Patent ID: 7108542

Claim:
A connector apparatus comprising: a first connector; a second connector to be mated with and unmated from the first connector in a mating direction and an unmating direction opposite to the mating direction; and a mating detecting member coupled to the first connector and slidable along the first connector in the mating and the unmating directions, wherein: the first connector has a lock lever to be engaged with the second connector, and the mating detecting member includes: an elastically deformable detecting locking portion for detecting the mated state and the unmated state of the first and the second connectors; a holding portion for locking the first connector at a standby position where the first and the second connectors are in the unmated state; and an operating portion for locking the first connector at an assurance position where the first and the second connectors are in the mated state, the detecting portion having a locking portion to be engaged with the lock lever at the assurance position so that the mating detecting member is engaged with the first connector and prevented from being returned to the standby position, the holding portion being displaced in a direction different from the mating and the unmating directions to be engaged with the first connector, the operating portion making the mating detecting member be slidable from the standby position when the first connector is mated to the second connector, the operating portion having a protrusion to be engaged with the first connector, and the first connector having an operating protrusion to be engaged with the protrusion at the assurance position to inhibit the movement from the assurance position in the unmating direction.