Conventional seat belt systems have a belt end mounted inboard the occupant seating position. For example, a buckle is mounted inboard the occupant seating position for engagement by a mating latch plate provided upon a belt mounted outboard the occupant seating position. Engagement of the latch plate with the buckle disposes the seat belt across the body of the seated occupant for restraining the occupant against movement from the seat.
Conventional vehicle seats may be a bucket seat or a bench seat and are mounted on the vehicle floor by a seat adjusting mechanism. Such seat adjusting mechanisms may enable fore and aft adjusting movement of the seat or, additionally, may provide vertical adjustment and tilting of the seat as well as fore and aft adjusting movement.
It would be desirable to mount the inboard buckle directly on the vehicle seat so that the position of the buckle relative the seated occupant remains unchanged as the position of the seat is adjusted by the seat adjusting mechanism. However, mounting of the buckle directly on the seat has a disadvantage of requiring that the seat adjustment mechanism be strong enough to maintain the seat against movement by the momentum of the seated occupant which is transferred to the seat by the seat belt system.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an anchorage system which acts between the seat mounted restraint belt buckle and the vehicle floor to transmit the occupant restraint load to the vehicle floor without relying upon the force sustaining capability of the seat adjusting mechanism.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds