Patent ID: 8544879
Filing Date: 2013-10-01
Classification: B60R

Abstract:
1. An active bolster for mounting at an interior trim surface of an automotive vehicle, comprising: a plastic-molded, expandable inner wall; a plastic-molded outer wall joined around a substantially closed perimeter with the inner wall to form an inflatable bladder, wherein the outer wall has a substantially-planar first bladder surface facing the inner wall and the inner wall has a second bladder surface facing the outer wall; and an inflator for coupling an inflation gas into the inflatable bladder in response to a crash event of the vehicle; wherein the second bladder surface has an inner vessel region with a substantially-planar portion and an outer pleated region with a plurality of circumferential pleats, wherein each pleat has an inward edge and an outward edge, and wherein adjacent pleats are continuous so that the inward edge of an outer pleat is shared as the outward edge of an inner pleat; and wherein the pleat edges have a stepped spacing from the first bladder surface that progressively decreases from an innermost inward edge of the pleated region to an outermost outward edge of the pleated region, whereby adjacent pleats unfold during inflation such that an inner one of the adjacent pleats is unfolding with a substantially uniform pressure when an outer one of the adjacent pleats begins to unfold.