Door handle assembly with snap-in key cylinder

摘要

A door handle assembly having a snap-in attachment apparatus for assembling a key cylinder to a door handle assembly without the use of separate fasteners and retainers. The door handle assembly has a bored tubular extension that utilizes slots to define tubular sections that yield radially outward upon inserting the key cylinder into the bore of the tubular extension. The tubular sections have openings that receive lugs extending from the periphery of the key cylinder and that prohibit inward axial movement and rotary movement of the key cylinder. A shoulder in the door handle assembly abuts an end of the key cylinder to prohibit outward axial movement of the key cylinder. The engaging surfaces of the lugs and tubular sections have drafted angles that pull the tubular sections radially inward toward the key cylinder upon a push-in force applied to the key cylinder from outside the vehicle and directed toward the center of the vehicle. The tubular extension and key cylinder also have alignment surfaces for orientating a key slot of the key cylinder in a conventional vertical position.