| 摘要 |
A latch assembly incorporated into a vehicle seat for forcibly maintaining a seat back portion in an upright position responsive to a determined inertial or crash load. A frame of the seat includes a pair of support plates mounted and an upwardly extending arm hingedly connected to the support plates, the extending arm defining part of the seat back of the vehicle seat. A latch gear is mounted to the arm at the hinged connection and includes an exterior facing surface defined, in part, by a first plurality of teeth. A first cam is pivotally secured between the support plates at a first location and operably engages a second cam pivotally secured at a second location so that, upon rotation of the first cam in a given direction, the second cam rotates in an opposite direction. A pawl is pivotally and translatably secured at a third location and is engageable by the second cam in normal operation. The pawl includes a second plurality of teeth arrayed in opposing fashion to the first plurality of teeth of the latch gear, and further includes an extending end configuration further defined by an upwardly and arcuately extending surface. A wedge block is fixedly secured to the support bracket at a fourth location and is defined, in part, by first and second shoulder support surfaces. The pawl engages the first support surface of the wedge block upon being rotated between latched and disengaged positions relative to the latch gear. In response to the experienced inertial load, the extending end configuration of the pawl shifts in a lateral or radial direction so that it is then engaged upon the second shoulder support surface and the plurality of teeth defined on the pawl are forcibly interengaged against the plurality of teeth of the latch gear.
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