JP4133715B2 - Airbag cover - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a cover body of an airbag device that is an occupant protection device that is mounted on a vehicle or the like and inflates and deploys in an emergency.

The air bag cover is required to be able to swell at a predetermined location from low temperature to high temperature and be deployed so as to have a predetermined door shape, and to allow the airbag to bulge. Manufactured. The center pad of the steering wheel that houses the airbag is equipped with various decorative materials, such as the name of the car and the manufacturer's logo, to enhance its design.
In other words, when the airbag device was initially installed at the center pad position, it was based on an integrally formed logo, but the visual effect was poor with only the unevenness of the same color, but recently a separate resin badge or metal emblem Various attempts have been made to improve the aesthetic appearance of the pad, and the aesthetic appearance of the pad that has been temporarily killed has been considerably improved.
However, as an essential function of the airbag cover, it is necessary to form a door opening having a size and shape sufficient to expand and deploy the airbag, and the size of the emblem that can be arranged in the center of the covering portion with the highest visual effect is limited. It has been. Therefore, in the conventional technology, the airbag is reliably deployed by reducing the strength of the portion to be broken when the airbag is deployed. However, in the conventional technology described above, the poles on the occupant facing surface of the airbag cover are used. An emblem of a size that occupies a portion can only be provided, and the shape and size of the airbag deployment door are secured by bypassing the central tear line (scheduled break line) along the shape of the emblem. However, only a small emblem can be applied to obtain a decorative effect (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-228211 (paragraphs {0015} to {0028} in the claims and detailed description of the invention FIG. 1, FIG. 2, FIG. 4) JP 2001-163156 A (paragraphs {0016} to {0035} in claims and detailed description of the invention FIG. 1, FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5)

Therefore, it has been demanded to provide a large emblem that occupies a considerable area of the air bag cover facing the occupant or a decorative means that occupies a wide range such as a large-diameter ring-shaped ornament to meet the demand for improving aesthetics. It was.
Accordingly, the present invention provides an airbag cover in which a door for deploying an airbag can be smoothly formed and a decorative member having a large occupied area with a very high decorative effect is arranged.

A first invention of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is an airbag cover as described in claim 1 and is as follows.
An airbag cover having a covering portion that covers a folded airbag, wherein the covering portion is divided into an adjacent portion and a planned door portion that is ruptured and deployed by inflation of the airbag, and is broken. A separate decorative member arranged on the surface side of the covering portion is attached across the adjacent portion and the planned door portion beyond the planned line, and the planned fracture line is narrow at the portion overlapping the decorative member. The decorative member has a wide width toward the narrow-width through-hole at a position facing the narrow-width through-hole so as to be broken at the valley portion which is the minimum thickness portion of the groove to be broken. It is the structure made into the fracture | rupture plan groove | channel which makes | forms.

A second invention of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is an airbag cover as described in claim 2, and is as follows.
An airbag cover having a covering portion that covers a folded airbag, wherein the covering portion is divided into an adjacent portion and a planned door portion that is ruptured and deployed by inflation of the airbag, and is broken. A separate decorative member arranged on the surface side of the covering portion is attached across the adjacent portion and the planned door portion beyond the planned line, and the planned fracture line is narrow at the portion overlapping the decorative member. The decorative member is formed as a groove to be ruptured with a wide width toward the thin portion at a position facing the thin portion so as to be broken at a valley portion which is the minimum thickness portion of the groove to be ruptured. It is a configuration.

A third invention of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is an airbag cover as described in claim 3 and is as follows.
In addition to the invention described in claim 1 or claim 2, the adjacent portion is an airbag cover that forms another scheduled door portion.

Since the airbag cover according to the present invention is configured as described above, the following effects are achieved.
(1) Since a decorative member having an outer shape exceeding the range of one planned door portion can be applied, the decorative effect can be enhanced and the beauty can be improved.
(2) When the airbag is deployed, the planned door portion is smoothly opened and opened, so that the airbag can be appropriately deployed.
(3) Even if it is a decoration member arrange | positioned ranging over two door scheduled parts, a decoration member rotates according to the door which each door scheduled part forms, and an airbag can be expand | deployed appropriately.

  The covering portion has a first annular recess and a tear line on the back surface, and through holes and tear line slits are formed. Legs are provided at equal intervals on the back surface of the annular first decorative member, and the first recess is passed through. An airbag cover in which a decorative member having a wide occupied area with a very high decorative effect is arranged while allowing a door for the deployment of the airbag to be smoothly formed by being inserted and locked in a hole.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an entire airbag module according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the airbag module according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a leg portion used when attaching a decorative member to a covering portion. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the main part showing the vicinity of the planned breaking groove when the decorative member is attached to the covering portion and the leg portion is crimped, and FIG. 5 shows the change of the planned breaking groove when the airbag is deployed. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a main part around the groove to be broken when the tear line slit of the present invention is changed from a through hole to a thin wall part, and FIG. 7 is a door of the decorative member and a general part around the door. The perspective view which shows the case where it installs ranging over is shown, respectively.

First, an embodiment of an airbag apparatus using the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
The base plate 10 is integrally formed with a bracket 11 for fixing to a boss portion of a steering wheel (not shown), a projection 12 for contacting and positioning the boss portion, and a peripheral wall portion 13 forming a container portion 1 for storing an airbag. Die-cast with alloy.
The cover 2 includes a covering portion 21 that is a design surface facing the occupant and a peripheral wall portion 22 that is intermittently formed so as to hang down along the container portion. It is injection-molded using an olefin-based elastomer resin (for example, Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. Sumiflex TPE). An annular first decorative member 3 and a rectangular second decorative member 4 are attached to the covering portion 21.

  Next, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the covering portion 21 has an annular first recess 23, a rectangular second recess 24, and a tear line 25 on the back surface, a through hole 26, a tear line slit 27, A slit 28 and a ridge 29 are formed.

The first decorative member 3 is formed by injection-molding a soft resin, for example, a polyester-based elastomer (Perprene manufactured by Toyobo Co., Ltd.). A metal with a fine texture on the design surface 32 and further plated to suppress gloss. It has an (aluminum) tone appearance.
A plurality of leg portions 31 are erected on the back surface at positions corresponding to the through holes 26.
The second decorative member 4 is obtained by drawing a logo mark printed on a thin metal plate such as iron, has a substantially bottomless box shape, and has a design surface 42, a peripheral wall portion 40, and a leg portion 41. ing. The position of the leg portion 41 corresponds to the locking slit 28. In order to attach the decorative members 3 and 4 to the covering portion 21, first, the leg portions 31 and 41 are inserted through the through holes 26 and the locking slits 28, respectively, and then deformed and locked. The leg part 31 is heat caulked and made into a nail shape as shown in FIG. 4, and the leg part 31 is bent into an L shape and fixed. The ridge 29 serves to support the second decorative member 4 at the center.

  As shown by broken lines in FIG. 1 and the like, the tear line 25 has a central horizontal portion 25a bent so as to bypass the lower edge of the second decorative member 4, a pair of side portions 25b continuous in a T shape at both ends, and a diagonal portion A flat substantially H-shaped groove including 25c and terminal portion 25d is formed on the back surface of the covering portion 21, and is integrally formed by a shape carved into a mold when the cover 2 is injection-molded. A portion where the central horizontal portion 25a and the first recess 23 intersect is a tear line slit 27 instead of a groove.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the first recess 23 has a substantially full width, for example, a length corresponding to 10 mm, and a width dimension L2 is an elongated shape of about 1 mm and a substantially straight through hole in the depth direction. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a portion of the first decorative member 3 that overlaps the tear line slit 27 is a V-shaped groove to be broken 35. The opening angle α of the planned fracture fracture groove 35 is about 90 degrees or larger (obtuse angle), and the opening dimension L1 is larger than L2, for example, 5 mm.

  The 1st decoration member 3 has acquired the decoration effect by exhibiting the external appearance imitating a metal ring. For example, the covering portion 21 of the cover 2 is matte black, and the first decorative member 3 is matte silver, and the sporty feeling and high performance of the vehicle can be appealed with the image of a high-tech precision machine. In addition, since the thickness of the groove 35 to be broken is different from that of a portion adjacent to the groove 35, a sink mark (commonly called “sink”) is generated on the surface due to a difference in volume shrinkage in the resin molding. The appearance of the design surface 32 in the vicinity of the groove 35 becomes smooth, and the metal feeling by the plating process is not impaired. Since the first decorative member 3 is separated from the cover 2, it can be plated under optimum conditions, and processing such as masking required for the decorative shape integrally formed with the cover 2 is unnecessary, and the production of the cover 2 is not necessary. It becomes easy.

Next, the operation of the airbag cover of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
When the airbag (not shown) is inflated, the tear line 25 is broken by the pressure of the rising airbag, and the airbag doors 5 and 6 are formed. At this time, the 1st decoration member 3 is fractured | ruptured by the trough part 36 which is the minimum thickness part of the fracture | rupture planned groove | channel 35, and is divided into the part arrange | positioned at each of the airbag doors 5 and 6, and the airbag doors 5 and 6 are combined expand. Since the opening angle is large, the air bag doors 5 and 6 are easily bent by the bulging of the airbag doors 5 and 6, that is, facing the rupture-scheduled groove 35 having a valley 36 as a bending point and forming a V shape. The two inclined surfaces 35a and 35b can be deformed without interfering with each other. Accordingly, the tensile force effectively acts on the bending point P and breaks smoothly, and the airbag doors 5 and 6 are not hindered from rising. Since the first decorative member 3 is made of the soft resin as described above, the first decorative member 3 can be in soft contact with those in contact with the first decorative member 3. Therefore, there is substantially no difference from the case of the covering portion 21 alone. Note that the second decorative member 4 is much smaller than the first decorative member 3 and, therefore, a conventional technique is applied, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted.

  In addition to making the tear line slit 27 a through-hole, it can also be a thin portion 30 as shown in FIG. 6 and is concealed in appearance by a decorative member, so that the thin portion is positioned on the surface side shown in FIG. Also, it can be on the back side or in the middle position. Further, the double flap type airbag cover by the H-shaped tear line has been described above. However, as shown in FIG. 7, the decorative member arranged across the planned door portion 50 and the surrounding general portion 51 is also used. Can be applied. The decorative member can be applied with various patterns such as metal tone, wood grain tone, marble tone, carbon composite tone, etc., but since all can cover a considerably wide area of the airbag cover, it has a design effect. Very large.

  By increasing the emblem, it is possible to increase the advertising effect of car manufacturers from the outside, and it can be used for various vehicles effective for sales such as vehicle sales.

It is a perspective view showing the whole air bag module concerning the present invention. It is a disassembled perspective view of the airbag module which concerns on this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the shape of the leg part used when attaching a decoration member to a coating | coated part. It is principal part sectional drawing which shows the fracture | rupture schedule groove | channel periphery when attaching a decoration member to a coating | coated part and crimping a leg part. It is principal part sectional drawing which shows the change of the fracture | rupture plan groove | channel at the time of airbag deployment. It is principal part sectional drawing of the fracture | rupture plan groove periphery at the time of making the tear line slit of this invention into a thin part from the through-hole. It is a perspective view which shows the case where a decoration member is installed ranging over a door plan part and the general part of the periphery of it.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 .... Container part which accommodates an air bag 2 .... Cover 3 .... First decorative member 4 .... Second decorative member 5 .... Air bag door 6 .... Air Back door 10 ... Base plate 11 ... Bracket 12 ... Projection 13 ... Peripheral wall part 21 ... Cover part 22 ... Peripheral wall part 23 ... First recess 24・ ・ ・ ・ Second recess 25 ・ ・ ・ ・ Tear line
25a ··· Center horizontal portion 25b ··· Side portion 25c ··· Slanted portion 25d ··· Terminal portion 26 · · · through hole 27 · · · tear line slit 28 ··· Stop slit 29... Projection 30... Thin wall portion 31... Leg portion 32 ... Design surface 35 ... Breaking groove 35 a ... Slope 35 b ... Slope 36 ... Valley 40 ... Peripheral wall 41 ... Leg 42 ... Design surface 50 ... Door planned part 51 ... General part

Claims (3)

An airbag cover having a covering portion that covers a folded airbag, wherein the covering portion is divided into an adjacent portion and a planned door portion that is ruptured and deployed by inflation of the airbag, and is broken. A separate decorative member arranged on the surface side of the covering portion is attached across the adjacent portion and the planned door portion beyond the planned line, and the planned fracture line is narrow at the portion overlapping the decorative member. The decorative member has a wide width toward the narrow-width through-hole at a location facing the narrow-width through-hole so as to be broken at a trough that is the minimum thickness portion of the planned breaking groove. An air bag cover characterized in that it is a groove to be broken. An airbag cover having a covering portion that covers a folded airbag, wherein the covering portion is divided into an adjacent portion and a planned door portion that is ruptured and deployed by inflation of the airbag, and is broken. A separate decorative member arranged on the surface side of the covering portion is attached across the adjacent portion and the planned door portion beyond the planned line, and the planned fracture line is narrow at the portion overlapping the decorative member. The decorative member is formed as a groove to be ruptured with a wide width toward the thin portion at a position facing the thin portion so as to be broken at a valley portion which is the minimum thickness portion of the groove to be ruptured. An airbag cover characterized by that. The airbag cover according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the adjacent portion forms another scheduled door portion.

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