Patent ID: 7784874

Claim:
A child safety seat tether anchor for securing a child safety seat to a mounting portion of a vehicle, the child safety seat tether anchor comprising: an elongate metal strip having flat surfaces along an entire length of the metal strip without a coil at end portions and including a first end having a tether coupling portion configured to be coupled with the child safety seat, and a second end having a travel limiting structure; an engagement structure having a surface where the engagement structure is configured to be fixed to the mounting portion of the vehicle; and a plurality of pins extending from the surface of the engagement structure and positioned along the length of the metal strip and along the engagement structure, wherein the plurality of pins includes a low pin positioned at one end of the engagement structure adjacent to the first end of the metal strip, two sandwich pins positioned at an opposite end of the engagement structure adjacent to the second end of the metal strip, and a high pin positioned between the low pin and the two sandwich pins such that a distance between the high pin and the low pin is greater than a sum of a diameter of the high pin and a diameter of the low pin, the engagement structure forming a body of the child safety seat anchor, the body terminating at each of opposite ends adjacent the corresponding low pin and sandwich pins; wherein the metal strip is bent by the plurality of pins along the length of the metal strip, and is configured, when the first end is pulled in tension, to slide while bending around the pins between a retracted configuration and an extended configuration, thereby absorbing energy by deformation of the metal strip around the pins wherein the deformation is controlled primarily by pins positioned along the length of the metal strip; wherein the metal strip is inhibited from moving when a force applied to the tether anchor is below a predetermined level and the metal strip travels through the plurality of pins when the force is above the predetermined level; and wherein extension of the metal strip is constrained by the travel limiting structure.