Patent ID: 8893622

Claim:
An inflator assembly for a passenger vehicle safety airbag module comprising: an initiator with a housing and gas-generating tablets disposed within the housing, the gas-generating tablets being crushable into combustible powder, the initiator further comprising a casing assembly disposed within the housing with the gas-generating tablets being external to the casing assembly, the casing assembly having a pre-deployment mode and a deploying mode, the casing assembly comprising: (a) a tubular sidewall having opposed first and second ends while in the pre-deployment mode, the first end of the sidewall being secured about a squib, the sidewall between the second end thereof and the squib circumscribes an interior space for housing a combustible material ignitable by the squib; (b) an endwall secured to and closing the second end of the sidewall; and (c) a groove traversing the endwall and extending beyond the end wall along the sidewall toward the first end thereof, upon activation of the squib the casing assembly transitions from the pre-deployment mode to the deploying mode as pressure from the ignition of the combustible material causes the endwall and the sidewall on opposite sides of the groove to burst therealong creating flaps that pivot outwardly of the interior space about the first end of the sidewall to impact and crush at least a portion of the gas-generating tablets into combustible powder that combusts as a result of the impact.