Patent ID: 7690677

Claim:
A trim panel for concealing an air bag, said panel comprising: a substrate; a cover over the substrate, the cover including a foam layer and a cover skin, the foam layer being between the substrate and the cover skin; and a tear seam, the tear seam having at least a portion comprising a pattern of alternating residual wall thicknesses in the panel, wherein the pattern comprises spaced-apart bridges of substantially uninterrupted foam having a length of 0.1 to 100 mm and a width of 0.05 to 5.0 mm to provide support to the cover skin, and wherein the alternating residual wall thickness comprises alternating first and second sets of voids, with the first set of voids having a first depth D 1 , and the second set of voids having a second depth D 2 , less than the first depth, with the voids of the first sets of voids extending into the cover skin such that the cover skin adjacent to the first set of voids has a first residual wall thickness (RWT 1 ) of 2.5% to 30% of the thickness T of the remainder of the skin.