Vehicle seat with perimeter frame and pelvic catcher

A vehicle seat comprising:

• a seat bottom frame for providing support of a thigh and pelvic region of a 95 percentile male seated occupant;
• a seat back frame, generally U-shaped, with an upper cross member with legs being selectively adjustably pivotally mounted with respect to the seat bottom frame, the seat back frame legs supporting a seat back suspension therebetween for supporting a torso region of the seated occupant, the upper cross member oriented to be at a vertical height generally at least approximately 470 millimeters along a line generally parallel to the torso of the seated occupant from an H point of the seated occupant, and the upper cross member oriented to be concavely bowed toward a front end of the seat when the upper cross member is under a height of approximately 525 millimeters from the H point of the seated occupant along a line generally parallel to the torso line of the seated occupant and
• a plastically deformable lower cross member having ends fixably connected to the seat back frame legs and being, toward the front end of the seat, concavely bowed, the lower cross member having a major dimension oriented to be generally parallel to the torso of the seated occupant and having a major dimension length of approximately at least 25 millimeters, the lower cross member having an upper and a lower end, the lower cross member upper end oriented to be vertically above the H point of the seated occupant at a distance of 55.+-.20 millimeters when the seat back frame is positioned, in a normal seating position and where in a crash situation when the seat back frame is excessively loaded rearwardly, the lower cross member deforms to pivot its lower end further away from the seat back frame legs than its top end to capture the seated occupant's pelvic region between the lower cross member and the bottom frame.