Adjustable vehicle seat

A vehicle seat comprising:

• a) a vehicle floor;
• b) a seat occupant supporting surface;
• c) a base disposed between the vehicle floor and the seat occupant supporting surface;
• d) a slide rail carried by the base;
• e) a slide rail carried by the vehicle floor that cooperates with the base slide rail for permitting the vehicle seat to be moved relative to the vehicle floor;
• f) wherein one of the slide rails is of plastic construction;
• g) wherein the one slide rail has a plastic upper slide rail portion and a plastic lower slide rail portion spaced from the upper slide rail portion by an interconnecting plastic web defining a channel between the plastic upper and lower slide rail portions that is of substantially straight construction for receiving a portion of the other slide rail and which supports the other slide rail without any roller bearings, ball bearings or needle bearings disposed between the vehicle floor slide rail and the base slide rail.

A vehicle seat oriented in a fore to aft direction comprising:

• a) a vehicle floor;
• b) a non-metallic base carried by the vehicle floor;
• c) a seat occupant supporting surface carried by the base;
• d) a spring carrier in operable communication with either the base or the seat and having a receptacle for receiving a spring that is constructed and arranged to permit the spring to be moved fore and aft relative to the seat;
• e) at least one non-metallic and generally cylindrical spring disposed between the base and the seat with at least a portion of the spring in operable communication with the spring receiving receptacle;
• f) a seat slide rail carried by the base;
• e) a seat slide rail supported by the vehicle floor which cooperates with the seat slide carried by the base to permit the seat to be moved fore and aft relative to the vehicle floor;
• f) wherein the spring carrier has a spring receiving receptacle that comprises a channel constructed and arranged to receive the spring while allowing the spring to be moved along the channel;
• g) wherein the channel is defined by a pair of spaced apart sidewalls, a pair of spaced apart endwalls, and a bottom wall joining the sidewalls;
• and
• h) wherein the spring bears against the bottom wall when it is received in the channel and a load is applied to the seat.

A vehicle seat comprising:

• a) a vehicle floor;
• b) a seat upon which a seat occupant can sit;
• c) a plastic base disposed between the vehicle floor and the seat with the base having a recess and a pair of spaced apart longitudinally extending integral top seat slide rails with each rail having a channel defined by a plastic upper seat slide rail portion that is spaced from a plastic lower seat slide rail portion;
• d) a suspension in operable communication with the base and the seat;
• e) a pair of spaced apart longitudinally extending metallic bottom slide rails each having a bottom wall secured to the vehicle floor and a pair of spaced apart upstanding sidewalls with one of the sidewalls having a plurality of longitudinally spaced notches and the other of the sidewalls having a flange that is received in a channel in a seat slide rail of the base for enabling the seat to be moved relative to the vehicle floor;
• f) a latch having 1) a body received in the base recess that is operably connected to the base, 2) a pair of spaced apart latch teeth extending from the latch base for each being received in a notch of a seat slide rail sidewall, and 3) a hand grip portion capable of being grasped by a seat occupant to move the latch from a latched position where each latch tooth is received in a notch of a seat slide rail sidewall preventing the seat occupant supporting surface from being moved away from the latched position such that each latch tooth is free of any notch permitting the seat occupant surface to be moved relative to the vehicle floor.

A vehicle seat comprising:

• a) a vehicle floor;
• b) a seat;
• c) a non-metallic base carrying the seat with the base having an integral bottom with a pair of integral and spaced apart longitudinally extending recessed channels in the bottom of the base;
• d) a pair of longitudinally extending metallic slide rails anchored to the floor with at least a portion of one of the slide rails received in one of the channels in the base and at least a portion of the other of the slide rails received in the other of the channels in the base for enabling the base to move on the slide rails relative to the vehicle floor.

A seat for a vehicle comprising:

• a) a vehicle floor;
• b) a base carried by the vehicle floor;
• c) a seat platform attached by a seat platform attachment pivot to the base;
• d) a seat occupant surface carried by the seat platform;
• and
• c) a seat suspension in operable cooperation with the 1) seat platform and 2) the seat base wherein the seat suspension comprises
• 1) an elastomeric spring spaced from the seat platform attachment pivot that is disposed between the seat platform and the base and;
• 2) a spring mounting pivot carrying the spring and which is mounted to the base;
• and
• 3) wherein the spring can be pivoted about the spring mounting pivot to move the spring relative to the seat platform attachment pivot for changing the firmness of the seat suspension.

A seat comprising:

• a) a floor;
• b) a plastic base having a front and rear wherein the base is supported by the floor and disposed in a fore-aft direction;
• c) a seat platform connected by a pivot to the base;
• d) a seat occupant supporting surface carried by the seat platform;
• e) a spring carrier carried by either the seat platform or the base with the spring carrier including a pair of laterally spaced apart receptacles spaced in an aft direction from the pivot for each receiving a spring wherein each receptacle is constructed and arranged to permit a spring to move in a fore-aft direction relative to the base;
• f) a pair of non-metallic and generally cylindrical springs with one of the springs in operable cooperation with one of the receptacles and the other of the springs in operable cooperation with the other one of the receptacles;
• and
• g) a rail assembly for permitting fore-aft movement of the position of the base relative to the vehicle floor wherein the rail assembly comprises 1) a pair of laterally spaced apart, fore-aft extending rails carried by the vehicle floor with each of the rails having a flange, and 2) a pair of laterally spaced apart, fore-aft extending channels that are each integrally formed in the base and that each receive the flange of one of the rails.