Vehicle rear seat device
A vehicular rear seat unit (1) includes a bench seat (2) including a seat cushion (7) with three seat sections (4, 5, 6) arranged side by side, the seat cushion having a pair of frame members (23, 30, 24, 31) provided at positions corresponding to both side portions of the middle seat section (4); seat belt anchors (A, B, C, D) for the seat sections (4, 5, 6), the seat belt anchors (A, B, C, D) being attached to the respective frame members (23, 30, 24, 31); and a seat slide device (3) including a pair of movable rails (29) to which the respective frame members (23, 30, 24, 31) are individually fixed, and a pair of fixed rails (28) which slidably support the respective movable rails (29), the fixed rails (28) being individually fixed to a vehicle body floor.
The present Application claims the benefit of priority to the following international Applications: PCT Patent Application No. PCT/JP2003/005177 titled “Vehicular Rear Seat Unit” filed on Apr. 23, 2003 which published under PCT Article 21(2) on Nov. 6, 2003 as WO 03/091061 A1 in the Japanese language and Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-122906 filed on Apr. 24, 2002 (which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety).
FIELDThis invention relates to a vehicular rear seat unit in which a bench seat for three passengers is mounted on a seat slide device.
BACKGROUNDIn a vehicular rear seat unit constructed by mounting a bench seat for three passengers, that is, a bench seat including a seat cushion having a middle seat section and right and left seat sections provided on both right and left sides of the middle seat section with the middle seat section sandwiched there between, on a seat slide device having two rails, the respective rails of the seat slide device are installed at positions corresponding to substantially transversely central parts of the right and left seat sections of the seat cushion, and a frame of the seat cushion is fixed to these rails.
The above-described rear seat unit has some problems. For example, the respective rails of the seat slide device are individually installed in the substantially transversely central parts of the one-side and the-other-side seat sections, and accordingly, impair cushioning characteristics of these seat sections, resulting in reduction of comfort of a vehicle.
Moreover, leg members fixing the respective rails of the seat slide device are located in the vicinity of doors, and hinder passengers from getting in and out of the vehicle, resulting in reduction of ease in getting in and out of the vehicle.
Furthermore, when an impact load is applied to a vehicle body due to a collision of the vehicle, and the like, a load of as much as 800 kg per one seat belt anchor of a passenger's seat belt is applied thereto, that is, a load of four to five tons in total is applied to the bench seat for three passengers with five to six seat belt anchors. In the above-described rear seat unit, points where the respective seat belt anchors are attached to the frame of the bench seat and points where the rails are fixed to the seat slide device are apart from one another. Accordingly, it is necessary to reinforce the bench seat for the impact load endurance, resulting in a complicated frame structure and in a weight increase of the rear seat unit.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention is made in view of the above-described problems. An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicular rear seat unit including a seat belt attachment structure capable of surely restraining passengers, which realizes a simplified frame structure and weight reduction of a seat in addition to an improvement in comfort of a vehicle and ease in getting in and out of the vehicle.
In order to achieve the above-described object, an aspect of the present invention includes: a bench seat including a seat cushion with three seat sections arranged side by side, the seat cushion having a pair of frame members provided at positions corresponding to both side portions of the middle seat section; seat belt anchors for the seat sections, the seat belt anchors being attached to the respective frame members; and a seat slide device including a pair of movable rails to which the respective frame members are individually fixed, and a pair of fixed rails which slidably support the respective movable rails, the fixed rails being individually fixed to a vehicle body floor with leg members provided there between.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
Referring generally to
The bench seat 2 includes a seat cushion 6 having a middle seat section 4, and a one-side (right-side) seat section 5 and the-other-side (left-side) seat section 7, which are provided on both right and left sides of the middle seat section 4 with the middle seat section 4 sandwiched there between, and includes a seat back 11 having a middle seat back section 8, and a one-side (right-side) seat back section 9 and the-other-side (left-side) seat back section 10, which are provided on both right and left sides of the middle seat back section 8 with the middle seat back section 8 sandwiched there between. A frame 17 of the seat back 11 is rotatably joined to a frame 16 of the seat cushion 7 with reclining devices 12 provided there between at a transversely central part of the bench seat 2 and with brackets 13 provided there between at both transversely outer side portions of the bench seat 2. Bar-like retaining or cross-frame members 14 and rod-like retaining or cross-frame members 15 are provided on the frame 16 of the seat cushion 7 and the frame 17 of the seat back 11, respectively.
As shown in
Here, the seat belt anchors A, B and C are buckles with which tongues (not shown) of a passenger b's seat belt 18, a passenger a's seat belt 19 and a passenger c's seat belt 20 are engaged, respectively. Moreover, the seat belt anchor D is an end to which one end 18a of the seat belt 18 is fixed. The other end 18b of the seat belt 18 is taken up by a retractor 22 fixed to an attachment 21 (refer to
Moreover, as shown in
The base member 23 has a substantially L-shape with an erected member 23a and a lower member 23b, and the base member 24 has a substantially L-shape with an erected member 24 and a lower member 24b. Connecting brackets 25 and 26 are attached to the upper ends of the erected members 23a and 24a to be connected to the seat back 11, respectively, with reclining mechanisms (not shown) provided there between. The two reclining devices 12 have the erected members 23a and 24a, the reclining mechanisms, and the connecting brackets 25 and 26 (refer to
As shown in
The seat slide device 3 has two fixed rails 28 fixed to a vehicle body floor (not shown) with left and right leg members 27 provided there between, and the movable rails 29 which are slidably supported on the respective fixed rails 28 and have the base members 23 and 24 fixed thereto, respectively.
The base members 23 and 24 are fixed to the seat slide device 3 with the box brackets 30 and 31 interposed there between, respectively. Specifically, the lower member 23b of the base member 23 and the lower member 24b of the base member 24 are fixed by fixing screws 33b to the sidewall 30b of the box bracket 30 and the sidewall 31b of the box bracket 31, respectively. Moreover, the planer portion 30a of the box bracket 30 and the planer portion 31a of the box bracket 31 are fixed to the movable rails 29 by fixing screws 33a individually screwed to screw holes 32 provided in the movable rails 29. On the planer portions 30a and 31a, screw-housing concave portions which individually house heads of the fixing screws 33a are formed.
In this embodiment, as shown in
In the rear seat unit 1 configured in such a way, the bench seat 2 is fixed to the seat slide device 3 with the base members 23 and 24 interposed there between, which are provided at the positions corresponding to the both transversely outer side portions of the middle seat section 4 of the seat cushion 7. Accordingly, such structure members involved in fixing the bench seat 2 to the seat slide device 3 can be arranged away from central parts of the respective seat sections 4, 5 and 6. Therefore, good cushioning characteristics of the respective seat sections 4, 5 and 6 are maintained, and comfort of the vehicle is improved.
In addition, the seat slide device 3 can be installed close to the transverse center of the seat cushion 7. Accordingly, the leg members 27 can be arranged away from the vicinities of doors, and thus do not hinder passengers from getting in and out of the vehicle, whereby ease in getting in and out of the vehicle is improved.
Moreover, the seat belt anchors A and B are fixed to the base member 23, and the seat belt anchors C and D are fixed to the base member 24. Furthermore, both of the base members 23 and 24 are directly fixed to the movable rails 29 of the seat slide device 3. Accordingly, impact loads applied to the respective seat belt anchors A, B, C and D are directly transmitted to the vehicle body through the respective base members 23 and 24 and the seat slide device 3, which are highly rigid, without being transmitted through the frame 16 of the seat cushion 7 of the bench seat 2. Thus, an impact-resistant structure of the rear seat unit 1 is easily constructed, thus enabling simplification of the frame structure and weight reduction of the seat. Such transmission of the impact loads to the vehicle body is accurately performed in combination with high rigidities of the base members 23 and 24.
Moreover, in this embodiment, as shown in
As shown in
In a similar way, as shown in
Specifically, in this embodiment, the respective second catch brackets 36, 37, 39 and 40 are provided close to the seat belt anchors B, A, C and D, respectively.
As shown in
When an impact load is applied to the vehicle body from the front of the vehicle, as shown in
For the upward load F1, the second catch brackets 36, 37, 39 and 40 are individually engaged with the first catch brackets 34 and 35, and thus the rear of the seat cushion 7 is prevented from moving upward. For the downward load F2, the reinforcing rod 42 comes into contact with upper surfaces of the movable rails 29, and thus the front of the seat cushion 7 is prevented from moving downward. Thus, the passengers are surely restrained.
Furthermore, in another embodiment of the first and second catch brackets, as shown in
In a normal state, as shown in
Claims
1. A vehicular seat unit, comprising:
- a bench seat comprising a seat cushion with three seat sections arranged side by side, the seat cushion having a pair of frame members provided at positions corresponding to both side portions of a middle seat section;
- seat belt anchors for the seat sections, the seat belt anchors being attached to the respective frame members; and
- a seat slide device comprising a pair of movable rails to which the respective frame members are individually fixed; and
- a pair of fixed rails which slidably support the respective movable rails, the fixed rails being individually fixed to a vehicle body floor with leg members interposed there between.
2. The vehicular seat unit according to claim 1, wherein:
- each of the leg members is provided on both transversely outer edges thereof with first catch brackets, each first catch bracket forming a groove open downward;
- each of the frame members is provided on both transversely outer edges thereof close to the seat belt anchors with second catch brackets, each second catch bracket having an engagement piece to be engaged with the first catch bracket; and
- a rod bridging each of the frame members there between, the rod for contact with the movable rails to prevent the seat cushion from moving downward.
3. The vehicular seat unit according to claim 2, wherein:
- the first catch bracket is provided on a top portion thereof with a plurality of engagement holes arrayed along a length thereof;
- the second catch bracket is provided on a tip end of the engagement piece thereof with a plurality of engagement protrusions formed for engaging with the engagement holes; and
- the first and second catch brackets are configured such that the engagement protrusions are engaged with the engagement holes to prevent the second catch brackets from moving relative to the first catch brackets when an upward load is exerted on the seat cushion.
4. The vehicular seat unit according to of claim 1, wherein the frame members each comprises base members, a reclining devices connected to a respective base member of the bench seat, and a respective bracket members for attaching each base members to a movable rails.
Type: Application
Filed: Apr 23, 2003
Publication Date: Mar 9, 2006
Inventor: Satsuki Yamanaka (Kanagawa)
Application Number: 10/512,363
International Classification: A47C 7/02 (20060101);