Patent ID: 8360464

Claim:
An inflatable knee airbag assembly comprising: an inflatable knee airbag; an inflator coupled to the inflatable knee airbag; a housing coupled to the inflator, wherein the inflatable knee airbag is retained within the housing when the assembly is in a packaged configuration; and a cover coupled to the housing, wherein the cover comprises: a car-forward longitudinal side that comprises an end cap coupled to the housing via a first set of structures; an opposing car-rearward longitudinal side that comprises an end cap coupled to the housing via a second set of structures; two opposing lateral sides that are coupled to the housing; and a tear seam at only the car-rearward longitudinal side of the cover, wherein the inflatable knee airbag is configured to be expanded by the inflator to rupture the tear seam, and wherein, when the inflatable knee airbag is inflated: the knee airbag extends through the ruptured tear seam to exit the housing in a primarily car-rearward direction; and the end caps of both the car-forward longitudinal side and the car-rearward longitudinal side of the cover remain coupled to the housing via the first and second sets of structures.