Side portions of a guide member mounting portion of the instrument panel include a panel side welding guide surface integrally formed therewith. The panel side welding guide surface is spaced apart from the back surface of the instrument panel. Side portions of the guide member include a guide side welding guide surface integrally formed with the guide member. The panel side welding guide surface and the guide side welding guide surface overlap each other. One of the guide side welding guide surface and the panel side welding guide surface includes a position regulating recess. The other of the guide side welding guide surface and the panel side welding guide surface includes a position regulating protrusion that fits into the position regulating recess during vibration welding.

An instrument panel (10) includes a base material portion (20) made of a base material M1 and a different material portion (30) made of a different material M2 having a different thermal shrinkage from that of the base material M1, and in the instrument panel (10), the base material portion (20) and the different material portion (30) are connected in a state such that at least a part of the two materials do not overlap.

A moulding assembly includes a foaming mould having two parts which when assembled together define a moulding inner cavity; a furnishing front part and a support part of a dashboard having a first breakable flap for allowing the exit of a passenger airbag when inflated during a crash. The support part is attached to the first part of the mold and the furnishing front part is attached to the second part of the mold such that an inner space is defined between the support part and furnishing front part. The support part includes slots and the first part includes perforation tabs passing through the slots. The slots are distributed conforming a perforation web defining weakening lines around at least a part of an outline of the first breakable flap of the support part and a longitudinal length of the perforation tabs is greater than the depth of the slots.

A method of making a vehicle interior panel having a molded-in airbag door includes cutting a hinge layer of the panel while the hinge layer is supported in a panel molding tool. The hinge layer can be in the form of a reinforcing net and is cut along a perimeter of the airbag door away from the airbag door hinge. The cutting occurs in the molding tool either before or after molding material is introduced into the mold cavity. The cutting also occurs before, during, or after the molding tool is closed from an open condition. A cutter of the molding tool is either stationary or moveable with respect to the portion of the molding tool from which it extends.

Methods for making inflatable interior panel arrangements for motor vehicles are provided. In one example, a method for making inflatable interior panel arrangement for a motor vehicle includes introducing a molding material into a molding tool that has tooling surfaces. The molding material is contacted with a first tooling surface of the tooling surfaces having a tooling surface temperature different than tooling surface tempe. The molding tool is closed such that the tooling surfaces define a substantially enclosed cavity in the molding tool. An inflatable interior panel is formed comprising rotating the molding tool to cover the tooling surfaces of the substantially enclosed cavity with the molding material. The inflatable interior panel comprises an inflatable bladder section and an outer panel section that is integrally coupled to the inflatable bladder section and that has a panel portion stiffness greater than a bladder portion stiffness of the inflatable bladder section.

A method is provided to fabricate an injection molded piece with a weakened portion in an injection molding system having a cavity defined by a fixed mold part and a moveable mold part. The method comprises injecting raw material in a liquid state into the cavity to form the injection molded piece; moving a weakening insert into the injection molded piece from a first surface of the injection molded piece; injecting a gas to the first surface of the injection molded piece with a controlled pressure, wherein moving the weakening insert into the injection molded piece and injecting the gas are performed while the injection molded piece is in the liquid state.

Method for producing a plastic component by an injection moulding process, which plastic component comprises a main body that includes at least one component section being a predetermined breaking region having a wall thickness smaller than the other sections of the main body. The method comprises: injecting a plasticized plastic compound into a mould cavity of an injection mould for forming the main body, the mould cavity being dimensioned so the region on the main body in which the component section is to be formed is formed with an excess wall thickness, moving at least one sliding element on the injection mould against the region on the main body in which the component section is to be formed in order to form the component section so that the wall thickness is smaller than the other sections of the main body, cooling and removing the plastic component from the mould cavity.

The lid portion has a first body, a first rib protruding from the first surface of the first body and extending along the first surface, and the storage section has a second body, a second rib protruding from the second surface of the second body and extending along the second surface. The first and second ribs have main welded portions welded at intersections crossing each other, and the lid portion and/or the storage portion has main welded portions extending from one of the first and second ribs to the other between the main welded portions adjacent to each other. The lid portion and/or the storage section has an auxiliary rib extending from one of the first and second ribs to the other between the adjacent main welded portions, and the auxiliary rib has a sub-welded portion that is welded to the other at the intersection with the other.

A method of manufacturing a chute panel of an airbag assembly. The method comprises forming a substrate from a first material to have a body having first and second ends and a longitudinal axis extending therebetween and a void residing in the body. The method further comprises forming a chute and a chute door from a second material. The chute comprises a base molded onto the substrate body and one or more sidewalls extending from the base. And wherein forming the chute door comprises filling the void in the substrate body with the second material to form the chute door.

A vehicle interior/trim component configured to support an airbag module is disclosed. The component may comprise a structural substrate with a reinforcement to provide a door/opening for airbag deployment. The reinforcement may comprise a pattern of threads (e.g. top stitch to secure the door and bottom stitch). The reinforcement may comprise threads sewn within and/or pressed into a surface of a substrate/panel. The top stitch thread weight may be greater than that of the bottom stitch. The top stitch may comprise a retaining thread/hinge; the bottom stitch may separate upon deployment. The reinforcement may comprise KEVLAR, aramid, nylon, polyester, thread, ceramic fibers, polymeric fibers, synthetic fibers, etc. The structural substrate may comprise a fiber panel, compression-formed component, generally rigid fiber mat, etc. The component may be formed by injecting resin into a mold to form an ancillary component of a composite structure.