Yanfeng’s instrument panel and passenger airbag integrated safety solution changes the traditional way of assembling and creates value for the future

Yanfeng, a leading global automotive supplier, presents a new solution for
integrating the passenger airbag into the instrument panel. This is an
example of the cross-divisional collaboration between the Interior and
Safety Business Units of the company. This new airbag module provides an
integrated safety solution with reduced package size, weight, cost and
improved performance, while at the same time providing greater design
freedom for interior designers and engineers and a leaner manufacturing
process.

Airbag modules integrated into the instrument panel typically use a separate
housing and are installed in many cases at the customer location and
supplied separately from the instrument panel manufacturers creating added
cost and complexity in logistics and testing. Therefore, chute structures,
as part of the instrument panels, and passenger airbag module housings are
developed as separate parts, resulting in an interface that does not reflect
potential synergies very well. The new application combines the airbag chute
and module housing into a single part, reducing weight, package space
consumption and overall system costs. This results in lower energy
requirements to produce the passenger airbag system, as one component is
omitted. The new instrument panel integrated airbag module demonstrates
Yanfeng’s successful commitment in reducing the carbon footprint by 50%.

“This new integration approach is a small but very important step for a more
sustainable future, and improved efficiencies in engineering and
manufacturing costs for both Yanfeng and our customers. Another benefit is
that with our unique safety systems and interiors integration capabilities,
we can leverage synergies and achieve weight savings of up to 23%. We can
offer the new passenger airbag integration for all instrument panels, and in
all vehicle segments,” said Mike Hague, Vice President and General Manager
of Yanfeng Safety Systems in Europe and North America.
Design freedom is another advantage, as the airbag module can adapt to any
instrument panel design. Less space is required due to the removal of
redundant structures, approximately 10-12 mm surrounding the airbag module.

Fewer interfaces thanks to combined manufacturing assembly

In addition to redesigning the airbag-chute/housing of the passenger airbag,
Yanfeng is also optimizing the manufacturing process. The idea is to
integrate the airbag already within the instrument panel production line and
assemble it together with it. This results in a reduction of costs, gains
space and creates synergies in the development process.

In the future, this will enable the customer to procure a pre-assembled
instrument panel with the airbag modules from one single source.

“The improvement of the new solution is that the airbag module is an
integral component of the instrument panel,” explained Hague. “This also
leads to leaner project management between the supplier and the automaker.”

The new instrument panel and passenger airbag integration from Yanfeng is
ready for series production for the next vehicle generation. This product
was recently honored with a 2022 Altair Enlighten Award in the ‘Future of
Lightweighting’ category. This is the industry’s only award dedicated to
vehicle lightweighting.