Latch assembly

A latch disabling assembly for a rear door of a vehicle having a front face positioned in juxtaposition with a rear face of a front door of the vehicle when the front door is moved into the closed position with respect to the vehicle, the latch disabling assembly comprising:

• a latch release lever pivotally mounted on the rear door for movement between a latching and a releasing position;
• a release handle pivotally mounted on the rear door for movement between a first position corresponding to said latching position, and a second position corresponding to said latch releasing position;
• linkage means pivotally mounted on the rear door for effecting movement between said release handle and said latch release lever;
• a lost motion mechanism operatively carried between said release handle and said linkage means for selectively preventing the transmittal of motion therebetween when the front door and the rear door are both in the closed position, further comprising an intermediate linkage selectively engageable between said latch release lever and said release handle;
• a floating pin mounted for relative sliding movement with respect to said intermediate linkage and said release handle;
• a lockout lever for being pivotally mounted on said rear door and receiving said floating pin for sliding movement with respect thereto between a first position transmitting movement between said release handle and said latch release lever, and a second position not transmitting such movement;
• and
• an operating lever for being pivotally mounted on the rear door and operatively connected to said lockout lever and having a finger portion for projecting forwardly from the front face of the rear door and engaging the rear face of the front door as the front and rear doors move from open to closed positions with respect to each other to move said lockout lever between said first and second positions.