Patent ID: 8388067

Claim:
A seat apparatus, comprising: a seat cushion; a seat back attached to, and inclinable relative to, the seat cushion and movable between an upright position and a forward inclined position; a biasing member which biases the seat back in a forward inclined direction; a lock mechanism configured to lock the seat back at the upright position; a lock lever which is supported on the seat cushion and configured to switch the lock mechanism between a lock state and a lock release state, the lock lever moveable in a lock release direction to cause the lock mechanism to be in the lock release state, the lock lever moveable in a lock direction to cause the lock mechanism to be in the lock state when the seat back reaches the upright position; a gear which is pivotally supported on the seat back, is configured to be turned in a first turning direction corresponding to the forward inclined direction and in a second turning direction, and has a first abutting portion and a second abutting portion, wherein the first abutting portion is set to abut on a stopper fixed in the seat cushion by turning of the gear in the first turning direction while the second abutting portion is set to abut on the lock lever by turning of the gear in the second turning direction thereby to move the lock lever in the lock release direction; a motor which has a motor shaft meshed with the gear and is attached to the seat back, and is configured to cause the gear to be turned in the first turning direction by rotating the motor shaft in a first rotating direction and to cause the gear to be turned in the second turning direction by rotating the motor shaft in a second rotating direction; a motor controlling unit configured to control driving of the motor; a detecting unit configured to detect whether or not the seat back is in the upright position; and a manipulating unit configured to be manipulated when the seat back is to be moved to either the upright position or the forward inclined position, wherein, in a case where the manipulating unit is manipulated when the detecting unit detects that the seat back is in the upright position, the motor controlling unit is configured to control the driving of the motor to rotate the motor shaft in the second rotating direction until the gear turned in the second turning direction moves the lock lever in the lock release direction at the second abutting portion thereby to cause the lock mechanism to be in the lock release state, and in a case where the manipulating unit is manipulated when the detecting unit detects that the seat back is not in the upright position, the motor controlling unit is configured to control the driving of the motor to rotate the motor shaft in the first rotating direction to move the seat back, after the first abutting portion has abutted on the stopper, until the detecting unit detects the fact that the seat back is in the upright position.