Integrated power thigh extender

A vehicle seat, comprising:

• a carrier assembly disposed in a seat portion and having a carriage receiving area disposed between first and second side members;
• a carriage assembly slideably coupled to the carrier assembly for movement between extended and stowed positions;
• and
• a slide assembly having upper and lower slide members disposed on the carriage assembly and the carrier assembly, respectively, for guiding the movement of the carriage assembly relative to the carrier assembly, wherein the upper slide member includes inner and outer L-shaped brackets having inwardly extending mounting portions to define a guide channel therebetween, and further wherein the inner and outer L-shaped brackets are disposed on an underside of the carriage assembly.

A vehicle seat, comprising:

• a seat portion including a seat frame;
• a carrier assembly disposed in the seat portion and operably coupled to the seat frame, the carrier assembly including a first side member spaced-apart from a second side member to define a carriage receiving area therebetween;
• a support platform disposed in the carriage receiving area and having at least one slide member disposed on an upper surface thereof;
• a carriage assembly received in the carriage receiving area, the carriage assembly including a substantially planar body portion having at least one guide channel disposed on an underside of the body portion of the carriage assembly for slideably receiving the at least one slide member, wherein the at least one guide channel is defined by inner and outer brackets which are spaced-apart from one another on the underside of the body portion of the carriage assembly having inwardly extending mounting portions;
• a motor operably coupled to the carrier assembly and having an outwardly extending drive shaft configured for rotation as powered by the motor;
• and
• a mounting bracket operably coupled to the drive shaft and further coupled to the body portion of the carriage assembly, wherein the motor is configured to drive the carriage assembly between stowed and extended positions.