HOOD LATCH ASSEMBLY

摘要

A hood latch has a mounting plate, a ratchet and pawl assembly, a secondary release lever and a reinforcement plate. The mounting plate has a fishmouth. The ratchet is pivotally mounted to the mounting plate at a first pivot point. The ratchet cooperates with the fishmouth and moves between an unlatched position and a latched position. The ratchet is biased to the unlatched position. The pawl is pivotally mounted to the mounting plate at a second pivot point. The pawl is biased to engage the ratchet and releasably retain the ratchet in the latched position. The secondary release leveris pivotally mounted to the mounting plate at a third pivot point. The secondary release lever is moveable between a secondary latched position closing the fishmouth providing a secondary catch and a release position pivoted away from the fishmouth. The secondary release lever is biased to the secondary latched position. The reinforcement plate is fixedly secured to the mounting plate at each of the pivot points to cover the ratchet and pawl assembly. The reinforcement plate includes an alignment mechanism positioned to maintain the ratchet and pawl assembly in alignment with each other.