Striker means for automotive door latch assembly

Abstract

To eliminate the need for forcibly closing the door to achieve a full closure of an automotive door, the striker which cooperates with the latch assembly of the door is not only allowed to move outwardly from its normal position but also adapted to be positively driven back to the normal position by a drive means. When the door is to be closed from its open position, since the striker has been displaced outwardly from its normal position, latching of the latch assembly with the striker is easily achieved by hand even when the reaction force of a weather strip is substantial. Then, the striker is positively driven inwardly to its normal position by the drive means against the reaction force of the weather strip. By appropriately controlling the drive means, very little force will be required to achieve the latching of the latch assembly with the striker and the complete closure of the door will be achieved by the drive means which may be an electric motor.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.