Patent ID: 8535584

Claim:
A method of manufacturing an automotive interior member, comprising: providing a first mold, and a second mold having a protrusion portion; arranging the first mold and the second mold so as to form a cavity having a predetermined size, the cavity including a main cavity portion and a horizontal cavity portion connected to the main cavity portion, the horizontal cavity portion extending substantially perpendicularly to the main cavity portion, and the protrusion portion being arranged to protrude into the horizontal cavity portion; supplying molten resin material having a foaming agent into the cavity; forming a substantially-planar main body of the automotive interior member with the resin material in the main cavity portion such that the main body has a predetermined thickness; forming a substantially-planar wall portion of the automotive interior member with the resin material in the horizontal cavity portion; forming a groove in a surface of the wall portion with the protrusion portion of the second mold, the surface of the wall portion facing outward from a vehicle compartment when the automotive interior member is installed in the vehicle compartment, the groove having a dimension longer in an opening direction in which at least one of the first mold and the second mold is moved to open the cavity than in a thickness direction of the wall portion, the opening direction being substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the main cavity portion; and moving one of the first mold and the second mold relative to the other of the first mold and the second mold in the opening direction so that a size of the main cavity portion increases to the predetermined thickness of the main body and the molten resin material foams in the cavity, forming the automotive interior member, wherein said forming the groove includes forming the groove in a central portion of the wall portion, wherein said providing the first mold and the second mold includes providing the second mold so as to have the protrusion in a substantially triangular shape in a cross-sectional view, and wherein said forming the groove includes forming the groove in a V-shaped valley.