Anti-noise collar for vehicle latch

摘要

A yieldable plastic collar is mounted on the latch housing to surround the entry recess of the housing and be engaged by the striker to thereby isolate the striker from noise producing contact with the housing. The plastic collar has a base portion attached to the housing and a striker contacting portion projecting from the base portion into the entry recess of the latch housing. The contacting portion is connected to the base portion by an integrally molded living hinge so that the contacting portion yields to remain in full time contacting engagement with the striker irrespective of shifting movement or misalignment between the housing and the striker. The plastic collar is attached to the latch housing at attachment points which are offset from the contacting portion of the plastic collar so that shifting movement of the striker relative to the latch housing may cause yielding and flexure of the base portion to accommodate further relative movement between the housing and the striker beyond the range of relative movement permitted by the yielding of the living hinge.