Power operated vehicle door latch

摘要

A vehicle door latch has a forkbolt (24), a detent (26) that holds the forkbolt in a latched position, a release mechanism that moves the detent to release the forkbolt and a lock mechanism for disabling the release mechanism. The detent is moved by an intermittent lever (46) that is part of the release mechanism and part of the locking mechanism. A lock lever (56) forming part of the lock mechanism moves the intermittent lever back and forth between an unlock position where the intermittent lever drives the detent to release the forkbolt and a lock position where the intermittent lever free wheels with respect to the detent. The intermittent lever (46) is pivotally connected to an unlatching lever (44) of the release mechanism that is operated by inside and outside release levers (68, 60). The lock lever (56) includes a lower lock lever (82), an upper lock lever (84) and a spring (86) that stores energy when the lower lock lever pivots with respect to the upper lock lever. The lock mechanism includes an inside lock lever (96) and an outside lock lever (106) for operating the lower lock lever. The door latch also includes a motor driven actuator assembly (92) for operating the lock mechanism and a double lock assembly (104) for disabling the lock assembly so that the door latch cannot be unlocked by the inside lock lever (96).