Patent ID: 7587959

Claim:
A steering column assembly for a vehicle, said steering column assembly comprising: an outer jacket for attachment to the vehicle; an inner jacket coupled to said outer jacket and movable relative to said outer jacket along a longitudinal axis; a longitudinal lock mechanism operatively connected to said inner jacket and having a locked position for preventing longitudinal movement and an unlocked position for permitting longitudinal movement; a tilt housing for providing tilting movement to an angular position; a tilt lock mechanism operatively connected to said tilt housing and having an engaged position for preventing tilting movement and a disengaged position for permitting tilting movement; a lock select mechanism coupled to said tilt lock mechanism and said longitudinal lock mechanism, said lock select mechanism including a select plate defining a rotation axis, said select plate including a series of teeth; and a drive mechanism operatively connected to said lock select mechanism, said drive mechanism including a motor for moving said longitudinal locking mechanism and said tilt lock mechanism between said respective positions, and a driver operatively connected to said lock select mechanism for imparting motion onto said lock select mechanism, said driver defined as a worm gear in meshing engagement with said teeth of said select plate; wherein said lock select mechanism further includes a tilt plate coupled to said select plate for coupling said lock select mechanism to said tilt lock mechanism and a cam coupled to said select plate for coupling said lock select mechanism to said longitudinal lock mechanism and wherein rotation of said worm gear moves said longitudinal lock mechanism and said tilt lock mechanism between said respective positions.