Patent ID: 8353129

Claim:
A window regulator for a vehicle window on a sliding vehicle door, comprising: a lifter plate configured to hold the vehicle window and wherein the lifter plate is movable between a fully-open position and a fully-closed position; a window drive mechanism operatively connected to the lifter plate for driving the movement of the lifter plate between the fully-open and fully-closed positions; a ratchet that is movable between a first position and a second position, wherein the ratchet is biased towards the first position, wherein movement of the ratchet to one of the first and second positions causes movement of a door interlock member to an interlock position to prevent the vehicle door from opening past a selected opening position, and wherein movement of the ratchet to the other of the first and second positions causes movement of the door interlock member to a bypass position to permit the vehicle door to be fully opened, wherein the lifter plate is operatively connected to the ratchet such that movement of the lifter plate at least to a selected position moves the ratchet from the first position to the second position; and a pawl that is movable between a ratchet locking position and a ratchet release position, wherein when the pawl is in the ratchet locking position the pawl holds the ratchet in the second position and when the pawl in the ratchet release position the pawl permits the ratchet to move between the first and second positions, wherein the pawl is biased towards the ratchet locking position, wherein the lifter plate is operatively connected to the pawl to move the pawl between the ratchet locking position and the ratchet release position, and wherein movement of the lifter plate causes at least one movement selected from the group consisting of movement of the pawl away from the ratchet prior to movement of the ratchet away from the first position so as to separate the pawl and the ratchet from each other in the event that the pawl and the ratchet become fixedly connected together, and movement of the ratchet away from the pawl prior to movement of the pawl away from the ratchet locking position so as to separate the pawl and the ratchet from each other in the event that the pawl and the ratchet become fixedly connected together.