Patent ID: 7431371

Claim:
A vehicle seat latch comprising: a latch housing; a latch member mounted on the latch housing for movement between latched and unlatched positions with respect to a striker to selectively secure the latch housing with respect to the striker, and the latch member having first and second blocking surfaces; a blocking member mounted on the latch housing for movement along a blocking direction between blocking and unblocking positions with respect to the latch member; the blocking member having a deformable blocking portion including a first blocking surface for contacting the first blocking surface of the latch member in the blocking position to prevent movement of the latch member from its latched position to its unlatched position, the first blocking surface of the blocking member contacting the first blocking surface of the latch member with a pressure angle between 4.6 and 6.6 degrees with respect to the blocking direction so as to facilitate selective movement of the blocking member from the blocking position to the unblocking position to permit the latch member to move from the latched position to the unlatched position, and the deformable portion of the blocking member being deformed by loading from the latch member upon excessive loading between the seat latch and the striker; and the blocking member having a rigid blocking portion including a second blocking surface slightly spaced from the second blocking surface of the latch member in the blocking position with a zero degree pressure angle with respect to the blocking direction, and second blocking surface of the rigid blocking portion of the blocking member being contacted by the second blocking surface of the latch member with the zero degree pressure angle upon deformation of the deformable portion of the blocking member upon excessive loading to prevent movement of the blocking member to the unblocking position and to thereby maintain the latch member in the latched position.