JPH0747902A - Structure of air bag door for automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the structure of an air bag door which can open safely without peeling off and scattering from a net type hinge member even when an air bag is expanded and the air bag door is spread quickly. CONSTITUTION:An air bag door 10 installed on an opening part 21 in order to cover the spread opening part 21 of an air bag arranged on a cabin side member 20 is jointed with the air bag storing part 22 in the opening part 21 through a net type hinge member 15, which is buried integrally by an integration molding inside an air bag door main body 11.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a structure of an automobile air bag door.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, an airbag device on the passenger side of an automobile is mounted inside a member (specifically an instrument panel) on the front side of the passenger seat. An airbag deployment opening is formed in this vehicle interior side member, and the opening is covered by an airbag door having the same appearance as the vehicle interior side member in normal times. Then, when the vehicle receives a large impact due to a collision or the like, the airbag accommodated in the airbag accommodating portion (canister) in the opening portion is operated and inflates, and the expansion opening portion is caused by the inflation of the airbag. The airbag door that covers the vehicle is pushed open, and the airbag is deployed from the opening into the vehicle compartment to protect the occupant safely.

The inventors of the present invention have previously discussed, regarding the airbag door, in order to accurately and surely mount the airbag door at the airbag deployment opening provided in the vehicle interior member. Has been proposed (applied on June 4, 1993) in which the above-mentioned structure is connected to the air bag accommodating portion in the opening via a flexible hinge member such as a net-like hinge member. FIG. 9 shows an example thereof. Reference numeral 60 is an airbag door, 65 is a net hinge member, 70 is a member on the vehicle interior side, 71 is a deployment opening,
Reference numeral 2 is an airbag storage portion.

As shown in FIG. 9, according to this structure, since the airbag door 60 and the airbag storage portion 72 are connected by the hinge member 65 having flexibility, the passenger compartment member 70. The airbag door 60 can be easily and easily installed in the deployment opening 71 of the device, and the position can be easily adjusted even when a slight misalignment occurs between the two.
The airbag door 60 can be mounted accurately, reliably and beautifully.

By the way, the airbag door 60 and the flexible hinge member 65 are attached to the back surface of the door via an attaching plate 67 by an attaching tool 66 such as a rivet or a screw as shown in FIG. Thus, it is integrally attached to the back surface of the door by molding.

However, in such a structure, when the air bag is inflated and deployed and the door 60 is rapidly opened, a large stress is momentarily applied to the joint portion of the back surface of the door 60 with the flexible hinge member 65, and FIG. The mounting plate 67 portion of No. 1 is broken or the mounting portion root portion 65a of FIG. 10 is peeled off, and in the event of an accident, the door 60 is separated from the hinge member 65, which may cause an unexpected situation when it hits an occupant or a windshield. There is a risk. Such a problem becomes more serious when the flexible hinge member is made of a net-like material because the attachment portion is linear.

[0007]

Therefore, the present invention is
The present invention has been proposed in view of such problems, and the airbag door body is separated from the net-like hinge member even when the airbag door is rapidly opened and a large stress is applied to the net-like hinge member. It is intended to propose a structure of an airbag door that can be safely opened without doing so.

[0008]

That is, the present invention is
An airbag door attached to an opening for covering an airbag deployment opening provided in a vehicle compartment side member, the airbag door containing the airbag inside the opening via a net-like hinge member. Part of the
Further, the present invention relates to the structure of an automobile airbag door, characterized in that the net-shaped hinge member is integrally embedded in the airbag door main body by integral molding.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of an automobile airbag door structure of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the airbag door, and FIG. 3 is a molding process showing a first step of an example of a method of manufacturing the airbag door of the present invention. Sectional view of the mold, FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the door half obtained in the first step, FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the mold showing the second step, and FIG. 6 is an airbag door obtained in the second step. FIG. 7 is a sectional view of a forming die showing another example of the manufacturing method, and FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing yet another example of the manufacturing method.

As shown in FIG. 1, the airbag door 10 in this embodiment is formed into a predetermined door shape by a known means, and is provided on a vehicle compartment side member 20 such as an instrument panel. Air bag deployment opening 21
Attached to cover the opening 21.

An air bag accommodating portion (canister) 22 is provided inside the opening portion 21. An airbag (not shown) is folded and stored in the airbag storage portion 22.

The airbag door 10 of the present invention is attached to the deployment opening 21 by a net hinge member 15 so as to be openable and closable. The net-shaped hinge member 15
Has a relatively large portion on one end side attached to the airbag door 10, and the other end side attached to an attachment portion 24 above the airbag housing portion 22. This net-shaped hinge member 1
Reference numeral 5 indicates that the air bag door 10 is flexibly and flexibly connected to the accommodating portion 22, so that the air door 10 is attached to the air bag deployment opening portion 21 with a relatively high degree of freedom.

As shown in the dotted line portion of FIG. 1 and the sectional view of FIG. 2, the net-shaped hinge member 15 is integrally embedded in the airbag door main body 11 at one end side thereof and attached thereto. . Reference numeral 15A in the drawing represents a door-side buried portion of the net-like hinge member 15, and it is preferable that the buried portion 15A occupy an area of approximately half or more of the plane of the door body 11.

The net-like hinge member 15 and the airbag door 10 are firmly connected by this integrally embedded portion 15A, and even when a large stress is applied to the net-like hinge member 15, the net-like hinge member 15 and the airbag door body 1 are connected.
It does not separate from 1. Further, even if the airbag door 10 is cracked for some reason when the airbag door is opened and the airbag door main body 11 is split, the embedded portions 15A of the net-like hinge member interconnect the divided portions, The airbag door body 11 is prevented from being separated and scattered.

The material forming the above net-like hinge member 15 must have a strength capable of withstanding a tensile load when the airbag door 10 is deployed. For example, nylon 6 or nylon 6-6 fibers, or tough fibers such as polyester fibers and aramid fibers are preferable materials.

The fibers constituting the net-shaped hinge member 15 have a tensile strength of 100 kgf / 5 cm or more and an elongation of 15
%, The fiber diameter is preferably 500 denier or more in both length and width. A known plain weave or entwined weave type net is used, and the mesh diameter is about 0.5 to 3 mm.

Next, the airbag door 1 having the above structure.
An example of manufacturing method 0 will be described. First, FIGS. 3 to 6 relate to a method of molding door halves by known injection molding or stamping molding. As shown in FIG. 3, the cavity 2 of the lower mold 21 of the injection mold or the stamping mold.
The net 16 constituting the net-shaped hinge member 15 is arranged on the second mold 2, the slide mold 23 is slid to fix the position of the net 16, and the upper mold 24 is closed. And cavity 2
The resin material 25 that constitutes the door main body is introduced in FIG.
Obtaining the airbag door half 30 as shown in FIG.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5, the door half 30 obtained in the above step is placed in a predetermined position of the lower mold 41 so that the net surface 16 thereof is inside the cavity 23, and the upper mold 43 is arranged. After closing, the resin material 26 forming the door body is introduced. Reference numeral 42 in the figure is a slide mold for fixing the door half body 30 to the lower mold 41. In order to increase the adhesive force between the airbag door half 30 and the resin material 26,
An adhesive may be applied to the joint surface. In this way, the airbag door 10 in which the net 16 forming the net-shaped hinge member 15 is integrally embedded in the door body shown in FIG. 6 is obtained.

According to this manufacturing method, the net 16 is insert-molded at a predetermined position of the door half 30 in the first step, and finally embedded in the door body in the second step.
It can be reliably arranged at a predetermined embedding position.

Here, if the net 16 is laid a little, since the net 16 is formed of a bundle of fibers, it may be extended or deformed by resin pressure or the like when integrally molded with the resin material. In order to solve such a problem, it is preferable to previously coat the embedded portion of the net 16 with polyurethane or acrylic resin. This resin coating prevents the warp yarn portion and the weft yarn portion in the net-embedded portion from being displaced or deformed, and increases heat resistance during molding to suppress thermal deterioration of the fiber.

In this embodiment, the lower half of the door 10 was previously formed as the door half 30 in the first step, but as shown in FIG. 7, the upper half of the door 10 was previously formed as the door half 31. After molding, the lower half part may be integrally molded in the second step. In FIG. 7, reference numeral 45 is a lower mold of the second mold, 46 is an upper mold of the same, and 47 is a slide mold.

Further, FIG. 8 shows an example using stampable sheets 51, 51 which are a mixture of synthetic resin and long glass fibers. In this example, the net 16 is inserted between the two preheated stampable sheets 51, 51, and the net 16 is placed in a mold and pressed by a press machine to integrally form these.

[0023]

As shown and described above, according to the airbag door of the present invention, since the net-shaped hinge member is integrally embedded in the door body by integral molding, the connection between the two is extremely strong. Therefore, even when a large stress is applied to the hinge member attachment portion when the airbag is inflated, the net hinge member and the airbag door body are not separated from each other.

Further, even if the airbag door is cracked for some reason when the airbag door is opened and the airbag door main body is split, the embedded portions of the net-like hinge member interconnect the divided portions. The airbag door body is prevented from being separated and scattered.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of an automobile airbag door structure of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the airbag door.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a molding die showing a first step of an example of a method for manufacturing an airbag door of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the door half obtained in the first step.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a molding die showing the second step.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing the airbag door obtained in the second step.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a molding die showing another manufacturing method example.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing still another example of the manufacturing method.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a structural example of a conventional airbag door.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part of the airbag door.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Airbag Door 11 Airbag Door Main Body 15 Net-Shaped Hinge Member 15A Net-Shaped Hinge Member Embedded Part 16 Net 20 Vehicle Cabin Side Member 21 Deployment Opening 22 Airbag Storage

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An airbag door attached to an opening for covering an airbag deployment opening provided in a vehicle compartment side member, wherein the airbag door has the opening through a net-like hinge member. A structure of an automobile air bag door, wherein the net hinge member is connected to an air bag accommodating portion in the air bag and is integrally embedded in the air bag door body by integral molding.