Patent ID: 8683890

Claim:
A steering wheel provided with a generally annular ring section to be hand held for steering a vehicle, the ring section comprising a core member and a cladding layer that covers an entire outer circumference of the core member, wherein a first region of the cladding layer located on a side of the ring section facing toward a rotation center axis of the ring section has a greater occupancy by a soft region than in a second region of the cladding layer located on a side of the ring section facing away from the rotation center axis, such that a hardness in the first region is lower than that in the second region, and a hardness of the cladding layer is varied in a circumferential direction of a cross section of the ring section in which the core member is located at the center, wherein, as viewed in the cross section of the ring section as mounted on the vehicle, a center line passes through a center of a ring core of the core member, the center line extending generally in an up and down direction, the center line dividing substantially all of the cladding layer into the first region and the second region; wherein the cladding layer is made from synthetic resin and comprises a hard layer that covers the entire outer circumference of the core member and a soft layer that covers an outer circumference of the hard layer and is lower in hardness than the hard layer; wherein the soft layer has a greater thickness in the first region than in the second region; and wherein the soft layer gradually thins toward the side facing away from the rotation center axis in thickness in the cross section of the ring section, and covers an entire outer circumference of the hard layer.