Passenger car seat assembly with integral child seat

Claim 1

A seat back for use in a passenger car in a generally upright position, said seat back extending transversely side to side in said passenger car, said passenger car having a horizontal shelf rearward of said seat back and a lower floor pan, said seat back comprising: a generally rectangular peripheral frame member including generally horizontal top and bottom portions and upright posts therebetween at transverse ends of said frame; a pair of upright columns having upper ends attached to said top portion of said peripheral member and lower ends having mounting portions adapted to be attached to said vehicle floor pan below the bottom portion of said peripheral frame member; upper and lower vertically spaced intermediate members extending between said upright columns and having ends attached thereto; means for securing said upper intermediate member to said vehicle shelf; a panel mounted to said upright columns for rotation about a pivot axis adjacent said bottom portion of said peripheral frame member, said panel having a first position extending generally upright from said pivot axis and a second position extending generally forwardly from said pivot axis forming a support platform for use as a child seat lower portion; and restraint means for restraining a child occupant seated on said panel, said restraint means including one or more belts forming a closed loop surrounding said upper and lower intermediate members and said occupant seated on said panel whereby a portion of the restraining loads applied by said occupant on said one or more belts are applied directly from said one or more belts to said intermediate members and from there to said shelf and floor pan.