Motor vehicle seat assembly

Claim 1

In a motor vehicle van having a body including a pair of side walls, a roof, and a flat floor portion for cargo, a door opening formed in one of said side walls and including front and rear vertical edges and an upper horizontal edge, a pedestal having the lower end rigidly mounted on said floor portion in transverse alignment with the door opening, a driver seat carried by the upper end of said pedestal, a step located between said door opening and said driver''s seat at an elevation below said floor portion for facilitating entrance into the motor vehicle van, said driver''s seat comprising a seat cushion member and a seat back member that are Rigidly interconnected to form a unitary structure, a transverse shaft pivotally connecting the forward end of the seat cushion member to the pedestal so as to allow the driver''s seat to move between a normal seating position and a forwardly inclined position wherein the driver''s seat is tilted forwardly as a unit so as to increase the horizontal distance between the driver''s seat and the rear vertical edge of the door opening and allow access to the rear portion of the motor vehicle van, a spring connected between said pedestal and said seat cushion for continuously urging the driver''s seat into the forwardly inclined position, a latch having a pair of lock members arranged in a scissors fashion for connecting said seat cushion to the rear portion of the pedestal and having a closed position for locking the driver''s seat in said normal seating position and an open position for allowing said spring to move the seat to the forwardly inclined position, a release member, means connecting said release member to the seat cushion member for pivotal movement about a horizontal axis, said release member having an inner end connected to said lock members for moving the latter between the open and closed positions and an outer end extending laterally outwardly beyond the side edge of said seat cushion member, and an enlarged contact member formed with the outer end of the release member and being located in an area vertically above said step and at a height which allows a person entering the motor vehicle van to engage the contact member with his knee and cause the release member to be shifted upwardly so the inner end thereof causes the lock members to be moved from the closed position to the open position.