POSITIONING MECHANISM FOR AUTOMOBILE SEAT

摘要

A positioning mechanism for moving and controlling the position of a seat in the longitudinal direction of a vehicle has a pair of rails (1, 2) secured to the floor and the seat of the vehicle respectively. The rail (2) secured to the seat is slidable with respect to the rail (1) secured to the vehicle, and the seat rail is engaged with the vehicle rail at the required seat position by a latch mechanism (30). The latch mechanism (30) has a latch member (3) which engages with engagement holes (11) formed in the vehicle rail and a coil spring (7) constantly urging the latch member toward the vehicle rail. The latch member is operated by an operating handle (5) to release the engagement with the holes (11), thereby allowing the movement of the seat rail. The predetermined height of the gap containing the positioning mechanism between the seat and the floor is reduced, and accordingly a flat coil spring having a lower height than width is used so as to lower the position of the seat.