Patent ID: 7168731

Claim:
An airbag apparatus for an automobile, comprising an airbag disposed in a folded condition behind an interior panel which is formed of a multi-layer sheet including a surface layer, an intermediate foam layer, and a base layer and which has front and rear hinge grooves and left and right fracture grooves for defining a fracture-opening section at a position corresponding to that of the airbag, and a center fracture groove for dividing the fracture-opening section into front and rear fracture-opening subsections to be split apart from each other in a casement condition while being hinged on the front and rear hinge grooves, wherein each of the hinge grooves, the center fracture groove, and the left and right fracture grooves is formed of a series of holes formed on an inside surface of the interior panel through irradiation with a laser beam; the holes constituting each of the hinge grooves include holes having a depth which is about half the thickness of the base layer of the interior panel, and holes for thickness measurement which are formed at predetermined intervals and have a depth for passing through the foam layer and reaching a thicknesswise central portion of the surface layer; the holes constituting the center fracture groove have a depth for passing through the foam layer and reaching a thicknesswise central portion of the surface layer; and the holes constituting each of the left and right fracture grooves include holes having a depth for reaching a position near the boundary between the base layer and the intermediate foam layer, and holes for thickness measurement which are formed at predetermined intervals and have a depth for passing through the foam layer and reaching a thicknesswise central portion of the surface layer.