Card connector

A card connector for accepting a card, which has a recess in its side surface and a plurality of contact pads on its bottom surface, and holding it in a connector housing so that the contact pads are in contact with contact terminals arranged in the connector housing, the card connector comprising:

• an eject mechanism having an eject member, the eject member being adapted to move in a card insertion direction as the card is inserted into the connector and to move in a card eject direction in response to a card eject operation to eject the card;
• an elastic locking piece having a locking portion to engage in the recess of the card and a stationary portion fixed in the eject member, the elastic locking piece being urged toward the card so that when the elastic locking piece is set free to move elastically by the urging force, the locking portion engages in the recess of the card;
• and
• a locking piece guide means for guiding the elastic locking piece to elastically deform it to move the locking portion away from the recess during the card eject operation and, during the card insertion operation, releasing the elastic locking piece from the elastic deformation to engage the locking portion in the recess of the card.