Image Number 3 for United States Patent #5478106.
An arrangement is disclosed for forming an air bag deployment opening in an instrument panel behind which a passenger side air bag is stored, just prior to the time the air bag is deployed, the arrangement including a pressure driven cutting edge cutting through the covering layer at the start of air bag deployment. A pyrotechnic charge ignited by the air bag ignition circuitry is used to develop the pressure, and various devices used to drive the cutting edge, including a flattened tube enclosing the charge and expanded by ignition of the charge. A separate door substrate panel and frame are fit into a preformed opening in the instrument panel, and the tube may be mounted to the door substrate panel, the frame, or a separate membrane.
|
