Development of Instrument Panel with Driver's Knee Air Bag 2003-01-2796
In recent years, calls for improving passive safety performance in vehicles have been growing worldwide. In response to these expectations, development of a knee air bag has been progressing as one of many effective safety systems, and is now becoming a standard in some vehicles. Following the global trend, we have succeeded in installing the world's first knee air bag in the driver's instrument panel of mass-market cars. The instrument panel incorporating the driver's knee air bag was installed in the “CALDINA”, a sport wagon with exciting and aggressive image. This model was released in Japan in September of last year, and has maintained its popularity. (Fig. 1 shows the outline, and Fig. 2 is a view around the instrument panel.)
The instrument panel we developed is an outstanding product that demonstrates high safety performance during a frontal collision with a driver's knee air bag, and at the same time, possesses an appealing instrument panel design.
