Vehicle door handle

Abstract

The door handle assembly includes a housing which is mounted in the door of a vehicle. A lever handle is pivotally connected to the front side of the housing by a pin, while a pivot plate is pivotally connected to the back side of the housing. The back side of the housing includes a curved channel in which is mounted a compression spring. The pivot plate lies in covering relation to the channel so as to retain or close the spring in the channel. The pivot plate includes an elongated arm which is linked to the door latch. Upon actuation of the handle, the pivot plate is pivoted by a leg of the handle extending through the housing. The pivotal movement of the pivot plate compresses the spring between one end of the channnel and an arm on the pivot plate. The linkage between the pivot plate and one door latch releases the latch when the pivot plate is rotated by actuation of the handle. Upon release of the handle, the compression spring biases the pivot plate to its normal at-rest position. A pin retention member extends from the housing for retaining the door handle pin in position. The pin retention member is integrally formed with the housing and is resilient. As the pin is inserted in aligned holes in the housing and the handle, the pinhead is pushed beyond the pin retention member so as to be captured thereby and preclude accident removal or inadvertant loss of the pin from the holes, without the use of additional hardware to retain the pin. The pin is installed in the holes and retained by the retention member in a single step.