Patent ID: 8272689
Filing Date: 2012-09-25
Classification: B60N,B60R

Abstract:
1. A juvenile vehicle seat comprising a seat portion including a bottom formed to include a first strap opening and a backrest arranged to extend upwardly from the bottom and formed to include a second strap opening, a safety harness system configured to restrain a seated child seated on an upwardly facing portion of the bottom to lie against a forwardly facing portion of the backrest, the safety harness system including a shoulder belt adapted to embrace the seated child and arranged to extend through the second strap opening and along an oppositely facing rearwardly facing portion of the backrest away from the seated child supported by the forwardly facing portion of the backrest, a tightening strap coupled to the shoulder belt and arranged to extend under and along a downwardly facing portion of the bottom and away from the seated child supported on the upwardly facing portion of the bottom and through the first strap opening to provide a free end extending away from the bottom and the backrest, and a unidirection jammer arranged to lie under the bottom and configured to releasably grip a portion of the tightening strap to place the shoulder belt in tension while the seated child is seated on the bottom and restrained by the safety harness system, a tension detector configured to provide means for sensing tension in a portion of the tightening strap located between the unidirection jammer and the first strap opening formed in the bottom to indicate whether the shoulder belt is tensioned in compliance with predetermined tensioning criteria when the shoulder belt embraces the seated child during movement of the tightening strap in an outward direction through the first strap opening in response to application of a pulling force by a user to the free end of the tightening strap, and wherein the tension detector comprises a strap-tension indicator positioned to lie in a location under the bottom and between the unidirection jammer and the first strap opening formed in the bottom and mounted to contact the portion of the tightening strap located between the unidirection jammer and the first strap opening and to move relative to the bottom during movement of the tightening strap in the outward direction and an indicator-viewer window defined by a third opening formed in the bottom and arranged to cause an information surface included in the strap-tension indicator to be visible through the indicator-viewer window to a user applying the pulling force to the free end of the tightening strap while the seated child is seated on the bottom.