Patent ID: 7695058

Claim:
A seat apparatus comprising: a seat cushion on which an operator is to be seated; a seatback for supporting the operator seated on the seat cushion; a seat drive device changing a position of the seat cushion and the seatback between a seating position and a storage position by operating the seat cushion and the seatback; a control unit for controlling the seat drive device; the control unit controlling the seat drive device to change an operating speed of at least one of the seat cushion and the seatback in motion from an initial operating speed to a different non-zero operating speed while the seat cushion and the seatback are moving between the seating position to the storage position for restricting an interference of the at least one of the seat cushion and the seatback with other components in a vehicle compartment; a physical quantity detecting device directly or indirectly detecting physical quantity regarding at least one of a moved position, a moving amount, and an operating speed of at least one of the seat cushion and the seatback, wherein the control unit comprises: a position determining device determining if the moved position of the at least one of the seat cushion and the seatback reaches a predetermined position on a basis of the physical quantity detected by means of the physical quantity detecting device; and a speed change command device outputting a command to the seat drive device for changing the operating speed from the initial operating speed to the different non-zero operating speed when the position determining device determines that the moved position has reached the predetermined position.