Patent ID: 8505969

Claim:
A knee airbag module for protecting a vehicle occupant comprising: a housing containing an inflatable airbag and an inflator for providing gas for inflating the airbag; and wherein the inflatable airbag is configured to inflate and deploy out of the housing into a position forward of knees of the vehicle occupant; where the inflatable airbag includes front and rear panels that are connected together to form an inflatable chamber; wherein when the inflatable airbag deploys the front panel is adjacent to an instrument panel of the vehicle and the rear panel is adjacent to the vehicle occupant; wherein the front panel includes an opening and wherein edges of the opening are connected together to form a substantially horizontal pleat so that a cross-sectional vertical length of the front panel is shorter than a cross-sectional vertical length of the rear panel; and wherein the inflatable airbag first deploys rearwardly and then upwardly to a position where the front panel is adjacent to an instrument panel of the vehicle and the rear panel is adjacent to the vehicle occupant.