Patent ID: 6210614
Filing Date: 2001-04-03
Classification: B29C,B29L,B60R

Abstract:
A process for making a panel structure mountable in an automobile vehicle to form a part of the interior thereof and adapted to conceal a secondary restraint system, the panel structure comprising a layered composite structure and a reinforcing substrate including at least one movable door, the reinforcing substrate being hidden from the vehicle interior when the panel structure is mounted in the automobile vehicle, the layered composite structure comprising an outer layer defining at least a portion of an at least partially exposed exterior surface of the panel structure and an inner layer, said process comprising:applying a first composition comprising at least one base polymer and at least one coloring agent onto a first mold surface having a complementary configuration to the outer layer;heating and substantially drying the first composition while on the first mold surface to form the outer layer;disposing a seam-defining structure in spaced relation with the inner surface of the outer layer;rotational casting a casting composition comprising at least one base polymer onto an inner surface of the outer layer while on the first mold surface and gelling and fusing the casting composition to form the inner layer with a structurally weakened portion having a reduced thickness adjacent the outer layer, the structurally weakened portion being formed in a space interposed between the seam-defining structure and the inner surface of the outer layer, the outer and inner layer together defining the layered composite structure with the outer layer masking the structurally weakened portion from view when the panel structure is mounted in the automobile vehicle; anduniting the layered composite structure with the reinforcing substrate so that the reinforcing substrate reinforces the outer layer, the structurally weakened portion of the inner layer being constructed and arranged to permit cooperative association with the movable door such that when the panel structure is mounted in the automobile vehicle, actuation of the secondary restraint system displaces the door into a passengers' compartment of the vehicle and fractures the layered composite structure along at least a portion of the structurally weakened portion to create a passageway which permits an air bag of the secondary restraint system to deploy into the passengers' compartment of the vehicle.