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Passenger air bag mounting (PAB) and packaging have been a concern for the Automotive Industry for the last several years. The newer designs of instrument panels are sleeker, smaller and more like fighter plane cock pits. The tighter package size and convoluted instrument panel surfaces require better dimensional control of the air bag mounting locations. The fit and finish of the air bag door is influenced by the position of the air bag housing. The magnesium die cast housing used for the 1996 Chrysler Minivan is one of the keys to the successful seamless passenger door and sweeping I/P surface.

Passenger side air bags have been rapidly accepted by the public for the protection they provide; however, in exchange, they have created an issue with fit and finish detracting from the harmony and flow-through styling presently in vogue in vehicles. With the current plethora of materials and processes used to manufacture separate passenger side air bag doors and the inability to build components to a line on line fit, attempts to tune all these factors is a lesson in frustration. In 1992, a design and development team from Textron, Chrysler, Dow, and Allied Signal were given the assignment of making the 1996 Voyager/Caravan the industies first fully integrated seamless passenger air bag (PAB) door.