Vehicle Seat Assembly Having a Door Stopper

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates in general to a seat, and particularly to a vehicle seat assembly having safety means for protecting a passenger on the seat from injury upon a vehicle collision. More particularly, the present invention is concerned with a vehicle seat assembly having a door stopper which prevents a side door from getting into the passenger compartment upon a side vehicle collision.

2. Description of the Prior Art

When a passenger vehicle is subjected to a side vehicle collision causing breakage of a side door thereof, the door thus deformed is urged into the passenger compartment, so that it may happen that the passenger on the seat is sandwiched between the door and any member, such as a console box, mounted in the compartment, and thus he or she is injured. In order to solve this problem, various kinds of door stoppers have been proposed. However, some of them lack safety reliability and are uneconomical.

It is therefore an essential object of the present invention to provide a seat assembly having a door stopper which is both reliability safe and economical.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle seat assembly which is mounted in a vehicle having a door adjacent the seat assembly, the assembly comprising a sliding mechanism mounted on a floor of the vehicle for permitting a sliding movement of the seat assembly in a fore-and-aft direction relative to the floor, and a rigid member secured to the seat assembly to be movable therewith, the rigid member extending outwardly toward the door in closing position and terminating at its extreme end with a predetermined small space between the door and the extreme end, whereby when the door is pushed into the vehicle passenger compartment by an external force, the door is brought into contacting engagement with the extreme end of the rigid member thereby being prevented from moving further into the passenger compartment.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become clear from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a vehicle seat assembly of a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the seat assembly of the first embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of an essential section of the seat assembly of the first embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a front view of a vehicle seat assembly of a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of an essential section of the seat assembly of the second embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line VI--VI of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6, but showing a side door which is deformed.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, particularly FIG. 1, there is shown a vehicle seat assembly 10 of a first embodiment of the invention, which is mounted in a vehicle body having a floor panel 12 and a side door 14.

The seat assembly 10 is mounted on the floor panel 12 through a sliding mechanism which permits a sliding movement of the seat assembly 10 in a fore-and-aft direction relative to the floor panel 12. Two spaced elongate brackets 16 and 18, for mounting thereon the sliding mechanism, are securely mounted on the floor panel 12 to extend in a direction parallel with the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. One bracket 16 is located adjacent a side sill 20 and the other bracket 18 is located adjacent a transmission tunnel 22, as shown by FIG. 1. The sliding mechanism comprises a pair of lower rails 24 and 26 securely mounted on the brackets 16 and 18 respectively, and a pair of upper rails 28 and 30 longitudinally slidably disposed on the lower rails 24 and 26, respectively. Although not shown in the drawing, a known locking device is arranged in the sliding mechanism to lock the upper rails 28 and 30 at a desired position relative to the lower rails 24 and 26. In FIG. 2, an operation lever 32 of the locking device is shown. The door 14 which may be of swing type or slide type is shown comprising an outer panel, an inner panel 14a and a glass.

The seat assembly 10 generally comprises a seat proper 34 and a seatback 36 which is tiltable relative to the seat proper 34. The seat proper 34 comprises a rectangular frame 38 securely mounted on the upper rails 28 and 30 of the sliding mechanism. As will become clear as the description proceeds, a characteristic measure is applied to the connection between the frame 38 and the upper rails 28 and 30. A plurality of wire springs 40 are spanned between opposed sections of the frame 38, and a cushion member 42 is mounted on the wire springs 40 to cover the frame 38. The seatback 36 comprises a rectangular frame 44, a plurality of wire springs 46 spanned parallelly between opposed sections of the frame 44, and a cushion member 48 mounted on the springs 46 to cover the frame 44. A head rest 50 is mounted on the top of the seatback 36. For achieving the pivotal movement of the seatback 36 relative to the seat proper 34, a hinge device 52 and a tilting device 54 are arranged between them. The hinge device 52 comprises a stationary arm (no numeral) secured to the frame 38 of the seat proper, a movable arm (no numeral) secured to the frame 44 of the seatback 36 and a bolt 56 pivotally connecting these arms. Although not well shown in the drawings, the tilting device 54 comprises a stationary arm secured to the seat proper frame 38 and a tiltable arm 58 fixed by bolts 60 to the seatback frame 44. A known locking device (not shown) is arranged in the tilting device 54 in order to lock the seatback 48 at a desired angular position relative to the seat proper 34. The operation lever of the tilting device 54 is designated by numeral 62.

According to the present invention, the following measure is applied to the seat assembly 10 mentioned above.

As is best seen from FIG. 1, the connection between the seat proper frame 38 and the left-positioned upper rail 28 (which is located adjacent the opening for the door 14) is made by a rigid door stopper 66 which extends along the rail 28. The door stopper 66 is constructed of a strong metal, such as a steel, and comprises, as is clearly shown by FIG. 3, a horizontal base section 66a welded to the upper rail 28, a first flat section 66b extending vertically upward from the outboard edge of the base section 66a, and a second flat section 66c extending vertically downward from the inboard edge of the base section 66a. The first flat section 66b is parallel with the major portion of the door inner panel 14a. The second flat section 66c is formed with two openings 66d through which two bolts 70 pass for secure connection between the door stopper 66 and the seat proper frame 38. As is best understood from FIG. 1, the base section 66a of the door stopper 66 has a width for providing an adequate distance or space between the first flat section 66b and the seat proper 34. The corners of the first flat section 66b are smoothly curved. A reinforcing member 68 is disposed between the base section 66a and the first flat section 66b in order to increase mechanical strength of them, and if desired, a plurality of openings 68a may be formed in the reinforcing member 68 for weight reduction, as shown. It is now to be noted that, as will be understood from FIG. 1, the first flat section 66b is located somewhat inboard of the door opening so that the door 14 does not collide against the first flat section 66b under normal closing operation of the door 14.

When the vehicle is subjected to a side vehicle collision, that is, when another vehicle collides against the door 14, the door 14 is deformed and thus pushed into the vehicle passenger compartment. However, the door motion is blocked safely by the first flat section 66b of the door stopper 66. It is to be noted that when the vehicle collision is violent to such a degree that the seat assembly 10 is dislocated inwardly by the impacted door 14 breaking the sliding mechanism, the dislocation of the seat assembly 10 is carried out keeping a safe distance between the door 14 and the seat assembly 10 by the function of the door stopper 66 moved with the seat assembly 10. Thus, the passenger on the seat assembly 10 is protected from injury.

Referring to FIGS. 4 to 7, there is shown a vehicle seat assembly 10' of a second embodiment of the present invention. Similar parts to those in the first embodiment are designated by the same numerals.

As is well shown in FIG. 5, the door stopper 66 of the second embodiment has generally the same construction as that of the first embodiment except for the construction of the first flat section 66b. As shown, in the second embodiment, a plurality of equally spaced elongate openings 66e are formed in the first flat section 66b to extend along the longitudinal axis of the door stopper 66. A plurality of equally spaced conical projections are secured to the lower section of the inner panel 14a of the door 14 to extend outward of the door 14. The projections 72 are arranged to face the corresponding elongate openings 66e under normal closing of the door 14, and each of the elongate openings 66e is so sized as to receive therein the corresponding projection 72 irrespective of longitudinal displacement of the door stopper 66 induced by the operation of the sliding mechanism. (As will become apparent as the description proceeds, the projections 72 are inserted into the corresponding elongate openings 66e when the door 14 in closing position is violently pressed against the door stopper 66, for example, in a vehicle side collision.) For assuring one-to-one facing between the projections 72 and the openings 66e irrespective of the displacement of the door stopper 66, an arrangement may be employed in that the projections 72 are arrangement at the same pitch "l" as the locking pitch of the locking device of the sliding mechanism, and each of the elongate openings 66e has a longitudinal length greater than the effective diameter "d" of the corresponding projection 72, or another arrangement may be employed in that the projections 72 are aligned at the pitch of "2l", and each elongate opening 66e has a longitudinal length greater than "l+d". For assuring the secure connection between the projections 72 and the door inner panel 14a, a reinforcing plate 74 is attached to the inner surface of the inner panel 14a as is best shown by FIGS. 6 and 7. Onto the outer surface of the inner panel 14a is attached a pad member 76 of flexible material, such as a foamed rubber, which has a plurality of openings (no numeral) in which the projections 72 are placed. The pad member 76 has a thickness to almost cover the projections 72 or to allow the outer surface thereof to be flush with the leading flat ends of the projections 72 as will be seen from FIG. 6. The inner panel 14a may be recessed at the position where the pad member 76 is positioned so that the outer face of the pad member 76 is substantially flush with the major portion of the inner panel 14a, as shown. It is thus to be noted that in a normal condition, the forward and rearward movements of the seat assembly 10' carried out by the sliding mechanism are smoothly made without obstruction of the projections 72 even when the door 14 is closed.

When the vehicle encounters a side vehicle collision, the door is deformed and urged into the vehicle passenger compartment. However, the door motion is blocked by the first vertical section 66b of the door stopper 66. Furthermore, upon this motion, the projections 72 on the door 14 are brought into engagement with the openings 66e of the door stopper 66, pressing down the pad member 76, as is clearly shown by FIG. 7. Thus, the relative sliding movement between the door 14 thus deformed and the door stopper 66 is suppressed, so that the undesired door motion is inhibited much more effectively.

In conclusion, the following advantages are achieved according to the present invention.

1. Since the door stopper is connected to the seat to be movable therewith, the dislocation of the seat upon a vehicle collision is carried out keeping a safe distance between the door and the seat. This is quite advantageous in protecting the passenger on the seat, as has mentioned before.

2. Since the door stopper is movable with the seat, the ingress and egress of the passenger into and from the vehicle is not affected by the stopper.

3. If a measure for preventing relative sliding movement between the door and the door stopper is employed as in the case of the second embodiment, the passenger protecting function is even further improved.