Patent ID: 7441806

Claim:
A vehicle knee bolster assembly, comprising: a cross member extending laterally across a vehicle; and a knee bolster including a frame secured to said cross member, said frame having a closed cross sectional configuration with a hollow interior and further having a plurality of partition walls which divide said interior of said frame so as to form, together with said frame, a plurality of inner frames each having a closed cross sectional configuration and a hollow interior, said plurality of inner frames defining at least two crush zones spaced apart from said cross member that collapse sequentially as said knee bolster is forcibly deflected, each of said at least two crush zones formed by at least one of said plurality of inner frames having said hollow interior and said closed cross sectional configuration, and wherein a first crush zone of said at least two crush zones is formed by a first section having a contact segment adapted to first receive forces transmitted from an associated impacting knee of a vehicle occupant, said first section further including rounded segments extending from ends thereof and angled segments extending from said rounded segments to said contact segment at a location disposed between said ends of said contact segment, said first crush zone further formed by a second section having hooked segments extending from said rounded segments and connected to one another by a bridge segment.