Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Yi Yang Tay

Li Lu

Linh Ngoc Doan

Bhavani Thota

Kenneth J Kwasnik

Hui Wang

Joseph Edward Abramczyk

Gary D Mullen

Nicholas Andrew Mazzocchi

John Pinkerton

Michael G Orlowsky

Lisandro Trevino

Liying Qi

Aleksandar Spasovski

Michael Dong

Brian Pietila

Jeffrey Kloberdanz

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

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

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 door assembly includes a monolithic base including a top panel having a first end and a second end opposite the first end. The monolithic base includes an attachment panel extending downwardly from the first end at an acute angle. The monolithic base includes an outer panel extending downwardly from the second end.

Crushable door assembly

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

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Warren, MI, United States of America

Yi Yang Tay