Magna Closures Inc.

Huf Hülsbeck & Fürst Gmbh Co.kg

Lynn DaDeppo

Ehab Kamal

James Joseph Loschiavo

David Newkirk

Steve Bauer

Krystof Peter Jankowski

In a vehicle door latch, a motion restriction device is coupled to an auxiliary pawl that is connected to the pawl of a ratchet and pawl combination. The auxiliary pawl must be actuated by one or more release levers in order to actuate the pawl and release the ratchet from a striker-containing position and open the latch. Because the only criterion for selectively prohibiting movement of the auxiliary pawl is its speed, it is possible to prevent the latch from unintentionally opening in a crash situation regardless of the direction the inertial forces of the crash are applied to the latch or the release levers therein or the outside or inside handles.

Vehicle door latch with motion restriction device prohibiting rapid movement of opening lever

In a first aspect, the invention is directed to a closure latch for a vehicle closure panel, having at least three lock states all of which are achieved using a single control member. The control member may be movable to at least three positions to achieve the lock states. A single motor may be used to move the control member between the positions. In a second aspect, the invention is directed to a closure latch that is movable to a safety locking position, wherein the inside and outside door levers are disabled and wherein the pawl is prevented from releasing the ratchet. The safety locking position may be used when the vehicle controller senses an impending crash or that a crash is occurring as a way of inhibiting inadvertent opening of the vehicle closure panel (e.g. a vehicle door). After the crash, if it is desired to exit the vehicle, structure may be provided that permits an occupant to move the inside door lever once to move the pawl blocking member to the pawl unblocking position and a second time to open the vehicle closure panel.

Safety locking device for vehicle door

Growing community of inventors

Bloomfield Hills, MI, United States of America

Lynn DaDeppo