Vehicle seat structure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11021084-B2
Application number	US-201916668620-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 30, 2019
Priority date	Nov 5, 2018
Publication date	Jun 1, 2021
Grant date	Jun 1, 2021

Abstract

A vehicle seat structure including: a seat cushion on which a vehicle occupant sits; a seat back that supports a back portion of the vehicle occupant while sitting on the seat cushion in a seat deployed state, the seat deployed state being a state in which the vehicle occupant is able to sit on the seat cushion; and a seat deploying/retracting mechanism that enables the seat cushion and the seat back to slide in a vehicle up-down direction, and that, in a seat retracted state in which the seat cushion and the seat back are retracted, enables the seat cushion and the seat back to be placed in the vehicle up-down direction such that the seat cushion stands upright, and the seat back is placed at an upper side of the seat cushion.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle seat structure comprising:
a seat cushion on which a vehicle occupant sits;
a seat back that supports a back portion of the vehicle occupant while sitting on the seat cushion in a seat deployed state, the seat deployed state being a state in which the vehicle occupant is able to sit on the seat cushion;
a seat deploying/retracting mechanism that enables the seat cushion and the seat back to slide in a vehicle up-down direction, and that, in a seat retracted state in which the seat cushion and the seat back are retracted, enables the seat cushion and the seat back to be placed in the vehicle up-down direction such that the seat cushion stands upright, and the seat back is placed at an upper side of the seat cushion; and
a headrest that is exposed in the seat deployed state and the headrest is superimposed with the seat back in the seat retracted state.

2. The vehicle seat structure according to claim 1 , wherein, in a case in which the seat back is slid towards a lower side in the vehicle up-down direction in the seat retracted state, the seat deploying/retracting mechanism places the vehicle seat structure in the seat deployed state by pivoting the seat cushion towards a front side in a seat front-rear direction so as to extend horizontally.

3. The vehicle seat structure according to claim 2 , wherein the seat deploying/retracting mechanism includes:
rails that extend in the vehicle up-down direction;
a first supporting portion engaged with the rails, the first supporting portion supporting the seat back such that the seat back is slidable along the rails; and
a second supporting portion engaged with the rails, the second supporting portion supporting the seat cushion such that the seat cushion slidable along the rails, and supporting the seat cushion such that the seat cushion pivotable in the seat front-rear direction with a pivoting axial direction extending in a seat width direction.

4. The vehicle seat structure according to claim 3 , wherein:
the first supporting portion supports the seat back such that the seat back pivotable in the seat front-rear direction with a pivoting axial direction extending in the seat width direction, and
the seat deploying/retracting mechanism includes a hinge portion that enables the seat back and the seat cushion to pivot relatively in the seat front-rear direction with a pivoting axial direction in the seat width direction.

5. The vehicle seat structure according to claim 4 , wherein a shaft of the hinge portion is disposed at a front side in the seat front-rear direction of a shaft of the second supporting portion.

6. The vehicle seat structure according to claim 3 , wherein:
one of the rails is provided respectively at each end side in the seat width direction of the seat back,
the headrest supports a head portion of the seated vehicle occupant and the headrest is provided between the two rails.

7. The vehicle seat structure according to claim 1 , wherein the seat deploying/retracting mechanism includes:
an armrest that is linked to the seat back and forms a portion of a linking mechanism and that supports an arm portion of the seated vehicle occupant in the seat deployed state; and
a linking member that forms a portion of the linking mechanism, and is linked to the armrest and the seat cushion, the linking member unfolding the armrest in conjunction with a deploying operation of the seat cushion, and folding up the armrest in conjunction with a retracting operation of the seat cushion.

8. The vehicle seat structure according to claim 7 , wherein, in the seat deployed state, a shape formed by the armrest, the linking member, the seat cushion and the seat back forms a parallelogram that is tilted towards a rear side in the seat front-rear direction when seen from a seat side.

9. The vehicle seat structure according to claim 1 , further comprising a seat cushion supporting member provided at a free-end side of the seat cushion, the seat cushion supporting member being pivotable in a seat front-rear direction with a pivoting axial direction extending in a seat width direction, and supporting the seat cushion in the seat deployed state in conjunction with a deploying operation and a retracting operation of the seat cushion.

10. The vehicle seat structure according to claim 3 , further comprising a seat cushion supporting member provided at a free-end side of the seat cushion, the seat cushion supporting member being pivotable in the seat front-rear direction with a pivoting axial direction extending in the seat width direction, and supporting the seat cushion in the seat deployed state in conjunction with a deploying operation and a retracting operation of the seat cushion.

11. The vehicle seat structure according to claim 10 , wherein a shaft of the seat cushion supporting member is disposed at the front side in the seat front-rear direction of a shaft of the second supporting portion.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Sakurai Hideyuki

Classifications

• B60N2/304

  by rotation only · CPC title

• B60N2/305 Primary

  the cushion being hinged on the vehicle frame · CPC title

• B60N2/3027

  along vertical axis · CPC title

• B60N2/242

  Bus seats · CPC title

• A47C9/06

  Wall stools · CPC title