The self-supporting instrument panel from Faurecia
Faurecia's self-supporting instrument panel
Creating extra space in car interiors is a constant battle for designers faced with shoehorning more and more complexity (even if hidden) into their vehicles. A solution from Faurecia, shown on its concept-car Premium Attitude, is its new self-supporting instrument panel (IP) that no longer requires a cross-car beam because sufficient strength is built into the structure of the IP itself. This means it can be much narrower and thinner and thus frees up space for designers to reconfigure the front interior ambience. This could simply provide more space for the front passenger or enable larger storage compartments to be fitted.
In fact, all this is possible without compromising safety due to another Faurecia innovation now ready for production. The IP’s airbag system swaps traditional metal or hard plastic lids (which can smash windshields if placed too close) for soft foam and mesh fabric ones which don’t have the same effect on glass and can therefore be positioned much closer to the windshield.
Usually the passenger side of an IP will have a glove box below with a function-less skin above – because there is an airbag behind it. On the Premium Attitude concept the airbag can be pushed further back while offering the same safety and gains an additional very furniture-like upward-opening glove box. These softer airbag lids also weigh less, their opening force is reduced by 50% and they release 30% less energy too.
Such airbag integration technology is available to automakers now for them to implement into future vehicle programs and should create great new opportunities for designers to redefine their car interiors in a very premium way. Three automakers are scheduled to launch vehicles featuring this technology in 2008.
