Patent ID: 7441801

Claim:
A steering wheel equipped with an airbag device, comprising: a peripheral ring portion to be griped by a driver; a center pad portion coupled to said ring portion via a spoke portion; and an airbag device disposed in said pad portion, the airbag device being operative to inflate an airbag cushion, which is accommodated in a ring shape, toward the driver at a vehicle crash, wherein said pad portion includes a fixed portion that does not open according to the inflation of the airbag cushion and an open portion that is disposed around the fixed portion and opens according to the inflation of the airbag cushion, and at the fixed portion of said pad portion are provided an operational portion to operate a vehicle on-board device and an illuminator operative to illuminate the operational portion, wherein said operational portion is disposed so as to cover a large part of the fixed portion, and said illuminator includes a single clear plate that is disposed so as to cover most part of the operational portion and a light emitter to illuminate the operational portion, wherein said clear plate has a mask portion that masks part of a driver-side face thereof, and said light emitter is located behind the mask portion of the clear plate so that a light directly emitted by the light emitter can be intercepted by the mask portion, whereby an indirect illumination can be constituted.