Patent ID: 9296354
Filing Date: 2016-03-29
CPC Classification: B60R

Claim Text:
1. An airbag cover assembly including layered, decorative cover pieces held together at a decorative seam, the assembly comprising: a two-piece plastic structural carrier, mountable in an automotive instrument panel, having an inner surface, an outer surface and a tear seam; a pair of leather cover pieces overlying the outer surface of the carrier to form a covered front panel and at least one covered deployment door configured to enclose a non-inflated airbag, the tear seam forming a substantially weakened area of the carrier adjacent to the at least one door wherein apposed peripheral edges of the cover pieces are folded under and are adjacent to one another to form the decorative seam adjacent to and aligned with the structurally weakened area, each of the cover pieces including a layer of leather bonded to the outer surface of the carrier and a resin coating overlying and protecting the leather layer; and stitches to hold the cover pieces together at the decorative seam, the stitches bursting in a controlled fashion and the structurally weakened area tearing during high-pressure impact during airbag deployment through the weakened area and through the decorative seam at the folded-under edges of the cover pieces.