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US 6,209,955 B1Granted
Vehicle seat with a yielding recliner stop
AssigneeJohnson Controls Technology Company
InventorKurt A. Seibold
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A yielding recliner for a vehicle seat assembly in which a shoulder belt is attached to the seat back. The recliner yields in a controlled fashion during a front vehicle impact to absorb energy while allowing the seat back to rotate forward a limited degree. A stop limits the extent of forward rotation of the seat back and limits the load which is applied to the recliner.
Claims23
A vehicle seat assembly comprising:
- a seat bottom having a seat bottom frame;
- a seat back extending upwardly from a rear end of said seat bottom, said seat back having a seat back frame mounted to said seat bottom frame by a pivot for rotation;
- a recliner operatively associated with said scat bottom and said seat back for holding said seat back in a fixed position relative to said seat bottom within a range of adjusted positions between a foremost recline position and a rearmost recline position, said recliner having a lock-upper member attached to said seat back frame and a lock-lower member attached to said seat bottom frame, said lock-lower being movable relative to said scat bottom between a lock position in which said lock-lower engages said lock-upper to engage said recliner to hold said scat back frame in said fixed position within said range of adjusted positions and a release position in which said lock-lower is disengaged from said lock-upper to release said recliner whereby said seat back frame is free to rotate;
- said lock-upper having a yielding zone configured to deform under a predetermined load to absorb energy as said scat back frame rotates while said recliner is engaged;
- and
- a stop carried by said seat bottom frame and engagable with said seat back frame upon a predetermined deformation of said lock-upper to transmit loads from said seat back frame to said seat back bottom.
3 more elements
A vehicle seat assembly comprising:
- a seat bottom having a seat bottom frame;
- a seat back extending upwardly from a rear end of said seat bottom, said seat back having a seat back frame mounted to said seat bottom frame by a pivot for rotation;
- a restraint belt webbing mounted to said seat back to form a shoulder belt for a seat occupant;
- a pawl and sector recliner operatively associated with said seat bottom and said seat back for holding said seat back in a fixed position relative to said seat bottom within a range of adjusted positions between a foremost recline position and a rearmost recline position, said recliner having a sector attached to said seat back frame and a recliner pawl attached to said seat bottom frame, said recliner pawl being movable relative to said seat bottom between a lock position in which said recliner pawl engages said sector and a release position in which said recliner pawl is disengaged from said sector, said sector and said recliner pawl having engaging locking features to engage said recliner to hold said seat back frame in said fixed position when said recliner pawl is in said lock position and said recliner being released and seat back being free to rotate when said recliner pawl is in said release position;
- said sector having a yielding zone configured to deform under a predetermined load applied to said seat back to absorb energy as said back frame rotates while said recliner is engaged;
- and
- a stop engagable with said seat back frame upon a predetermined deformation of said sector and rotation of said back frame to transmit loads from the seat back frame to the seat bottom frame.
4 more elements
A vehicle seat assembly comprising:
- a seat bottom having a seat bottom frame;
- a seat back having a seat back frame and extending upwardly from a rear end of said seat bottom;
- a hinge mechanism mounting said seat back frame to said seat bottom frame for rotation, said hinge mechanism including a recliner to hold said seat back in a fixed position relative to said seat bottom within a range of adjusted positions between a foremost recline position and a rearmost recline position;
- and
- a restraint belt webbing mounted to said seat back frame to form a shoulder belt for a seat occupant such that a frontal vehicle impact produces a torsional load on said hinge mechanism;
- said hinge mechanism deforming under said torsional load at a first average deformation versus load ratio for a predetermined amount of deformation and subsequently deforming at a second average deformation versus load ratio which is less than said first average deformation versus load ratio.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.