Patent ID: 7503587

Claim:
A seat belt facilitator for use with a passenger restraint system having a belt webbing, a latch plate coupled to the belt webbing, and a buckle assembly adapted to be releasably coupled to the latch plate, the facilitator comprising: a latch plate receiving region adapted to releasably couple the facilitator to the latch plate, wherein the latch plate receiving region includes a back wall, a top wall, a first and a second opposing side wall, and a substantially open front region, and wherein the substantially open front region is adapted to not interfere with the belt webbing adjacent the latch plate, and wherein each of the opposing side walls includes an inwardly extending flange portion adapted to close at least a portion of the front region and to selectively receive the latch plate; a web coupling region adjacent the latch plate receiving region and adapted to slidably couple the facilitator to the belt webbing; and a handle region separated from the receiving region at least by the web coupling region; wherein the facilitator is adapted to enable a user to couple the latch plate to the buckle assembly from a position remote from the buckle assembly.