Patent ID: 7338079

Claim:
An extendable and contractable steering column apparatus for a vehicle including an outer column through which an inner column is slidably inserted, a lock housing portion formed on the outer column, and a locking mechanism that includes a pair of movable pieces slidably fitted within a bore formed through the lock housing portion in a vehicle body widthwise direction, a screw rod passing through said pair of movable pieces, and an operation lever disposed at an end portion of the screw rod, wherein said pair of movable pieces is shifted toward each other so as to press said inner column and away from each other so as to release the pressure on said inner column, in response to swinging of said operating lever, wherein a cross section of the bore of the lock housing portion is non-circular and cross sections of said pair of movable pieces are also non-circular correspondingly, and wherein a respective surface portion of each of said pair of movable pieces in contact with said inner column has a length, in an axial direction of said steering column, that is greater than or equal to a cross dimension of said bore in a plane containing an axis of said screw rod and parallel to an axis of said steering column.