Seat belt attachment structure for off-road vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10166896-B2
Application number	US-201514867344-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 28, 2015
Priority date	Sep 30, 2014
Publication date	Jan 1, 2019
Grant date	Jan 1, 2019

Abstract

A seat belt attachment structure for an off-road vehicle comprising a seat including a seat frame and at least two occupant sitting positions. A seat belt is provided for each sitting position that includes a shoulder belt, a waist belt, and a tongue plate. When fastened, the seat belt is fixed at three points including a retractor housing the shoulder belt, an anchor fixing the waist belt on the same side of the sitting position as the retractor, and a buckle positioned on the other side of the sitting position that detachably engages the tongue plate. At least a first appendage is positioned along the frame between the first and second sitting positions, and the waist belts of the first and second sitting positions are fixed to the first appendage when the seat belts of the first and second sitting positions are fastened.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A seat belt attachment structure for an off-road vehicle comprising:
a seat including a seat frame and at least a first occupant sitting position positioned adjacent a second occupant sitting position, each occupant sitting position having opposing sides;
a seat belt for each sitting position that is capable of being fastened and unfastened, each seat belt including a shoulder belt, a waist belt, and a tongue plate, wherein each seat belt when fastened is fixed at three points including at a retractor housing the shoulder belt, at an anchor fixing the waist belt on the same side of the sitting position as the retractor, and at a buckle positioned on the other side of the sitting position that detachably engages the tongue plate when the seat belt is fastened; and
at least a first appendage that extends upward from the seat frame and is positioned along the seat frame in the vehicle width direction between the first and second sitting positions, wherein the tongue plate of the seat belt of the first sitting position and either the tongue plate or the anchor of the seat belt of the second sitting position are attached to the first appendage when the seat belts of the first and second sitting positions are fastened, and wherein the anchor or the buckle of the first sitting position and the anchor or the buckle of the second sitting position are fixed to the first appendage at different positions along the length and the height of the vehicle.

2. The seat belt attachment structure of claim 1 , wherein the anchor and the buckle of the second sitting position and at least one of the anchor and the buckle of the first sitting position each includes an attachment plate, wherein the at least first and second sitting positions are aligned in a horizontal row being provided so as to be shifted from one another from a side view of the vehicle, and one of the at least one attachment plate from the first sitting position seat belt and one of the attachment plates from the second sitting position seat belt are fixed to the first appendage at different positions along the length of the vehicle.

3. The seat belt attachment structure of claim 2 , wherein the seat includes a third sitting position and the three sitting positions are aligned in a horizontal row with the second sitting position positioned between the first and third sitting positions, the first appendage is positioned to the left of the second sitting position and a second appendage is positioned to the right of the second sitting position along the seat frame in the vehicle width direction between the second and third sitting positions, wherein the other attachment plate for the second sitting position seat belt and an attachment plate for either an anchor or a buckle of a seat belt for the third sitting position are fixed to the second appendage with separate fastening members fastened from the right side of the vehicle, and the attachment plates for the first and second sitting position seat belts that are attached to the first appendage are fixed with separate fasteners from the left side of the vehicle.

4. The seat belt attachment structure of claim 3 , wherein the first appendage and the second appendage each includes a hollow member having a rectangular cross section from the perspective of the axial direction, wherein the hollow member of the first appendage includes an outer side facing the first sitting position and an inner side facing the second sitting position and the hollow member of the second appendage includes an outer side facing the third sitting position and an inner side facing the second sitting position, wherein the attachment plate for the first sitting position seat belt that is attached to the first appendage is attached to the outer side of the hollow member of the first appendage and the attachment plate for the third sitting position seat belt that is attached to the second appendage is attached to the outer side of the hollow member of the second appendage, and wherein the attachment plate for the second sitting position seat belt that is attached to the first appendage is attached to the inner side of the hollow member of the first appendage and the other attachment plate of the second sitting position seat belt that is attached to the second appendage is attached to the inner side of the hollow member of the second appendage.

5. The seat belt attachment structure of claim 4 , wherein the first and second appendages each includes two nuts for fixing the attachment plates for the seat belts for the adjacent sitting positions, wherein the first nut is provided on a plate that extends outward from the inner side of the hollow member and includes an outer side facing the same direction as the outer side of the hollow member and an inner side facing the same direction as the inner side of the hollow member, wherein the first nut extends outward from the inner side of the plate toward the second sitting position, and wherein the second nut passes through the hollow member and is connected to both the inner and outer sides of the hollow member.

6. The seat belt attachment structure of claim 5 , wherein the attachment plate for the first sitting position seat belt that is attached to the first appendage is fixed to the second nut on the outer side of the hollow member of the first appendage and the attachment plate for the third sitting position seat belt that is attached to the second appendage is fixed to the second nut on the outer side of the hollow member of the second appendage, and wherein the attachment plate for the second sitting position seat belt that is attached to the first appendage is fixed to the first nut of the first appendage on the outer side of the plate and the other attachment plate of the second sitting position seat belt that is attached to the second appendage is fixed to the first nut of the second appendage on the outer side of the plate.

7. The seat belt attachment structure of claim 2 , wherein the first appendage is provided with a hollow member having a rectangular cross section from the perspective of the axial direction, wherein the hollow member of the first appendage includes a first side facing the first sitting position and a second side facing the second sitting position, wherein the attachment plate for the first sitting position seat belt that is attached to the first appendage is attached to the first side of the hollow member of the first appendage, and the attachment plate of the second sitting position seat belt that is attached to the first appendage is attached to the second side of the hollow member of the first appendage.

8. The seat belt attachment structure of claim 7 , wherein two nuts for fixing the attachment plates are provided on the first appendage, wherein the first nut is provided on a plate that extends outward from the second side of the hollow member and includes a first side facing the first seat and a second side facing the second seat, wherein the first nut extends from the second side of the plate toward the second sitting position, and the second nut passes through the hollow member and is connected to both the first and second sides of the hollow member.

9. The seat belt attachment structure of claim 8 , wherein the seat is a three-person seat including three sitting positions on which three occupants can sit in a horizontal row, wherein the first side of the hollow member is an outer side in the vehicle width direction and the second side of the hollow member is an inner side in the vehicle width direction, the buckle attachment plate for the seat belt for the first sitting position is fixed to the second nut on the outer side of the hollow member, and the attachment plate for the seat belt for the sec

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Karube Shinichi
• Nozawa Hironori
• Kamiyama Takeshi
• Tano Yoshihiro

Classifications

• B60N2/24

  for particular purposes or particular vehicles · CPC title

• B60R22/26

  secured to the seat · CPC title

• B60R2022/263

  Front seats · CPC title

• B60N2/012

  The seat support being a part of the vehicle body or chassis · CPC title

• B60N2/38

  specially constructed for use on tractors or like off-road vehicles · CPC title