Chrysler Corporation

Chrysler Motors Corporation

Janice E Cote

Matthew E Dukatz

Michael J Sweers

Lynn K Tilly

Donald L Silsbe

William M Safran

Thomas E Draplin

One-piece plastic actuation button for a vehicle seat adjuster providing ready snap-in interlocking capture of the button in a panel elongated opening while permitting smooth reciprocal travel therein. The button comprises an elongated head portion having its undersurface formed with a coextensive guide channel sized to receive therein a tongue portion of a seat adjust lever. The channel cooperates with upper and lower vertically spaced stem portions projecting normally from the button face to swing the tongue and operate the release lever. The upper stem portion is a push-in retainer comprising bifurcated mirror-image hook-halves defining a slotted intermediate space therebetween and two opposed outwardly divergent slopes terminating in a pair of undercut locking shoulders. The hook-halves are resiliently deformable between a normal inserted locking condition wherein the tongue portion is received in the intermediate space and a compressed condition wherein the slopes permit push-in insertion in the panel opening.

One-piece actuation button for vehicle seat recliner

An improved attachment arrangement for a backrest assembly in combination with an auxiliary folding seat cushion having a pair of hinge assemblies mounting the seat cushion on a vertical wall of a vehicle. The backrest assembly comprises a base panel supporting a coextensive foam pad enclosed by an outer upholstery cover. The base panel for single passenger setting requires a pair of pre-attached hangers spaced along its upper edge and a pair of pre-attached spring clips spaced along its lower portion. The lower spring clips are adapted for ready connection to wall mounted hinges of the folding seat cushion while the upper hangers provide ready initial pre-positioning of the backrest assembly to the vehicle wall. A single screw hole in each hanger is self-aligned with a vehicle wall installation hole allowing subsequent ready piloting and driving of the hanger screws.

Vehicle backrest attaching arrangement

A hinge assembly for use in mounting an auxiliary seat on a vertical body wall of a vehicle such as a pickup truck extended cab. The hinge assembly comprises a seat-half banana hinge member and a body-half bracket hinge member for rotating the auxiliary seat between a first vertical stowed position and a second horizontal seating position. The bracket hinge has a pair of vertically extending side walls each formed with an oblique guide slot so as to movably support one end of a spring rod for reciprocal travel therein. A cam track having forward and rear notched detents is formed on each bracket hinge member side wall and is adapted for capturing a respective one of a pair of cam followers mounted adjacent each end of the spring rod. An overcenter tension spring urges the cam followers into rolling engagement with their associated jump motion cam track providing quick-return capture of the followers into their associated forward or rear notched detents.

Auxiliary folding seat hinge arrangement

A seat cushion is mounted as a vehicle floor panel by a plastic anchor member adapted to be snap-fitted into position in a panel aperture by means of locking fingers. The anchor member has an oval-sectioned tubular open-ended body with the interior of its side walls formed with parallel mutually opposed pairs of ribs defining a pair of spaced upwardly open V-shaped notches. Each pair of ribs have their lower ends interconnected by mutually opposed base flanges defining therebeteween an elongated gap. The base flange undersurfaces are sloped upwardly providing an inverted V-shaped locking catch. The catch is adapted to capture the striker upon it being forcefully pushed downwardly into the V-notches allowing the striker to snappingly pass through the gap.

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Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America

Janice E Cote