Patent ID: 6942246

Claim:
A passenger protection device on a steering wheel of a vehicle with a steering wheel airbag module, the steering wheel airbag module being mounted behind a hub cover and containing at least one folded airbag and at least one gas generator, the hub cover having a stationary center area as first wall area about which is mounted a second wall area directly joined to the first wall area by an edge connection area, it being possible for an annular gap to be formed around the stationary center area in the second wall area in an event of airbag activation, the airbag being correspondingly annular in form with a tubular area associated with the annular gap and emerging from such gap when the airbag is in an inflated state, and it being possible for the annular gap to be formed immediately around the stationary center area in the event of airbag activation as a result of expansion and opening of at least the edge connection area of the second wall area, characterized in that the edge connection area of the second wall area is clamped to the stationary center area when the passenger protection device has not been activated, and the edge connection area is extracted from the clamping by the airbag during inflation and is expanded and opened around the stationary center area for formation of the annular gap.