Doors for motor vehicles include door trim panel assemblies having multiple door trim panels held together at attachment points. A door trim panel includes a weakened perimeter formed from a series of apertures in the panel, creating a predetermined breakaway point where the assembly will rupture in the event a load is applied. Methods for tuning the durability of a trim panel assembly include a repeatable cycle in which pins are selected and inserted in a mold at varying positions. During injection molding, the pins form apertures to create a predetermined breakaway point. Changing the size, shape, and location of the pins allows tuning of the durability and properties of the breakaway point. Injection molds have variable pin placement capability to facilitate the method.

A vehicle interior panel and method of manufacturing a vehicle interior panel for use over an airbag. The vehicle interior panel includes a substrate having an airbag door with one or more t-shaped stiffening ribs embedded in the airbag door. The t-shaped stiffening ribs help increase the rigidity of the airbag door, which can help improve deployment performance of the airbag. The t-shaped stiffening ribs may be co-molded or insert molded with the substrate.

A method of molding a collapsible, foam plastic container; the method employs two half-molds defining a molding chamber negatively reproducing the container in an erect work configuration, and forms a hinge for each lateral wall of the container when molding the container; each hinge being formed by a parting member which is inserted through the molding chamber at the hinge to be formed, and by a compression member opposite the parting member and which is moved towards the parting member to form, on the lateral wall, a small-section, higher-density portion defining the respective hinge.

There is disclosed a mould for forming a collapsible container from an expandable material, the container comprising, when assembled, at least a base and a two pairs of a side walls extending at right angles from opposing sides of the base, the mould comprising: a first mould member and a second mould member movable with respect to each other between an open and a closed moulding position to define a mould cavity; a control means for delivering expandable material into said mould cavity and for delivering steam to facilitate expansion of the expandable material within said mould cavity to form said container; and a plurality of anvils mounted on a rear surface of at least one of the first mould member and/or second mould member, each anvil being movable so as to be extended into the mould cavity so as to form one or more hinges in the expandable material at predetermined locations within the mould cavity; wherein the mould cavity defined by the first mould member and the second mould member is a three-dimensional representation of an inside-out configuration of the assembled container.

A process for manufacturing a rubber patch comprising a radiofrequency transponder, the patch having a first layer and a second layer, the method comprising moulding and vulcanizing a first layer, the exterior surface of which comprises a cavity able to receive a radiofrequency transponder, placing a transponder in the cavity, and then placing and vulcanizing a second layer in order to embed the transponder between the two layers.

An instrument panel (10) is formed by bonding a base material portion (20) composed of a base material M1 and a different material portion (30) composed of a different material M2. The different material portion (30) is infiltrated into the base material portion (20) and the infiltration portion (33) has a plurality of intermittent recessed portions.

A lining element for use in a vehicle in order to cover an airbag includes a dimensionally stable backing layer with a first predetermined breaking region which is delimited from a surrounding region and/or from a second predetermined breaking region by at least one predetermined breaking line, where a plurality of regularly spaced predetermined breaking points are disposed along the predetermined breaking line.

A lining element for use in a vehicle in order to cover an airbag includes a dimensionally stable backing layer with a first predetermined breaking region which is delimited from a surrounding region and/or from a second predetermined breaking region by at least one predetermined breaking line, where a plurality of regularly spaced predetermined breaking points are disposed along the predetermined breaking line.

The invention concerns a mold for forming an element for covering a lining of a seat member for a motor vehicle, comprising: a matrix (62) provided with ribs (624) for defining style extension lines (36); and a punch (64) provided with ribs (642), to either side of a line of the ribs (624) of the matrix (62).

A blank for a box made from an expandable material, which is initially molded to be substantially flat and in which folds forming hinges are to be made to enable the formation of the box. The tooling defines the shape of the blank is such as to provide a thickness of the expanded material that is less than the thickness of a major portion of the blank, in which folds are to be made having defined edges, generally in the direction of each fold; the fold and subsequently applying pressure along an area where folds are to be permitted to reduce the blank are made without removing material therefrom for providing hinges to permit formation of the box. A related method for making the blank and a box that is made from the blank are further provided.