Patent ID: 7021709

Claim:
A child restraint seat anchor device that detects independent of the presence of a seat occupant whether a child restraint seat is attached to a vehicle seat, the child restraint seat anchor device comprising: a housing adapted to be fixed to the vehicle seat; a movable anchor having a coupler portion and mounting portion, the coupler portion being adapted to couple with a coupler on the child restraint seat and the mounting portion being received in the housing; the moveable anchor being shiftable within the housing from a first position, indicating that a child seat is not attached to the vehicle seat, to a second position, indicating that a child seat is attached to the vehicle seat; at least one spring applying a bias to the movable anchor to urge the movable anchor to the first position; a stop engaged by the movable anchor when the movable anchor has shifted to the second position, when engaged by the movable anchor the stop transferring force applied by the coupler of the child restraint seat to the vehicle seat, and a switch in operative association with the movable anchor and operable independent of a seat occupant, the switch having a first and a second state and being adapted for connection to an air bag to disable deployment of the air bag or to reduce deployment speed of the air bag only when in the second state upon the movable anchor being shifted to the second position, and the switch allowing deployment of the air bag at normal speed when in the first state while the movable anchor is in the first position.