Description:FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention is related to automotive seat. In particular, the present invention concerns the type of mounting used to hold the vehicle seat by a flexible-strap assembly. More particularly, the present invention relates to the flexible-strap seat-mounting assembly for bench type of passenger seats, like rear bench-seat behind the driver’s seat in an automobile.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Nowadays, it is important to prioritize the automobile industry standards for improving the safety of the passenger travelling in vehicles. In the unfortunate event of the occurrence of an accident, vehicle passengers are subjected to several injuries, often also due to improper seating provided therein. Because the vehicle seat plays a major role in combination the seatbelt or seat-strap to retain the passenger in a safe position during any vehicle collision or overturning.

The prevailing automotive industry standards and global automotive bodies recommend various crash tests for ensuring the safety of passengers using vehicles and also stipulate as to how the vehicle seats comply with these safety criteria without any failure during these tests.

At the time of crash, the vehicle is subjected to sudden acceleration/deceleration which may leads to serious injuries to the passenger seated inside the vehicle because of poor seat performance. Especially, the rear seat (second row) with 5 mountings in the cushion structure is mounted on the vehicle body and integrated with Transfer Path Analysis (TPA) mechanism for folding the seatback.

When the vehicle meets an accident, the occupant crashes into the 3rd row or the luggage on the rear side moves towards the second-row seat-back and collides therewith. Due to this impact, the second row seat-back gets folded and fails to perform because of its flexible design.

In such a scenario, the injury criteria for the 3rd row occupants are stricter than those recommended mandatorily. In addition, the seat-back gets folded and this affects the second-row occupants.

In order to avoid this seat-failure and to reduce the injuries to keep them within the recommended values, the seat-back needs to be configured to be fixed and the folding thereof should always be avoided during the vehicle crash.

For avoiding the seat from folding, the seat-back needs to be fixed. It is experienced that the option of using mounting brackets on the seat-back to hold it in place during the crash does not meet the expected results. Due to the rigidity of such mounting brackets and the mounting location (near to 3rd row occupant) thereof, the level of injuries sustained by the occupants is still on the higher side.

Therefore, there is an existing need in the relevant art for providing an improved system or arrangement to avoid the folding of seat-back during the vehicle crash when such an unfortunate event occurs.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

Some of the objects of the present invention - satisfied by at least one embodiment of the present invention - are as follows:

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved vehicle seating system for the safety of occupants thereof by preventing the folding of seat-back in the event of a vehicle accident or crash.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved vehicle seating system, which is simple to assembly and easy to be used by the vehicle occupants.

A further object of the present invention has no sharp edges which could be proved harmful to the vehicle occupants in the event of a vehicle accident/crash.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved vehicle seating system, which reduces the weight of the seat structure by replacing the existing brackets thereof and thus comparatively cost-effective thereto.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improved vehicle seating system, which is flexible enough to reduce the injury to the vehicle occupants during the vehicle accident or crash.

Still further object of the present invention is to provide an improved vehicle seating system, which serves as a mounting for ensuring the safety performance thereof.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description, when read with the accompanying figures of drawing, which are however not intended to limit the scope of the present invention in any way.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, the flexible-strap of the flexible-strap bench-seat mounting assembly is made of the polyester material same as the seat-belt webbing, wherein the strap-end is joined by stitching to the anchor plates made of steel. The first end of said flexible-strap is fixed at the bench-seat/s by means of a threaded bolt joint and the second end of said strap is fixed to the vehicle body-in-white (BIW) by means of a mounting bolt or locking bolt joint. The length of the flexible-strap is variable and depends on the application or the type of load acting on the seatback of the bench-seat. The mounting bolt joint is used as a fixed connection of the flexible-strap assembly between the bench-seat and the BIW, while the locking bolt joint is used for a detachable connection therebetween, so as to enable folding over of the seatback on the bench-seat, whenever necessary, e.g. for creating more storage space within the passenger cabin or to allow easier access to the rear seat passenger/s.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a flexible-strap seat-mounting assembly for the safety of rear bench-seat passengers in an automobile, the assembly comprising:

a. a flexible-strap of stretchable/expandable material;

b. a first anchor plate connected to the first end of the flexible-strap;

c. a first fastening means for attaching the first anchor plate to a side-pipe of a rear bench-seat;
d. a second anchor plate connected to the second end of the flexible-strap; and

e. a second fastening means for attaching the second anchor plate to the Body-In-White (BIW) of the automobile;

wherein the flexible-strap is configured to expand or stretch by a predefined maximum length to prevent any injury to the passenger/s of the rear bench-seat due to sudden brake application by the driver or because of the automobile meeting an accident.

Typically, the anchor plates comprise an opening each for fixing the first fastening means and the flexible-strap therein.

Typically, the first fastening means comprises:

- a C-section bracket with a profile formed on the flanges thereof and a hole made on the web thereof; and

- a fastener, preferably a threaded bolt;

wherein the fastener passed through the opening in the first anchor plate for fixing the first fastening means to a side pipe of the rear bench-seat by a snug fitting of the profile thereon.

Typically, the second fastening means comprises a mounting bolt having a flat or grooved head and connected to a base fitted on the BIW by suitable fastening means, like rivets or welds or bolts or screws.

Typically, the second fastening means comprises a J-shaped locking bolt connected to a base fitted on the BIW by suitable fastening means, like rivets or welds or bolts or screws.

Typically, the first anchor plate comprises a first end having a first opening is a hole for passing the fastener therethrough, and a second opening is a slit for fixing one end of the flexible-strap therein.

Typically, the second anchor plate comprises a first end having a first opening formed as a slit for fixing one end of the flexible-strap therein and a second opening formed as a hook for latching/locking on the flat or grooved head of the mounting bolt fitted on the BIW.

Typically, the second anchor plate comprises a first end having a first opening formed as a slit for fixing one end of the flexible-strap therein and a second opening formed as a hole for connecting the J-shaped locking bolt fitted on the BIW.

Typically, the flexible-strap is made of a high-strength, stretchable/expandable material, such as polyester and the like.

Typically, the anchor plate is made of a high-strength metal, such as steel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

The present invention will be briefly described in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIGURE 1a shows a front perspective view of a light-weight rear-row seat of tubular structure without any seat-cushion/s thereon.

FIGURE 1b shows the light-weight rear-row seat of Figure 1a within the BIW of vehicle and fitted with seat-cushions thereon and the passenger seated on the last-seat without the provision of any seat-belt therein.

FIGURE 1c shows the light-weight rear-row seat of Figure 1a within the BIW of vehicle and fitted with seat-cushions thereon and the passenger seated on the last-seat secured with a seat-belt provided therein.

FIGURE 1d shows the light-weight rear-row seat of Figure 1a fitted with luggage articles placed behind the seatback thereof.

FIGURE 1e shows the light-weight rear-row seat of Figure 1a showing the luggage articles moved to hit from behind the seatback due to sudden braking by driver or due to occurrence of a frontal-crash of the vehicle.

FIGURE 2a shows a front-perspective view of the light-weight rear-row seat of Figure 1a, provided with a flexible strap seat-mounting assembly configured in accordance with the present invention.

FIGURE 2b shows a rear-perspective view of the light-weight rear-row seat of Figure 2a clearly showing the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly fitted thereon.

FIGURE 3 shows another rear perspective view of the light-weight rear-row seat of Figure 2a fitted with one of the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly fixed (encircled) between the Body-In-White (BIW) of the vehicle and the seatback of the rear seat.

FIGURE 4a shows an enlarged view of the encircled portion Figure 3 depicting the details of the connection between the BIW and tubular structure of the rear-seat fitted with the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly of the present invention.

FIGURE 4b shows an exploded view of the of the arrangement of flexible strap seat-mounting assembly of the present invention in a first embodiment thereof and fitted on the tubular structure of the rear-seat.

FIGURE 5 shows an assembled view of the first embodiment of the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly of Figure 4b.

FIGURE 6a shows an assembled view of the second embodiment of the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly configured in accordance with the present invention, ready to be attached between the tubular structure of the rear-seat and BIW by means of a first embodiment of the fixing bolt.

FIGURE 6b shows an assembled view of a first embodiment of the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly configured in accordance with the present invention, ready to be attached between the tubular structure of the rear-seat and BIW by means of a second embodiment of the fixing bolt.

FIGURE 6c shows a close-up view of the anchor plate of the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly of Figure 5, ready to be fixed by one of the anchor plate thereof locked into a locking rod to be mounted on the BIW.

FIGURE 6c shows a close-up view of the hook of the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly of Figure 5, ready to be engaged to a bolt to be mounted on BIW.

FIGURE 7a shows a detailed view of the assembly of the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly of Figure 6b between the tubular structure of the rear-seat and BIW.

FIGURE 7b shows a detailed view of the assembly of the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly of Figure 6b between the tubular structure of the rear-seat and BIW, depicted in a normal position thereof.

FIGURE 7c shows a detailed view of the assembly of the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly of Figure 7a depicted with a stretched strap after sudden braking at high-speed or on the occurrence of a crash.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following, the preferred embodiment of the assembly of a rear-row seating system fitted with the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly configured in accordance with the present invention will be described in more details with reference to the accompanying drawings without limiting the scope and ambit of the present invention.

FIGURE 1a shows a front perspective view of a light-weight rear-row seat 10 of tubular structure without any seat-cushion/s thereon. This seat 10 includes a seatback 12 and a seat 14 to be fitted with a cushion the passengers to sit comfortably thereon.

FIGURE 1b shows the light-weight rear-row seat 10 of Figure 1a within the BIW of vehicle and fitted with seat-cushions 16 thereon and the passenger P seated on the last-seat 20 without the provision of any seat-belt therein.

FIGURE 1c shows the light-weight rear-row seat 10 of Figure 1a within the BIW of vehicle and fitted with seat-cushions 16 thereon and the passenger P seated on the last-seat 20 secured with a seat-belt provided SB therein.

FIGURE 1d shows the light-weight rear-row seat 10 of Figure 1a fitted within the BIW of vehicle and having luggage articles L placed behind the seatback 12 thereof.

FIGURE 1e shows the light-weight rear-row seat 10 of Figure 1a showing the luggage articles L moved to hit from behind the seatback 12 due to sudden braking by driver or due to occurrence of a frontal-crash of the vehicle.

FIGURE 2a shows a front-perspective view of the light-weight rear-row seat 10 of Figure 1a, provided with a flexible strap seat-mounting assembly 50 (encircled) configured in accordance with the present invention.

FIGURE 2b shows a rear-perspective view of the light-weight rear-row seat 10 of Figure 2a clearly showing the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly 50 fitted on the tubular structure thereof.

FIGURE 3 shows another rear perspective view of the light-weight rear-row seat 10 of Figure 2a fitted with one of the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly 50 fixed (encircled) between the Body-In-White (BIW) of the vehicle and the seatback 12 of the rear seat 10. One end of the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly 50 is fixed to the side pipe 18 of the tubular structure and the other end is fixed on the BIW of the vehicle by means of a fixing means (to be explained below).

FIGURE 4a shows an enlarged view of the encircled portion of the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly 50 of Figure 3 depicting the details of the connection between the BIW and tubular structure of the rear bench-seat 10 fitted with the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly 50 configured in accordance with the present invention. The first end 58a of the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly 50 is fixed to the side pipe 18 of the tubular structure via a profiled C-bracket 52 and bolt 54 and the other end 58b of the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly 50 is fixed to the BIW of the vehicle by means of a mounting bolt 55.

FIGURE 4b shows an exploded view of the arrangement of the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly 50 of the present invention in a first embodiment thereof and fitted on the side pipe 18 of the tubular structure of the rear-seat 10. It shows a profiled C-bracket 52 having a hole 53 on its web connecting two flanges thereof with a semi-circular profile 51 made for a snug fitting thereof on the side pipe 18 by means of bolt 54. The flexible strap seat-mounting assembly 50 includes a flexible strap 56 of an expandable, high-strength synthetic material, like polyester fixed between two similar anchor plates 58 made of metal such as steel. The anchor plates 58 include a hole 57 at one end thereof for inserting the bolt 54 therethrough to be fixed on the side pipe 18 after passing through the C-bracket 52. The anchor plates 58 also include a slit 59 for passing one of the ends of the flexible strap 56 therethrough to be folded over and joined together by stitching/welding/adhesive bonding for fixing thereon.

FIGURE 5 shows an assembled view of the first embodiment of the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly 50 of Figure 4b. It comprises two profiled anchor plates 58 joined together by a flexible strap 56 passed through the respective slit 59 therein. The holes 57 on anchor plates 58 are provided for fixing the flexible seat mounting 50 between the vehicle’s BIW and the side pipe 18 of the rear-row seat 10 by means of a suitable fastening means tightened therein.

FIGURE 6a shows an assembled view of the second embodiment of the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly 50 configured in accordance with the present invention, ready to be attached between the side pipe 18 of the tubular structure of the rear-seat 10 and BIW by the base B of the first embodiment of the mounting bolt 55a thereon tightened by suitable fastening means, like rivets or welds or bolts or screws. This flexible strap seat-mounting assembly 50 comprises a first anchor plate 58a to be fixed on the side pipe 18 of the tubular structure of the rear-row seat 10 and a second anchor plate 58c with a hook 58d made therein to be engaged on the mounting bolt 55a fixed on the BIW of the vehicle by a suitable fastening means. This embodiment is particularly useful, when the seatback 12 of the rear-row seat is to be folded over on the seat 14 thereof, as and when required. Hook 58c is simply released from the mounting bolt 55a by slightly pushing the seatback 12 backwards.

FIGURE 6b shows an assembled view of a first embodiment of the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly 50 configured in accordance with the present invention, ready to be attached between the side pipe 18 of the tubular structure of the rear-seat 10 and BIW by means of a second embodiment of the fixing bolt or locking bolt 55b with J-shaped rod connected to a base B to be tightened by suitable fastening means, like rivets/welds/bolts/screws etc. thereon.

FIGURE 6c shows a close-up view of the one of the anchor plates 58a of the first embodiment of the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly 50 in Figure 5 or 6b, ready to be locked/latched onto locking bolt 55b for mounting it by base B tightened on BIW by suitable fixing means, like rivets/welds/bolts/ screws.

FIGURE 6d shows a close-up view of the hook 58d of the anchor plate 58c of the second embodiment of the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly 50 in Figure 6a, ready to be engaged to the mounting bolt 55a fixed by its base B tightened on the BIW by suitable fastening means, like rivets/welds/bolts/screws thereon.

FIGURE 7a shows a detailed view of the assembly of the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly 50 of Figure 5 or 6c connected between the side pipe 18 of the tubular structure of the rear-seat 10 and BIW attached through the mounting bolt 55a or locking bolt 55b with the base B thereof tightened on the BIW by suitable fastening means, like rivets/welds/bolts/screws thereon.

FIGURE 7b shows a perspective view of the assembly of the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly 50 fixed between the side pipe 18 of the tubular structure of the rear-seat 10 and BIW depicted in a normal position thereof and as discussed with reference to the figures above.

FIGURE 7c shows a perspective view of the assembly of the flexible strap seat-mounting assembly 50 of Figure 7a depicted with a strap 56 stretched to its predefined maximum limit after a sudden braking by the diver of the vehicle moving at high-speed or on the occurrence of a crash thereof. It is to be noted that the flexible-strap of the flexible-strap assembly is configured to expand or stretch by a predefined maximum length to prevent any injury to the rear bench-seat passenger due to a sudden brake application by the automobile-driver or because of the automobile meeting an accident and by the consequent forward movement of luggage articles stored behind that rear bench-seat or of the passengers seated on the seat/s behind that rear bench-seat. The rear bench-seat could be the bench-seat just behind the driver’s seat or any other bench-seat further behind thereof. The luggage articles or the passengers moving forward on the rear-bench-seat/s due to sudden braking or accident occurrence could by placed or seated behind the rear bench-seat fitted with the abovementioned flexible strap assembly.

TECHNICAL ADVANTAGES AND ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE

The flexible strap seat-mounting assembly configured in accordance with the present invention offers the following advantages:

1. Simple to assemble and ease of usage at customer end.

2. Occupies less space.

3. No sharp edges, which is harmful for occupants.

4. Involves weight reduction in structure, replacing brackets.

5. Cost effective compared to brackets.

6. Flexible to reduce injury norms during crash.

7. Serves as seat mounting to ensure the performance.
The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the embodiments herein that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments without departing from the generic concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modifications should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments.

It is to be distinctly understood that the foregoing descriptive matter is to be interpreted merely as illustrative of the invention and not as a limitation. The exemplary embodiments described in this specification are intended merely to provide an understanding of various manners in which this embodiment may be used and to further enable the skilled person in the relevant art to practice this invention.

Although, the embodiments presented in this disclosure have been described in terms of its preferred embodiments, the skilled person in the art would readily recognize that these embodiments can be applied with modifications possible within the spirit and scope of the present invention as described in this specification by making innumerable changes, variations, modifications, alterations and/or integrations in terms of materials and method used to configure, manufacture and assemble various constituents, components, subassemblies and assemblies, in terms of their size, shapes, orientations and interrelationships without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

Throughout this specification, the word “comprise”, or variations such as “comprises” or “comprising”, shall be understood to imply including a described element, integer or method step, or group of elements, integers or method steps, however, does not imply excluding any other element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or method steps.

In the description, relative terms such as “lower”, “upper”, “horizontal”, “vertical”, “above”, “below”, “up”, “down”, “top”, and “bottom” as well as derivatives thereof (e.g. “horizontally”, “inwardly”, “outwardly”; “downwardly”, “upwardly” etc.) should be construed to refer to the orientation as then described or as shown in the drawing under discussion. These relative terms are for convenience of description and do not require that the corresponding apparatus or device be constructed or operated in a particular orientation.

Terms concerning attachments, coupling and the like, such as “connected” and “interconnected”, refer to a relationship, wherein structures are secured or attached to one another either directly or indirectly through intervening structures, as well as both movable or rigid attachments or relationships, unless expressly described otherwise. , C , Claims:We claim:

1. A flexible-strap seat-mounting assembly (50) for the safety of rear bench-seat passengers in automobiles, said assembly (50) comprising:

f. a flexible-strap (56) of stretchable/expandable material;

g. a first anchor plate (58; 58a) connected to the first end of said flexible-strap (56);

h. a first fastening means (52, 54) for attaching said first anchor plate (58) to a side-pipe (18) of a rear bench-seat (10);

i. a second anchor plate (58; 58b or 58c) connected to the second end of said flexible-strap (56); and

j. a second fastening means (55a; 55b) for attaching said second anchor plate (58; 58b or 58c) to the Body-In-White (BIW) of said automobile;

wherein said flexible-strap (56) is configured to expand or stretch by a predefined maximum length to prevent any injury to the passenger/s of said rear bench-seat (10) due to sudden brake application by the driver or because of said automobile meeting an accident.

2. The flexible-strap seat-mounting assembly (50) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said anchor plates (58; 58a) comprise an opening each (57, 59) for fixing said first fastening means (52, 54) and said flexible-strap (56) therein.

3. The flexible-strap seat-mounting assembly as claimed in claim 1, said first fastening means (52, 54) comprises:

- a C-section bracket (52) with a profile (51) formed on the flanges thereof and a hole (53) made on the web thereof; and
- a fastener (54), preferably a threaded bolt;

wherein said fastener (54) passed through said opening (57) in said first anchor plate (58; 58a) for fixing said first fastening means (52, 54) to a side pipe (18) of said rear bench-seat (10) by a snug fitting of said profile (51) thereon.

4. The flexible-strap seat-mounting assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein said second fastening means (55a) comprises a mounting bolt having a flat or grooved head and connected to a base (B) fitted on said BIW by suitable fastening means, like rivets or welds or bolts or screws.

5. The flexible-strap seat-mounting assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein said second fastening means (55b) comprises a J-shaped locking bolt connected to a base (B) fitted on said BIW by suitable fastening means, like rivets or welds or bolts or screws.

6. The flexible-strap seat-mounting assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first anchor plate (58; 58a) comprises a first end having a first opening (57) is a hole for passing said fastener (54) therethrough, and a second opening is a slit (59) for fixing one end of said flexible-strap (56) therein.

7. The flexible-strap seat-mounting assembly as claimed in claim 4, wherein said second anchor plate (58c) comprises a first end having a first opening formed as a slit (59) for fixing one end of said flexible-strap (56) therein and a second opening formed as a hook (58d) for latching/locking on the flat or grooved head of said mounting bolt (55a) fitted on said BIW.
8. The flexible-strap seat-mounting assembly as claimed in claim 5, wherein second anchor plate (58 or 58b) comprises a first end having a first opening formed as a slit (59) for fixing one end of said flexible-strap (56) therein and a second opening formed as a hole (57) for connecting said J-shaped locking bolt (55b) fitted on said BIW.

9. The flexible-strap seat-mounting assembly as claimed in claim 1, said flexible-strap (56) is made of a high-strength, stretchable/expandable material, such as polyester and the like.

10. The flexible-strap seat-mounting assembly as claimed in claim 1, said anchor plate (58; 58a, 58b) is made of a high-strength metal, such as steel.

Dated this 30th day of May 2022.

Digitally / e-Signed by:

(SANJAY KESHARWANI)
APPLICANT’S PATENT AGENT
REGN. NO. IN/PA-2043.