Safety steering wheel for motor vehicles

Claim 1

Steering wheel for motor vehicles comprising: a rim, a hub recessed from the rim, spokes connecting the rim to the hub and deformable means disposed between the hub and rim, said deformable means comprising a substantially box-shaped, energy-absorbing deformable member of sheet metal disposed between the hub and rim of the steering wheel having two base portions connected to the spokes and stationary with respect to the rim, spokes and hub, deformable sides and a substantially nondeforming top portion movable relative to the rim, spokes and hub in response to the deformation of the sides each side being provided with a plurality of spaced longitudinal slots extending partially into the top portion and then downwardly along said side thereby subdividing each side into a plurality of independently deformable elements, the axial height of said member and the extent to which it can be deformed corresponding approximately to the distance between the plane of the rim of the steering wheel and that edge of the hub of the steering wheel which is disposed on the steering wheel side of said hub, whereby upon impact by a vehicle operator the deformable member deforms to cushion the blow of the operator.