Patent ID: 7118131

Claim:
An apparatus for absorbing energy in a collapsible steering column of a vehicle in response to an excessive frontal impacting force to the steering column so that injury to the vehicle operator is reduced comprising: an anvil for variably transmitting an amount of energy associated with collapse of a steering column by being movable with respect to a spaced axis and having a plurality of different bending profiles radially spaced with respect to said axis, wherein said plurality of different bending profiles includes at least one area defining a planar notch portion formed in an exterior surface of said anvil; a strap for absorbing energy transmitted by said anvil by being deformable during sliding movement across one of said profiles; and a moving device for adjusting an amount of energy absorbed by said strap by moving said anvil with respect to said axis to selectively position one of said bending profiles adjacent to said strap to adjust a rate of deformation of said strap.