Patent ID: 7405370

Claim:
A vehicle seat assembly comprising: a seat cushion with a lower surface; and a vehicle occupant sensing system disposed adjacent said lower surface of said seat cushion, said vehicle occupant sensing system including at least one emitter, at least one sensor disposed in spaced relationship to said emitter and operable to detect relative distance to said emitter to thereby detect the condition of the vehicle seat assembly, and at least one sensor assembly with a base, an upper slide member slidingly supported for movement toward and away from said base, and a contamination barrier assembly, said base including a base guide extending toward said upper slide member, said upper slide member includes a disk and a support wall extending toward said base, said contamination barrier member including a skirt disposed in spaced parallel relationship to said support wall so as to define a cavity therebetween and that is adapted to receive said base guide, said disk, support wall and said skirt cooperating to define an exterior surface that is continuous to thereby block contaminants from entering said sensor assembly, and wherein at least one of said emitter and said sensor is supported by said upper slide member.