Personal transportation vehicle with pivoting seat and cargo bay

A personal utility vehicle, comprising:

• a chassis having a motive source, a steering mechanism, and a plurality of wheels;
• a seat having a pivotable seat bottom pivotably attached to a platform supported by the chassis and a fixed seat back connected to the chassis, wherein the pivotable seat bottom is pivotable with respect to the fixed seat back and the platform, from a first position in which the pivotable seat bottom cooperates with the fixed seat back to define a seating area, to a second position in which the pivotable seat bottom defines one wall of a cargo bay, the seat back defines an opposing wall of the cargo bay, and the platform defines a closed bottom surface of the cargo bay extending between the one wall defined by the pivotable seat bottom and the opposing wall defined by the seat back;
• and
• a support rail connected to the chassis, wherein when the pivotable seat bottom is in the first position, the fixed seat back is positioned proximate one edge of the pivotable seat bottom and the support rail is positioned proximate an opposite edge of the pivotable seat bottom, so that the pivotable seat bottom pivots towards the support rail when moving from the first position to the second position.

A utility vehicle comprising:

• a pivotable seat connected by a hinge to a fixed platform, the pivotable seat configured to pivot between a first position and a second position, the first position defining a standard seat location and a second position defining a first wall of a cargo bay;
• a seat back configured to form a second wall of the cargo bay when the pivotable seat is in the second position, wherein the seat back remains in the same position to define the standard seat location and the cargo bay;
• and
• first and second opposing side walls positioned on either side of the pivotable seat, the side walls configured to form side barriers for the cargo bay when the pivotable seat is in the second position, wherein the first and second opposing side walls are each defined by a rail member having an open interior region.

A personal utility vehicle comprising:

• a chassis having a motive source, a steering mechanism and a plurality of wheels;
• a seat having a movable seat bottom and a seat back connected to the chassis;
• a stationary rail extending from the chassis;
• a cargo bay formed by moving the seat bottom from a substantially horizontal position to a second position, wherein in the second position the seat bottom defines one wall of the cargo bay and the seat back defines an opposing wall of the cargo bay, wherein the seat back need not move to convert the seat to the cargo bay;
• and
• first and second side restraints extending between the seat back and the seat bottom along opposing sides of the cargo bay.