Locking device for a vehicle door

Abstract

A locking device for a vehicle door has a lock disposed between an inside panel and an outside panel of the vehicle door fastened to the inside panel, which lock has a release lever for eliminating the locking position of the lock. An outside operating mechanism acts upon the release lever by way of a force transmission element, the outside operating mechanism having a supporting part fastened to the interior side of the outside panel and a swivelable pull handle arranged on the exterior side. In order to ensure, also in the case of relatively large-surface doors and relatively heavy outside operating mechanisms, that, when a lateral acceleration of approximately 30 g acts upon the vehicle, the locking device is not opened unintentionally, a catching device is provided adjacent to the lock within the vehicle door, which catching device, during a defined lateral acceleration acting upon the vehicle, interacts with the supporting part of the outer operating mechanism and limits a bulging of the outside panel toward the outside.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.