Patent ID: 8371634

Claim:
In motor vehicle the combination comprising: a vehicle body structure having a front pillar; a vehicle door hingedly mounted on the pillar for swinging movement between open and closed positions; a weather strip mounted on the pillar and engaged by the door when the door is in the closed position; a fender mounted on the vehicle body structure forward of the vehicle door, the fender being spaced outwardly from the front pillar to define a hollow space, and the fender extending forward from the pillar adjacent a vehicle engine and a vehicle tire so that engine noise and tire noise is communicated into the hollow space; and a noise insulator panel mounted within and filling the hollow space between the pillar and the fender so as to block and absorb the communication of noise to the weather strip; the noise insulator panel including: a housing portion of compressible foam material with a base wall that fits in compression between the pillar and the fender to block the communication of noise and a sidewall that extends forwardly from the base wall to define a cavity facing forwardly toward the engine and the tire, and an absorber portion that fills the cavity of the housing portion, said absorber portion being a fibrous material that is secured within the cavity of the housing portion and acts to absorb noise.