Nissan Technical Center North America, Inc.

Hirotake Harada

Amarendra Kumar

A vehicle steering column structure includes a movable steering column portion, a tilting mechanism and a telescoping mechanism. The tilting mechanism is configured to selectively adjust an angle of inclination of a tilting part. The telescoping mechanism adjusts the telescopic position of a telescoping part. The telescoping mechanism includes a hand operated release member, an actuation member and a biasing member. The hand operated release member has an actuating end pivotal about first pivot axis between a locking orientation and a releasing orientation. The actuation member has a contact section. The biasing member urges the actuation member to apply an approximately constant return force from the contact section to the actuating end biasing the hand operated release member to return to the locking orientation regardless of the tilt angle of the tilting mechanism.

Vehicle steering column structure

A vehicle steering column structure includes a fixed steering column portion, a movable steering column portion movably coupled to the fixed steering column portion and a steering column positioning mechanism. The steering column positioning mechanism is operably coupled between the fixed and movable steering column portions for adjusting a relative position therebetween. The steering column positioning mechanism includes a release member and a biasing member. The biasing member biases the release member to a locking orientation such that the biasing force of the biasing member applied to the release member changes with corresponding movement of the release member along a first movement portion of a prescribed movement range and the biasing force of the biasing member is generally constant with movement of the release member along a second movement portion of the prescribed movement range.

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Fijisawa, Japan

Hirotake Harada