Easy entry seat adjuster

Claim 1

An easy entry seat adjuster for a vehicle seat including a seat cushion and a seat back (30) supported on the cushion for tilting movement between an upright position and a tilted position, the easy entry seat adjuster comprising, a pair of track members (12,14) for mounting the seat on a vehicle for movement to a plurality of adjusted positions and an easy entry position, a latch member (38) mounted on one track member (12) for movement between a latched position wherein the latch member is engageable with the other track member (14) to latch the track members to each other and an unlatched position wherein the latch member is disengaged from the other track member, and first resilient means (64) biasing the latch member to the latched position, characterised by a blocking member (80) mounted on the one track member for movement between an unblocking position relative to the latch member and a blocking position wherein the blocking member blocks movement of the latch member from the unlatched position to the latched position, second resilient means (84) of lesser output than the first resilient means biasing the blocking member from the blocking position to the unblocking position, means (88,89) coupling the blocking member to the seat back to move the blocking member to the blocking position upon tilting movement of the seat back and engage the blocking member with the latch member to move the latch member to the unlatched position, the bias of the first resilient means on the latch member holding the latch member in engagement with the blocking member to maintain the blocking member in the blocking position against the bias of the second resilient means should the seat back be returned to the upright position, the seat and one track member being movable from an initial starting position to the easy enter position upon movement of the latch member to the unlatched position by the blocking member, and means (104) operable during movement of the seat and one track member from the easy entry position toward the initial starting position for temporarily moving the latch member out of engagement with the blocking member to permit the second resilient means to move the blocking member to unblocking position and to permit the first resilient means to return the latch member to the latched position in engagement with the other track member.