Slideway for a vehicle seat, and a seat including such a slideway

A slideway for a vehicle seat which includes a seat back capable of being tilted down forwards on a seat proper, said slideway comprising:

• a "stationary" first rail designed to be secured to the vehicle;
• a "moving" second rail designed to support the seat proper, said moving rail being disposed parallel to the stationary rail and being mounted to slide along said stationary rail in a "longitudinal" direction;
• a latch mounted on the moving rail, said latch being movable between firstly a locked position in which it co-operates with the stationary rail to prevent the two rails moving relative to each other, and secondly an unlocked position in which it co-operates with the stationary rail and enables the moving rail to slide relative to the stationary rail;
• a latch spring urging the latch towards its locked position;
• means for manually displacing the latch from its locked position to its unlocked position;
• an unlocking lever pivotally mounted on the moving rail to move between two angular positions, firstly an active position in which said unlocking lever acts on the latch holding it in its unlocked position, and secondly a rest position in which said unlocking lever does not act on the latch;
• means for moving the unlocking lever from its rest position to its active position, said means being designed to be actuated by the seat back being tilted down forwards;
• a lever spring for urging the unlocking lever towards its rest position;
• and
• at least one first abutment member secured in permanent manner to the stationary rail and causing the unlocking lever to return to its rest position when the moving rail is in a predetermined position relative to the stationary rail and when the means for moving the lever are not actuated;
• wherein said slideway further includes a trigger pivotally mounted relative to the moving rail, said trigger being movable between firstly a blocking angular position where it co-operates with the unlocking lever when said lever is in its active position to prevent said unlocking lever from returning to its rest position, and secondly a retracted position where said trigger does not prevent the unlocking lever from returning towards its rest position, the trigger being urged resiliently towards its blocking position, and said trigger further including an actuator finger which comes into contact with said first abutment member when the moving rail is in said predetermined position relative to the stationary rail to cause the trigger then to be moved into its retracted position by a camming effect, the lever spring being a traction spring which is mounted between a first attachment point secured to the unlocking lever and a second attachment point secured to the trigger, said attachment points being disposed so that the first attachment point moves away from the second attachment point when the unlocking lever goes from its rest position to its active position, and so that the second attachment point moves away from the first attachment point when the trigger goes from its blocking position to its retracted position, the lever spring thus urging the trigger towards its blocking position while simultaneously urging the unlocking lever towards its rest position.