attachment bosses joined to the inner door liner. A skeleton member is mounted to the inner door liner between the bladder member and the inner door liner, wherein the skeleton member has a lattice structure for reducing flexing of the inner door liner. The skeleton member has at least one aperture receiving a respective attachment boss.

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Bloomfield Hills, MI, United States of America

Li Lu