Patent ID: 8336949

Claim:
A sliding door mechanism for a vehicle arranged to move a door from a door opening provided in a vehicle side body structure from a closed position to an open position, the sliding door mechanism comprising: an upper slide rail and a lower slide rail fixed to the vehicle side body structure; an upper slider associated with the upper rail and movable along the upper rail and a lower slider associated with the lower rail and movable along the lower rail; an upper link including an upper control arm including a proximal portion pivotally connected to the upper slider to define an inside pivot and a distal portion pivotally connected to the vehicle door to define an outside pivot; a lower link including a lower control arm including a proximal portion pivotally connected to the lower slider to define an inside pivot and a distal portion pivotally connected to the vehicle door to define an outside pivot; and a control mechanism operatively associated with a selected one of the upper link and the lower link, the control mechanism including a first control fixed to the vehicle side body structure and a second control fixed to the proximal portion of the control arm of the selected link, rotational and translational movement of the second control being based on predetermined structural constraints associated with the first control, the control mechanism controlling rotation of the upper and lower links to laterally displace the vehicle door from the vehicle side body structure and translation of the upper and lower links to slide the vehicle door along the vehicle side body structure.