Saturn Corporation

Keith D Childress

Thomas J Corbett

Michele A Smith

Ronald Dickson

The ends of a cable are attached to the seat belt buckle so that a loop of cable projects from the buckle. A mounting bracket comprised of a stamped metal strap is folded into a U-shape and receives the loop of cable. The ends of the metal strap are attached to the vehicle body. A sleeve of ductile metal is swaged over the cable and interposed between the cable and the bracket. The sleeve has a length greater than the width of the bracket so that the sleeve extends beyond the bracket somewhat to prevent the cable from contact with the bracket. The ductile sleeve yields when a load is imposed upon the cable.

Cable mount for seat belt buckle

According to the invention an improved latch plate assembly for a continuous loop single retractor seat belt system includes a housing having a base wall with flanges slotted to slidably mount a lock bar. The housing is oriented with the flanges facing toward the occupant torso and the belt being routed through the space between the base wall and the sliding bar so that when the belt is stored in the generally vertically extending position between the upper and lower anchors, the belt extends in a minimally convoluted path through the latch plate thereby permitting gravity induced sliding movement of the latch plate along the belt toward the lower end of the belt. The housing is further characterized by an abutment structure adapted upon migration of the lock bar along the slot with the occurrence of generally colinear orientation of the lap and shoulder belts upon buckling of the belt to introduce a substantially convoluted path of belt through the latch plate and trap the belt between the sliding bar and the flange structure so that the travel of the belt through the latch plate is effectively prevented at least in the direction which would extend the length of the lap belt portion.

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Richmond, MI, United States of America

Keith D Childress