A motor vehicle body includes a seat, having a back-rest and a head-rest mounted on the back-rest, and means effective, upon engagement therewith by an occupant of the seat moving in response to the effect upon him of a predetermined deceleration of the vehicle body, to transmit a loading developed by the mass inertia of the occupant's body to the head-rest. The head-rest is thereby moved forward and energy absorber means secured between the head-rest and an anchorage on the body resist the forward movement of the head-rest, and also resist backward movement of the head-rest upon impact thereon of the backwardly moving head of the occupant. The above arrangement is effective in the case of both frontal and rear impacts on the vehicle. Advantageously a seat belt arrangement is provided to transmit the loading from the occupant to the head-rest.
A recliner arrangement for a vehicle seat is provided which, in a preferred embodiment, includes a seat cushion unit, a seat backrest unit pivotally connected to the seat cushion unit, a linear recliner for selectively adjusting the pivotal location of the backrest unit, and an energy absorber interposed between the linear recliner and the seat backrest unit, the energy absorber being operative upon a predetermined magnitude of force exerted thereon.
An energy absorbing child seat in which a back support panel of the child seat is attached to a supporting structure or frame through energy absorbing brackets which plastically deform during a vehicle collision allowing a seat occupant to travel forward relative to the supporting structure and thus reduce the relative velocity and deceleration between the occupant's head and shoulders to reduce neck loads and neck injuries.
A headrest (23) which pivots forward, by lever action, as a result of the mass of the upper body of a vehicle occupant acting on a pressure-bearing surface in the event of an impact from the rear. In order that in case of both a rear-end crash and a head-on crash of the vehicle, the headrest (23) follows the head of an individual sitting on the vehicle seat, the headrest (23) is positioned on a headrest carrier (17) which can be pivoted out of the backrest (3) in the forward direction and can be pivoted outward about a pin (19), this pin being located at a lower level than that of the pivot pin (21) of the headrest (23).
A vehicle seat and headrest arrangement (7) comprising a seat back frame (2) having an upper part (24) and a lower part (26), the upper part including a cross-frame member (4), and the lower part including at least a lower portion (28) of a pair of spaced side members (22); a headrest (6) mounted on the cross-frame member; an impact plate (42) positioned between the side members of the lower part and secured to the upper part; pivot hinges (32) connecting the upper part with the lower part and defining a pivot axis (38) about which the upper part and the headrest can pivot in a forward direction, and the impact plate can pivot in a rearward direction, from a normal position; and a spring device (40) biasing the upper part, the headrest and the impact plate to their normal position. The upper part of the seat back and the headrest both pivot towards a vehicle occupant during a rear impact on the vehicle.
A head support for seat backrests, especially of motor vehicle seats, which is adapted to be displaced from a rest or non-use position impairing as little as possible the visibility, for instance, of the driver toward the side of the vehicle or toward the rear of the vehicle, into an effective position; the movement of the head support thereby takes place automatically in dependence on the load on and removal of the load from the seat.
