Modular seat layout system for an automobile vehicle, especially for the seats of the first and second rows

#This invention concerns a modular seat layout system for an automobile vehicle, this system concerning seats placed one behind each other in the normal utilisation position of the said seats. The invention applies especially but not exclusively to a seat of the second row located behind the front passenger seat in a conventional car.

#Maximum modularity is increasingly sought in the layout of the seats in vehicles so that they can be arranged to provide maximum comfort for the users and, especially, to be able to obtain maximum load-carrying space if all seats are not used. To meet these expectations, a well-known solution consists in using removable seats, at least in part, which can be removed from the passenger compartment upon request to increase the load-carrying volume. A disadvantage is that the seat thus removed must be stored and therefore requires a place for this purpose, for instance in the vehicle owner's garage. In addition, it is in general necessary to return to the place where the seat was removed to be able to reinstall it and again provide a seat for a passenger.

#For various types of vehicles, it has already been proposed to attach the seats to the vehicle whilst allowing maximum load-carrying space to be freed without the need to remove the seat from the passenger compartment. Various solutions are currently used in conventional-type saloon cars which consist, in general, in folding the rear seat, either in full or only over a part of its width, against the rear of the backrest of the front seats. Often, for instance, the seat pan of the rear seat is raised towards the front seat and the rear backrest is folded down against the floor to take the place of the seat pan. The volume of the boot is thus considerably increased and the rear face of the backrest thus folded down extends the load-carrying floor space of the boot.

#Refer to the appended drawings on which:

#FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the arrangement of the two rows of seats, all seats being in passenger utilisation position,

#FIG. 2 is a view of the same seats according to a first achievable layout where the seat of the second row is folded and placed against the seat of the first row,

#The drawing on FIG. 1 shows a front seat, or a seat of row 1, and the rear seat, or a seat of row 2, located behind the said front seat. Of course, each row conventionally includes several seats. Thus, the second row may have three seats abreast. All the seats are fixed, as will be seen later, to the floor 4 of the vehicle.

#The front seat 1 includes a seat pan 11 and a backrest 12 equipped with a headrest 13 preferentially retractable. The seat 1 is connected to the floor 4 of the vehicle by a first set of hinged items especially including two arms 14 and 15 which extend more or less parallel and which are hinged, on the one hand, in relation to a framework 16 of the seat pan 11 and, on the other hand, to a base 17, itself connected to the floor by slide means of a known type, symbolised by item 18, to adjust the longitudinal position of the seat.

#The arms 14 and 15 are installed hinged by one end on lugs 31 which are themselves hinged, around axes 32, on the framework 16 of the seat pan 11. Arms 14 and 15 are hinged on the base by their other ends, around axes 33. The length and the shape of the arms, and the position of their hinge axes, are determined so that, by pivoting the arms around axes 33, the seat pan follows a trajectory in the form of an arc of a circle, as shown by arrow F on FIG. 1, so as to bring it to the forward position in front of the base 17 as shown on FIG. 3. The pivoting of the lugs 31 has, as can be seen on this figure, an additional seat pan forward movement and lowering effect.