Abstract: A vehicle seat lifting unit is provided with a slider and a lift arm assembly that are driven by a drive unit to move a seat with a seat holder between an initial position inside the vehicle occupant compartment and a displaced position outside the vehicle occupant compartment that is lower than the initial position. The lift arm assembly has a pair of arms that cooperate with the slider and the seat holder to form a linkage mechanism. The drive unit moves the slider along the predetermined path between an advance position and a retreat position and causes the first and second arms of the lift arm assembly to selectively swing from backwardly tilted positions to forwardly tilted positions, which in turn selectively shifts the seat between the initial position and the displaced position outside the vehicle occupant compartment that is lower than the initial position.