VEHICLE DOOR LATCH WITH STIFFNESS ADJUSTMENT

摘要

A vehicle door latch (10) has a latching mechanism and stiffness adjustment mechanism disposed in a housing (12). The housing (12) includes a fishmouth slot (74) for receiving a striker (61). An overslam bumper (25) has an elastomeric portion (25a) located at a rearward end of the housing slot (74). The elastomeric portion (25a) engages the striker (61) and biases the striker (61) against the surface of the throat (58) of the fork bolt (30) when the striker is captured. The elastomeric portion (25a) is preloaded by the stiffness adjustment mechanism that includes a flexible portion (12a) of the housing (12), an expandable bushing (22), a nut (23) that, slides in the bushing (22) for expanding the bushing (22) and an adjustment screw (122) that screws into the nut (23). The nut (23) is readily accessible at a surface of the vehicle door (124) for adjusting the stiffness of the door latch.