Patent ID: 7963608

Claim:
A vehicle seat assembly comprising: a seat back pivotally mounted to a seat bottom, the seat back having an engagement member; a pivot lock mechanism disposed proximate the seat bottom that inhibits the seat back from pivoting with respect to the seat bottom when locked and that permits the seat back to pivot when unlocked; an easy entry actuator disposed on the pivot lock mechanism and configured to unlock the pivot lock mechanism when actuated and retain the pivot lock mechanism in an unlocked state while actuated; a retaining member coupled to the easy entry actuator that engages the engagement member to maintain the easy entry actuator in an actuated state after the easy entry actuator has been actuated until the seat back pivots to an angular orientation with respect to the seat bottom that the seat back occupied immediately prior to actuation of the easy entry actuator, wherein the engagement member moves the retaining member between a plurality of positions as the seat back pivots; and a friction member associated with the retaining member, wherein the retaining member contacts the friction member and wherein friction between the friction member and the retaining member inhibits the retaining member from moving between the plurality of positions until the retaining member is moved by the engagement member.