Patent ID: 7077471

Claim:
A vehicle seat, comprising: at least one four-bar linkage for affecting the vehicle seat's height, wherein (a) the four-bar linkage includes four links, (b) a first link of the four links is pivotably connected to a second link of the four links at a position, whereby the first and second links are adjacent to one another, (c) the first link is pivotably connected to a third link of the four links at a position that is distant from the position where the first link is pivotably connected to the second link, (d) a fourth link of the four links is pivotably connected to the second link at a position that is distant from the position where the first link is pivotably connected to the second link, and (e) the fourth link is pivotably connected to the third link at a position that is distant from both (1) the position where the fourth link is pivotably connected to the second link and (2) the position where the first link is pivotably connected to the third link; and a crash blocking unit including (a) two locking members that are respectively associated with the first and second links of the four-bar linkage in a manner so that (1) the two locking members are disengaged with respect to one another while the crash blocking unit is in an unactivated state, (2) the two locking members automatically come into engagement with one another to thereby lock together at least the first and second links of the four-bar linkage in response to at least one condition selected from the group consisting of (i) the crash locking unit being in an activated state and a relative movement beginning between at least the first and second links of the four-bar linkage, and (ii) the crash locking unit being transitioned from the unactivated state to the activated state, and (b) at least one element by way of which movement of one of the two locking members is restricted in response to a predetermined event, so that the crash blocking unit is transitioned from the unactivated state to the activated state in response to the predetermined event, wherein the element is selected from the group consisting of a passive element and a switchable element.