Patent ID: 7841439

Claim:
An occupant weight detecting device to detect the weight of an occupant sitting on a vehicle seat assembly, comprising: a pivot support mechanism to support the vehicle seat assembly for pivotal movement about a horizontally extending shaft relative to a seat fixing portion in a vehicle, the pivot support mechanism comprising a member on a side of the seat fixing portion, a member on a side of the vehicle seat assembly and a rolling bearing assembly interposed therebetween so as to couple both of said members with each other; an elastic force applying mechanism to apply a biasing force to the vehicle seat assembly to enable the latter to pivot at an angle, proportional to a load imposed on the vehicle seat assembly, relative to the seat fixing portion, the elastic force applying mechanism including a coiled torsional spring; a pivot angle detecting mechanism to detect an angle of pivot of the vehicle seat assembly relative to the seat fixing portion to determine the weight of the seat occupant therefrom; and a pivot restricting mechanism to define a pivotal range over which the vehicle seat assembly can pivot.