Patent ID: 7322646

Claim:
A vehicle seat assembly disposable in a vehicle, the seat assembly comprising: a seat bottom; a seat back attached to the seat bottom; a head restraint attached to the seat back including a head restraint body having a front side and a back side, a first pivot shaft, and a second pivot shaft, such that the head restraint body is moveable from a raised position to a lowered position with concurrent movement of the first shaft about the second shaft; a first locking face in communication with the seat back; and an actuator associated with the head restraint for enabling movement of the head restraint body from the raised position to the lowered position, the actuator including a lock lever in communication with the first shaft, the lock lever having a second locking face and a pivot region pivotable about a locking pin such that the first locking face contacts the second locking face when the head restraint is in the raised position thereby locking the head restraint in the raised position, wherein the pivot region and the second locking face are oriented to define a lock angle sufficient to resist movement from the raised position to the lowered position during impact upon the head restraint body from the back side with a ball having a mass of about 6.8 kg and a diameter of about 165 mm moving at a speed of about 15 miles per hour, the lock angle being the angle between a first line passing through a point on the second locking face and the center point of the locking pin and a second line passing through the point on the second locking face and the center point of a circle which includes an approximate arc of the second locking surface.