Car seat installation and recline mechanism

A child car seat comprising:

• a base for placement on a vehicle seat;
• a seat shell attachable to and detachable from the base and adjustable on the base between a first and a second recline position, the seat shell having a seat back portion and a seat bottom portion;
• an upper latch mechanism having an upper latch pin biased to protrude outward through a respective upper opening in the seat shell, the upper latch mechanism attaching the seat back portion to the base in a latched arrangement;
• a lower latch mechanism having a lower latch pin biased to protrude outward through a respective lower opening in the seat shell, the lower latch mechanism attaching the seat bottom portion to the base in the latched arrangement;
• a release actuator on the car seat and connected to each of the upper and lower latch mechanisms;
• and
• a recline actuator on the car seat and connected to at least one latch mechanism of the upper and lower latch mechanisms,
• wherein actuation of the release actuator moves both the upper latch mechanism and the lower latch mechanism to a released arrangement detaching the seat shell for removal from the base, and
• wherein actuation of the recline actuator moves the at least one latch mechanism to a recline arrangement, but not the release arrangement, which partially withdraws the upper or lower latch pin from the respective upper or lower opening in the seat shell thereby allowing adjustment of the seat shell to a selected one of the first and second recline positions.

A child car seat comprising:

• a base for placement on a vehicle seat;
• a seat shell attachable to and detachable from the base and adjustable thereon between at least two different recline positions;
• a latch mechanism having a latch pin biased to protrude outward through a respective opening in the seat shell, the latch mechanism on the car seat biased to a latched position attaching the seat shell to the base and retaining the seat shell in one of the different recline positions;
• a release actuator on the car seat and connected to the latch mechanism;
• and
• a recline actuator on the car seat and connected to the latch mechanism,
• wherein actuating the release actuator moves the latch mechanism to a released arrangement, which fully withdraws the latch pin from the respective opening in the seat shell thereby detaching and permitting removal of the seat shell from the base, and
• wherein actuating the recline actuator moves the latch mechanism to a recline arrangement, which partially withdraws the latch pin from the respective opening in the seat shell thereby allowing adjustment of the recline position of the seat shell but not permitting removal of the seat shell from the base.