Grommets are generally made of metal, plastic, or rubber, depending upon the application. They need to prevent critical tearing or abrasion in pierced material, covering the edges of the piercing and protecting it from wire, cable, or line being routed through it.
In the case of the Knee Airbag Grommet, the metal component needed to be specially crafted for the automotive industry. It demanded exceptional strength and pressure resistance in order to fit and protect airbags in Ford Transit Vans.
The grommet, measuring 34mm x 18mm x 8mm draw, and was engineered to a 0.1mm tolerance. The depth of this draw falls at the upper limit of what a conventional stamping processes can create, and had to be developed to suit the product based upon finite element analysis.
United States
