Patent ID: 7029027

Claim:
An airbag door construction for airbag deployment comprising: a hard instrument panel having an integrally formed airbag door, said airbag door having an area of reduced cross-section outlining at least a portion of the periphery thereof; a reaction plate attached to the underside of said panel at said airbag door location; a deployment chute attached to the underside of said panel, said deployment chute attached to said panel in at least a portion of an area lying just outside of said area of reduced cross-section; a tether assembly wherein said assembly comprises a tether having two ends wherein the first end engages said reaction plate and the second end engages said deployment chute, whereupon airbag deployment said airbag door and said reaction plate may at least partially detach from said instrument panel and be retained by said tether, wherein one or both of said reaction plate or deployment chute is attached to said instrument panel by vibration welding.