Vehicle door latch with stiffness adjustment

A vehicle door latch having a latching mechanism and a stiffness adjustment mechanism comprising:

• a housing for the latching mechanism and the adjustable stiffness mechanism,
• the housing including a slot for receiving a striker,
• the latching mechanism including a fork bolt in the housing that moves between a latching position and an unlatching position, the fork bolt having a throat that is aligned with the slot of the housing for receiving the striker when the fork bolt in the unlatching position and that captures the striker when the fork bolt is in the latching position,
• the stiffness adjustment mechanism having an elastomeric bumper in the housing that has an elastomeric portion located at a rearward end of the slot of the housing so as to engage the striker and bias the striker against a surface of the throat of the fork bolt when the striker is captured by the fork bolt, and
• the stiffness adjustment mechanism including a bushing that has an expandable wall, a nut that slides in the bushing for expanding the expandable wall of the bushing, and an adjustment screw for positioning the nut in the bushing for adjusting the stiffness of the elastomeric portion of the bumper that biases the striker against the surface of the throat of the fork bolt when the striker is captured by the fork bolt.

A vehicle door latch having a latching mechanism and a stiffness adjustment mechanism comprising:

• a housing for the latching mechanism and the adjustable stiffness mechanism,
• the housing including a fishmouth slot for receiving a striker and a second slot that communicates with an inboard end of the fishmouth slot,
• the latching mechanism including a fork bolt in the housing that moves between a latching position and an unlatching position, the fork bolt having a throat that is aligned with the fishmouth slot of the housing for receiving the striker when the fork bolt in the unlatching position and that captures the striker when the fork bolt is in the latching position,
• the adjustable stiffness adjustment mechanism having an elastomeric bumper disposed in the second slot of the housing so that an elastomeric portion of the bumper is located at the inboard end of the fishmouth slot of the housing so as to engage the striker and bias the striker against a surface of the throat of the fork bolt when the striker is captured by the fork bolt,
• the housing having a flexible wall that engages the flexible portion of the elastomeric bumper and that partly defines a hole in the housing,
• a bushing disposed in the hole that is partly defined by the flexible wall of the housing, the bushing having an expandable wall that engages the flexible wall of the housing,
• a nut that slides in the bushing and that has a wedge-shaped portion for expanding the expandable wall of the bushing, and
• an adjustment screw for positioning the nut in the bushing for adjusting the stiffness of the elastomeric portion of the bumper that biases the striker against the surface of the throat of the fork bolt when the striker is captured by the fork bolt.