Certain vehicles include an armrest to facilitate passenger comfort. The armrest may be coupled to a vehicle seat, a door panel, and/or a floor console. The vertical position of the armrest may be adjustable to accommodate vehicle occupants of different heights and/or builds. The armrest may be configured to rotate about a pivot joint between a lowered position and a raised position. An adjustment mechanism may be employed to hold the armrest in a desired position (e.g., between the lowered position and the raised position). Certain adjustment mechanisms are integrated within the pivot joint and/or coupled to the pivot joint to selectively block rotation of the armrest when a desired armrest position is achieved. Such adjustment mechanisms may be subjected to a large torque as a vehicle occupant applies weight to the armrest. Accordingly, known adjustment mechanisms may be required to be constructed from heavy and/or expensive materials (e.g., steel) to resist the torque, thus increasing the weight and/or manufacturing cost of the vehicle.
An example of an armrest is disclosed in DE102007024000 A1. The vertical position of the armrest is adjustable, but the armrest design has numerous disadvantages. For example, the armrest has a dual latch system with a primary latch for opening the storage compartment and a secondary latch for manual height adjustment of the armrest, which may cause user confusion regarding which latch to use. The stowed position is achieved by manually holding down the latch and moving the armrest, which may be inconvenient for the vehicle occupant. The motion of the armrest is not dampened, which diminishes the user experience. The secondary latch must be engaged to adjust the armrest height. The armrest styling is compromised because the design requires a large moving shroud, which adversely impacts styling.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds