Seat arrangement for a vehicle

Abstract

A passenger vehicle seat arrangement is provided for a vehicle having a body including a pair of front side doors and a pair of rear side doors, on opposite sides of a passenger compartment. A front seat assembly is disposed in a front portion of the passenger compartment generally between the pair of front side doors. A middle seat assembly is disposed in a middle portion of the passenger compartment generally between the pair of rear side doors. A rear seat assembly is disposed in a rear portion of the passenger compartment behind the middle seat assembly. The middle seat assembly includes two outer seat sections and a center seat section disposed between the two outer seat sections. The two outer seat sections are capable of moving independently of the center seat section from a first position for receiving passengers in a seated position to a second position forward of the first position to allow access to the rear seat assembly through each of the pair of rear side doors. The rear seat is disposed at a higher level than the middle seat when in its normal seating position. The respective pivotal axes of the seat backs of the middle and rear seat assemblies are generally disposed in a common substantially horizontal plane. When the seat back of the middle seat assembly and the seat back of the rear seat assembly are each in their second generally horizontal position, the seat backs combine to form a substantially horizontal cargo storage surface.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.