A final closing device for a closure member on a vehicle body, and more particularly, a device for moving a vehicle-mounted closure member (e.g., a sliding door, a hinged door, a hood, a trunk lid, or the like) from a nearly closed position, at which a latch bolt or member engages a striker, to a fully closed position, at which the closure member is sealingly engaged with the vehicle body, is well known.
A typical standard automotive door latch striker assembly includes a striker, which can take the form of a pin, a U-shaped member or the like, fixedly mounted in the door frame to project into the door opening and into the path of movement of a latch member mounted on the edge of the door, which includes a fork bolt therein. The latch member is typically movably mounted with respect to the door and arranged so that as the door approaches its closed position, the latch member will engage the striker and further closing movement of the door will move the latch member into a safety latch position with respect to the pin, sometimes referred to as the secondary latch position, and further closing movement of the door will move the latch member into a primary latch position with respect to the pin, which positively retains the door against movement away from its closed position. It is generally known for at least part of the movement of the latch member into latched relationship with the striker to be resisted by a spring, and many users of sliding doors of this type habitually close the door with far greater force than necessary to overcome the spring bias. Greater force is generally required in the case of sliding doors, such as those employed in vans, where movement of the door through the final phase of movement to the fully closed position must encompass a resilient door seal, which extends around the entire periphery of the door opening.
Power striker devices have been proposed to overcome the high force requirements to move sliding doors into the fully closed position. Typically the power striker devices are mounted on the door frame for powered movement between an outboard ready position with respect to the vehicle center line, where the latch is engaged with the striker, and an inboard holding position, where the striker holds the latch in the fully closed position. It is still required in such systems to use high force or momentum in order to ensure that the latch engages the striker in the primary latch position prior to movement into the fully closed position. When the door is open, the striker is located in its outboard ready position. After closing translation of the door is complete, the latch on the door engages the striker and latches the door to the striker while the striker is still in the outboard position. The door may engage a limit switch on the door frame when in the outboard position or may be sensed by a position sensor on the translator, which is a separate motor which drives the door between its relative positions, to actuate a drive motor which, through appropriate mechanism, drives the striker to its inboard position, such that the latched engagement between the door and striker enables the pin to drive the door to the fully closed position. With this arrangement, a closing force sufficient to engage the latch to the primary latch position with respect to the striker needs to be applied. The powered movement of the striker provides the force necessary to compress the door seal. If the striker and latch do not reach the primary latch position with respect to one another, the powered movement of the striker from its outboard position to its inboard position would not be sufficient to bring the door to the fully closed position in sealed engagement with the frame around the periphery of the door opening. In such cases, the user may be required to reopen and close the door repeatedly until the latch and striker are disposed in the primary latch position with respect to each other when in the outboard position.
For the purpose of preventing the intrusion of rain water and so on, a seal member, which is molded typically from synthetic rubber and is generally called weather strip, is interposed in a gap between a door and an associated vehicle body. Recently, with the aim of reducing the wind noise and noises from air leakage in addition to improving the sealing effect, weather strips of higher reaction force or, in other words, weather strips having higher elastic coefficients are being preferred. This high reaction force tends to prevent a full latching of the door latch upon closing of the door and may cause only a partially closed state of the door. Therefore, it is sometimes necessary to forcibly close the door to overcome the reaction force of the weather strip and to obtain a fully latched state of the door latch. However, when the door is forcibly closed, the sound thereof and the resulting sudden change in the cabin pressure may cause discomfort to the passenger.
To resolve this problem, it is conceivable to move a striker, by a suitable means, which is mounted to the vehicle body to engage with a latch assembly mounted to the door to keep the door closed. Specifically, the striker may be placed at an outward position in advance so as to achieve a latching before the reaction force of the weather strip starts acting upon the door and, after the door latch assembly is fully latched to the striker, the striker is positively driven to a position which causes complete deformation of the weather strip for sufficient sealing effect and complete closure of the door.
However, in order to pull in the striker from its latched position against the reaction force of the weather strip, an extremely strong force is necessary. Suitable actuators for driving the striker are difficult to package and install in the limited space in the interior of the associated body panel structure. It is particularly difficult to package such a drive device in the center pillar of a four-door passenger vehicle.
The final closing systems employed in prior art examples are generally large, costly, complicated mechanisms which are difficult to install, repair and/or replace and have frequently proven to be unsatisfactory in terms of long term performance and reliability. Furthermore, modifying striker actuators for varying applications and vehicle configurations typically requires major redesign and retooling.
Known power striker systems which are designed for flexibility of application tend to be underpowered, resulting in slow operation and a tendency to stall. Furthermore, if their design is not robust, the mechanism can be easily damaged by slamming of the door.
A particular problem common to existing power striker systems stems from the arcuate path of travel of the striker as it traverses from the presented or deployed position to cinched or closed position. This is problematic inasmuch as the mating latch assembly must be able to maintain secure interconnection with the striker as it traverses vertically and/or longitudinally as well as inwardly. In a related problem, electrically driven systems do not have adequate redundancy and can fail without the door being in the fully closed and positively latched condition.
It is, therefore, a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved final closing device for closure members of vehicles which overcomes known shortfalls of existing devices without adding to part count, manufacturing complexity or cost.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds