Air bag and lid arrangement for vehicle

Claim 1

An air bag, duct and lid arrangement for a vehicle comprising: an opening provided in an instrument panel of said vehicle; a facing portion disposed along one edge of said opening; a lid member disposed over said opening, and including a flange portion integrally formed along an inner side of an edge thereof corresponding to said one edge of said opening and projected so as to form an acute angle relative to said inner side of said lid member, said flange portion corresponding to said facing portion of said opening and joined therewith via fastening means, said flange portion forming a hinge of said lid member, bendable along where said flange portion projects from said inner side of said lid member; an air bag module mounted in said opening such that said air bag module is angularly oriented in the direction of said inner side of said lid member disposed over said opening, a positioning between said lid member and said mounted air bag module being established such that, in an early stage of inflation, in an inflation mode of an air bag of said air bag module, an expanding surface portion of said air bag will exert pressure directly on said inner side of said lid member at a location proximate said edge where said flange portion projects from said inner side of said lid member; and further comprising a duct in combination with said air bag and lid member, said duct provided behind said instrument panel of said vehicle, disposed behind and proximate to a rear side of said air bag at a location substantially behind and proximate said hinge of said lid member, said duct being formed of a material resiliently deformable according to contact therewith by any portion of any one of said lid member, said facing portion and said air bag module during inflation of said air bag.