is made of a suitable material such as plastic cardboard wood fiber or a combination thereof and may be covered with cloth vinyl leather or carpeting as is known in the art the energy absorbing vehicle door 10 further includes at least one and preferably a plurality of energy absorbing bolsters 46 47 48 49 50 as seen in fig4 the energy absorbing bolsters 46 47 48 49 50 are preferably foam material blocks made from polyurethane foam but may also be made of other suitable materials such as expanded beads aluminum or paper honeycomb the energy absorbing bolsters 46 47 are generally rectangular in shape and have a predetermined crush strength large enough to withstand and transmit a side impact load to the trim panel 34 so as to overcome the retaining force of the lower fasteners 44 on lower end 42 to deploy the trim panel 34 into the occupant seating area 16 with the bolsters 46 47 in a substantially undeformed condition the energy absorbing bolsters 46 47 may have different crush strengths shapes and thicknesses as required for protection of the pelvis and leg regions of the occupant 18 crush strengths between 20 45 psi are typical for bolsters 46 47 the energy absorbing bolsters 48 49 50 are preferably of different crush strengths shapes and thicknesses for protection of the chest region of the occupant 18 crush strengths of 5 20 psi are typical for bolsters 48 49 50 it should be noted that the embodiments of the energy absorbing door in fig2 and 5 9 do not show or only show.