Patent ID: 8042820

Claim:
On a large vehicle with a driver's door high above the road surface and generally above a front vehicle wheel having a center hub, and the vehicle having fixed side panels extending down alongside the front vehicle wheel and below the top of the wheel both fore and aft of the wheel, a swing-out step for use by a person entering the driver's side door, comprising: a base step which is generally flat and horizontal at least at an upper surface of the base step, a pivotal mounting for the step on a vertical shaft mounted on the vehicle and connected to the step so as to move the step in a horizontal plane from a retracted position stored generally under the vehicle to an extended position swung laterally out from the vehicle, from just under a bottom edge of the side panel of the vehicle, to a base or first step level lower than the center hub of the front vehicle wheel, the shaft being the sole source of support for the step such that the step in the extended position is cantilevered from the shaft, and the extended position of the base step being sufficiently extended out from the vehicle that a driver can stand on the base step with the center of gravity of the driver directly above the step, step deploying means associated with the driver's door for causing the shaft to rotate to swing the step outwardly to the extended position when the driver's door opens and to swing the step back inwardly to the retracted position when the driver's door closes, and a latch positioned to hold the step in the extended position until the door is closed.