Adjustable firmness vehicle seat
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsMichael Paul Arant, Jeroen Lem, Steve Michell
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A vehicle seat includes a seat back and a seat for supporting an occupant. A cushion is coupled to the seat and has at least one inflatable upper bladder for selectively adjusting the firmness of the cushion. The seat further includes an inflatable lower bladder positioned beneath the upper bladder. The seat is configured such that a vehicle seat hip pivot point is maintained when adjusting the firmness of the cushion by increasing the pressure in the lower bladder when the pressure in the upper bladder is selectively decreased, and by decreasing the pressure in the lower bladder when the pressure in the upper bladder is selectively increased.
Claims10
A seat assembly comprising:
- a seating member disposed on a vehicle frame, the seating member having a seat and a seat back;
- a cushion coupled to the seat having a top surface, the cushion including at least one inflatable air bladder for selectively adjusting the firmness of the cushion;
- and
- a height adjustment mechanism coupled to the at least one air bladder, wherein the height adjustment mechanism adjusts a height of the at least one air bladder relative to the vehicle frame when the air pressure of the at least one air bladder is adjusted thereby automatically maintaining a constant height of the top surface as the firmness is adjusted.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.