Abstract:
A longitudinally adjustable vehicle seat (I) has, on both sides, a first seat rail ( 2 ) fixed to the seat and a second seat rail ( 3 ) which guides the first seat rail and is fixed to the vehicle structure. A locking device ( 4 ) releaseably locks the seat longitudinal position by securing the first seat rail ( 2 ) in the second seat rail ( 3 ). A lever ( 5 ) is provided that can be pivoted about a pivot axis (S) and has two actuating ends ( 6 ) that interact with the locking devices ( 4 ). At least one of the actuating ends ( 6 ) is spanned by a sub region of a multifunctional part ( 8 ). The part ( 8 ) both forms a kick plate and also limits the movement of the actuating end ( 6 ) upward and therefore forms a safeguard against erroneous operation of the lever ( 5 ).

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a U.S. National Phase Application of International Application PCT/EP2012/002190 filed May 23, 2012 and claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 of German Utility Model DE 20 2011 102 248.3 filed Jun. 21, 2011, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates to a longitudinally adjustable vehicle seat which on both sides has a first seat rail fixed to the seat, a second seat rail which guides said first rail and is fixed to the vehicle structure, a locking device for releaseably locking the longitudinal position of the seat by means of securing the first seat rail in the second rail, and a lever which can be pivoted about a pivot axis and has two actuating ends which interact with the locking devices. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     DE 10 2006 021 884 B3 discloses longitudinally adjustable vehicle seats in which the seat rail locking mechanism can be unlocked by means of a lever, which can be pivoted about a pivot axis, in conjunction with actuating ends arranged above the seat rail pairs. These actuating ends act during an actuation of the lever, which occurs by raising the handle arranged on the seat front side below the vehicle seat, as a result of a pivoting movement about the pivot axis from above on corresponding actuating elements of the seat rail locking mechanism. 
     In order to protect the seat rail locking mechanism from being unintentionally released as a result of treading on an actuating end, it is known to provide a step guard which spans the actuating end at a distance and protects it from loading from above. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An object on which the invention is based is to improve a vehicle seat of the type mentioned at the outset. 
     According to the invention, a longitudinally adjustable vehicle seat has, on both sides, a first seat rail fixed to the seat, a second seat rail which guides said first seat rail and is fixed to the vehicle structure, a locking device for releaseably locking the longitudinal position of the seat by means of securing the first seat rail in the second seat rail, and a lever which can be pivoted about a pivot axis and has two actuating ends which interact with the locking devices. At least one of the actuating ends is spanned by a subregion of a multifunctional part which forms both a step guard and also limits a movement of the actuating end upward and thus forms a safeguard against erroneous operation of the lever. 
     Owing to the fact that the step guard both protects the actuating end and also limits a movement of the actuating and upward and thus forms a safeguard against erroneous operation of the lever, the user&#39;s safety of the vehicle seat can be increased. Particularly with three-door vehicles having an easy entry function, a movement limitation of the actuating end in the upward direction is appropriate so that an activating device for a memory device, as disclosed, for example, in DE 10 2009 022 979 B3 or DE 10 2005 044 778 B4, is not damaged. Of course, the step guard can also be used in other vehicles, such as in five-door vehicles. 
     The weight of the step guard can be kept low as a result of a subregion being formed by a bend region. 
     Particularly preferably, the lever is pivotably mounted in a bearing bush which is formed by the multifunctional part or is accommodated directly in said bush. As a result, the number of parts required can be reduced and the overall weight can be lowered. Moreover, fewer connections to the first seat rail are required. 
     Particularly preferably, a transverse tube is part of the lever, wherein an end of the transverse tube is accommodated in the bearing bush. 
     If the bearing bush is formed separately from the multifunctional part and positively accommodated in a bearing opening formed in the multifunctional part, said bush is preferably introduced into the bearing opening from the side of the vehicle seat center longitudinal plane. This installation direction ensures that it is correctly installed and is held in the bearing opening. 
     The multifunctional part preferably has a basic body which extends substantially in the z-direction and has said bend region and two regions extending from the bend region, wherein the two regions extend in the vehicle seat longitudinal direction, being particularly preferably aligned with one another. 
     The multifunctional part advantageously has a basic body which has a front end region which extends in the transverse direction. Likewise, the multifunctional part advantageously has a basic body which has a rear end region which extends in the transverse direction. 
     The front end region and/or the rear end region advantageously extend as far as the outer-side end of a planar surface of the first seat rail. 
     The multifunctional part preferably has a basic body with a lower lateral lug which extends in the x-y plane, perpendicularly from the basic body. Particularly preferably, an interruption is provided in a part of the bend region, which interruption extends into basic body, wherein the actuating end of the lever projects through this interruption, and the side of the basic body which is formed by the interruption forms a stop which limits the movement of the actuating end upward. The interruption preferably extends into the basic body, in particular as far as the center thereof. 
     The multifunctional part preferably has a basic body with an upper lateral lug which extends in the x-y plane, perpendicularly from the basic body. This lug forms a type of step surface and protects the actuating region of the lever and thus the seat rail locking mechanism from being released unintentionally. 
     The two legs of the bend region preferably form an angle of at most 90° between them. The angle is particularly preferably about 60°. 
     The corner region of the bend region particularly preferably projects laterally beyond the first seat rail. 
     In particular, the bend region crosses, in a plan view, the curved transition region of the lever to the actuating end in a central region. This allows relatively small torsional forces which act on the lever, wherein the lever arm is as large as possible in order to counter the force pressing the front end of the lever downward. 
     The multifunctional part advantageously forms a bridge in a bend region, which bridge span a curved transition region of the lever to the actuating end. The bridge here advantageously has a planar surface which extends in the x-y plane. 
     A damping element is particularly advantageously arranged on the upper side of the curve transition region of the lever to the actuating end and/or the lower side of the bridge in the contact region. 
     The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and specific objects attained by its uses, reference is made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       In the drawings: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a multifunctional part mounted on a locked seat rail pair; 
         FIG. 2  is a detail illustration of the multifunctional part mounted on a locked seat rail pair of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 2   a  is another detail illustration of the multifunctional part mounted on a locked seat rail pair of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a plan view of the illustration of  FIG. 1 ; and 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic view showing a vehicle seat according to the invention. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to the drawings in particular, a vehicle seat  1  for a front seat row of a three-door motor vehicle is provided in the exemplary embodiment, wherein the arrangement of the vehicle seat  1  within the motor vehicle and its customary direction of travel define the direction specifications used below. The seat longitudinal direction x extends generally parallel to the direction of travel. The transverse direction is also denoted as y-direction below and the vertical direction as z-direction. 
     The vehicle seat  1  has on each of both sides a first seat rail  2  fixed to the seat and a second seat rail  3  fixed to the vehicle structure, which rails—according to DE 10 2006 021 884 B3, whose disclosure is expressly incorporated herein—form two seat rail pairs. The seat rail pairs each have a locking device  4  which is not illustrated in further detail and which in the present case is formed according to the aforementioned DE 10 2006 021 884 B3 or DE 100 50 959 A1, but in principle can also have another design. 
     In order to unlock the locking device  4  by hand for the purpose of longitudinally adjusting the seat, a lever  5  with a handle is provided. The lever  5  can be designed, for example, as described in DE 10 2006 021 884 B3 or the subsequently published DE 10 2010 014 394 A1. Here, the lever  5  has a pivot axis S formed by a transverse tube which is mounted in the region above the two seat rail pairs, and two bent-off and widened actuating ends  6  which projects beyond the first seat rail  2  and interact with the locking device  4  and, if the lever  5  is actuated, release the seat rail locking mechanism. Here, in the present case, the handle is continuously formed with one of the two actuating ends  6 , as illustrated in the drawing. 
     However, the locking of the seat rails  2 ,  3  can also take place in another way, wherein, for unlocking, a lever is provided which can be pivoted about a pivot axis S and which has at least one actuating end which extends above a seat rail pair at least in a subregion. 
     The configuration of the overall seat rail pairs lever arrangement, apart from the arrangements of the part, connected to the handle, of the lever  5  on the transverse tube forming the pivot axis S, has mirror symmetry relative to the vehicle seat center longitudinal plane x-z of the vehicle seat  1 , and therefore only one side will be discussed in more detail below. 
     The transverse tube is mounted on both sides with its end region in a bearing bush  7  which is accommodated in a bent sheet-metal part which is arranged on the first seat rail  2  and which will be referred to below as multifunctional part  8 . Given an appropriate design and pairing of materials, the bearing function can also be performed directly by the multifunctional part  8 . 
     The multifunctional part  8 , which forms the essence of the present invention, will be discussed in more detail below. The multifunctional part  8  has a basic body  8   a  extending substantially in the z-direction z, with a V-shaped bent region  8   b  whose two legs form an angle of somewhat less the 90°, two aligned regions  8   c ,  8   d  extending in the longitudinal direction, and two end regions  8   e ,  8   f  extending in the transverse direction y, wherein the end regions  8   e ,  8   f  extend outwardly, i.e. in the direction of the outer side of the seat. The bent region  8   b  projects with its corner region laterally beyond the first seat rail toward the outside. 
     On the rear end region  8   f  there is provided a lug  8   h  which is bent out counter to the seat longitudinal direction x and has an opening through which a screw is plugged and connected to the first seat rail  2 . In the front region  8   c  of the multifunctional part  8 , a bearing opening  8   i  is punched out of the sheet metal of the multifunctional part  8  and in the present positively accommodates the bearing bush  7 . The bearing bush  7  here is inserted from the transverse tube side into the bearing opening  8   i.    
     A lower lateral lug  8   j  is provided adjacent to the bearing opening  8   i  in the region  8   c , which lug is bent over by 90° and thus extends in the x-y plane, resulting in a large-area bearing contact with the first seat rail  2 . The lower lateral lug  8   j  follows the profile of the bend region  8   b , said lug being interrupted in the region which projects laterally beyond the first seat rail  2  and the interruption extending to approximately the center of the basic body  8   a  in the z-direction (see  FIG. 1 ), and reaches into the region  8   d , adjacent to the rear end region  8   f . Here, the width of the lower lateral lug  8   j  (perpendicular to the basic body  8   a ) is considerably greater in the regions  8   c ,  8   d  than in the bend region  8   b . The lower lateral lug  8   j  has in the present case an opening which likewise serves for fastening on the first seat rail  2 , wherein this opening and the front end region  8   e  accommodate the bearing bush  7  approximately centrally between them. 
     An upper lateral lug  8   k  is further provided in the bend region  8   b , the width of which lug corresponds to the lower lateral lug  8   j  in this region, but which is formed continuously (see  FIG. 3 ). Owing to the interruption provided at the bottom, the upper lateral lug  8   k  forms a bridge  8   g  in conjunction with the remaining part of the basic body  8   a , wherein the upper side of the bridge is not curved in the present case, but is arranged so as to extend in the x-y plane over the entire length. 
     A slot-shaped bead  8   l  which has reinforcing purposes is in each case provided centrally in the basic body  8   a  in the transition region between the front region  8   c  and the bend region  8   b  and also the rear region  8   d  and the bend region  8   b . Furthermore, for production-related reasons, a stress-relief notch  8   m  is provided on the front and rear end of the upper lateral lug  8   k.    
     The multifunctional part  8  has—in addition to the bearing function for the transverse tube—two further functions. Thus, the bend region  8   b  protects the actuating end  6  of the lever  5 , which end—on the side illustrated in the drawing as an extension of the handle which is guided past the bottom of the transverse tube—is bent outwardly, extends directly, after its offset, under the bend region  8   b  of the multifunctional part and ends on the outer side of the first seat rail  2 . The fact that the actuating end  6  of the lever  5  extends under the bend region  8   b  means that it is protected, i.e. the bend region  8   b  forms a step guard for the actuating end  6 . 
     Furthermore, the bend region  8   b  forms a stop in the region of the interruption of the lower lug  8   j , which stop limits the movement of the actuating end  6  upward, i.e. the handle cannot be pressed downward to any desired extent, but the movement is limited by the multifunctional part  8 , with the result that the lever  5  is protected from an erroneous operation. Here, for movement limitation in the upward direction, the curved transition region to the actuating end  6  impinges on the projecting corner region of the bend region  8   b  of the multifunctional part  8  (see  FIG. 3 ). In order to damp an impact which may occur, a damping element  9 , for example a rubber buffer or a foam element, is mounted on the lever  5  in the transition region to the actuating end  6 . In principle, the damping element can also be arranged on the lower side of the bridge  8   g  (see  FIG. 2   a ). In order to be able to support the relatively large forces possibly occurring, the two end regions  8   e ,  8   f  are provided, which reach as far as the end of the flat surface of the first seat rail  2  (see  FIG. 3 ), with the result that the whole rail width is used. 
     Although the multifunctional part  8  has been described by way of a bent sheet metal part, another way of producing the multifunctional part  8  is also possible, in particular by means of injection molding. 
     Furthermore, in the present case, the multifunctional part  8  is mounted on the first seat rail  2  by means of two screws. However, this can also take place by means of welding or in some other suitable manner. 
     The features disclosed in the above description, the claims and the drawings may be of importance both individually and in combinations for the implementation of the invention in its various configurations. 
     While specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles.