The Effects of Various Design Factors for Invisible Passenger-side Airbag Door Opening 2002-01-0184

Invisible Passenger-side Airbag (IPAB) door systems must be designed with a weakened area such that the airbag will break through the Instrument Panel (IP) in the intended manner, with no flying debris at any temperature. A predictive Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was carried out to calculate the effects of varying design factors (the length and thickness of kink-hinge, tear-line type and temperature) on the IPAB-door opening. The impact performance of plastic parts was considered, because the mechanical properties of thermoplastic materials are strongly dependent on strain rate.