Rotatable seatbelt buckle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12384323-B2
Application number	US-202318473719-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 25, 2023
Priority date	Sep 25, 2023
Publication date	Aug 12, 2025
Grant date	Aug 12, 2025

Abstract

A vehicle includes a vehicle seat and a plate fixed relative to the vehicle seat. A seatbelt buckle is rotatably supported by the vehicle seat and is rotatable relative to the plate to one of a first or second position. A first and second slot are both in one of the plate or the seatbelt buckle. A pin supported by and movable to an extended position relative to one of the plate or the seatbelt buckle. The pin is spaced from the first and second slot when the seatbelt buckle is in a stowed position and is positioned to extend into the first or second slot when the seatbelt buckle is in the first or second position. A computer executes instructions to rotate the seatbelt buckle to one of the first or second position based on a size of an occupant and, then, move the pin to the extended position.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle comprising:
a vehicle seat;
a plate fixed relative to the vehicle seat;
a seatbelt buckle rotatably supported by the vehicle seat, the seatbelt buckle being rotatable relative to the plate from a stowed position to one of a first position or a second position;
a first slot and a second slot both in one of the plate or the seatbelt buckle;
a pin supported by the other of the plate or the seatbelt buckle, the pin being moveable relative to the other of the plate or the seatbelt buckle from a retracted position to an extended position;
the pin being spaced from the first slot and the second slot when the seatbelt buckle is in the stowed position;
the pin being positioned to extend from the retracted position to the extended position into the first slot when the seatbelt buckle is in the first position;
the pin being positioned to extend from the retracted position to the extended position into the second slot when the seatbelt buckle is in the second position; and
a computer including a processor and a memory storing instructions executable by the processor to:
rotate the seatbelt buckle to one of the first position or the second position based on a size of an occupant of the vehicle seat; and
then, move the pin to the extended position.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising: a third slot in the one of the plate and the seatbelt buckle; the seatbelt buckle is rotatable to one of the first position, the second position, or a third position; and the pin being in the extended position and extending into the third slot when the seatbelt buckle is in the third position.

3. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the seatbelt buckle rotates about a rotational axis parallel to a cross-seat axis.

4. The vehicle of claim 3 , wherein the pin is spaced from the rotational axis.

5. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle seat includes a seatback, the seatbelt buckle being rotatable away from the seatback from the stowed position to the first position and the second position.

6. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle seat includes a seat bottom, the plate being fixed relative to the seat bottom and the seatbelt buckle is rotatable relative to the seat bottom.

7. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the seatbelt buckle is rotatable relative to the vehicle seat in a seat-forward direction.

8. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the pin moves in a cross-seat direction from the retracted position to the extended position.

9. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the seatbelt buckle is rotatable about a rotational axis; the pin, the first slot, and the second slot being spaced from the rotational axis.

10. The vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising a solenoid including the pin.

11. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the pin is biased toward one of the first slot or the second slot in the extended position.

12. The vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising a latch plate engageable with the seatbelt buckle, the seatbelt buckle rotating away from the stowed position when the latch plate is engaged with the seatbelt buckle.

13. The vehicle of claim 12 , wherein the pin is moveable from the retracted position to the extended position when the latch plate is engaged with the seatbelt buckle.

14. The vehicle of claim 12 , further comprising a webbing, the latch plate being moveable along the webbing to define a lap portion, the lap portion being moveable in a seat-forward direction as the seatbelt buckle moves from the stowed position toward the first position and the second position.

15. The vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising:
a latch plate engageable with the seatbelt buckle; and
an actuator biasing the pin toward the extended position in response to detected engagement of the latch plate with the seatbelt buckle.

16. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the instructions include to detect engagement of a latch plate with the seatbelt buckle.

17. The vehicle of claim 16 , wherein the instructions include to detect disengagement of the latch plate with the seatbelt buckle.

18. The vehicle of claim 17 , wherein the instructions include to, based on detection of disengagement of the latch plate, move the pin from the extended position to the retracted position and rotate the seatbelt buckle to the stowed position.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Sundaram Ramasamy Murugan
• Kadam Mangesh
• Malapati Srinivas Reddy

Classifications

• B60R22/26

  secured to the seat · CPC title

• B60R2022/1806

  for buckles · CPC title

• B60R22/20 Primary

  adjustable in position, e.g. in height · CPC title