Patent ID: 6957595

Claim:
A tilt steering wheel mechanism, comprising: a steering shaft support; a tilt coupling mounted on said steering shaft support for relative pivotal movement about a tilt axis; a rotatable steering shaft joined to said tilt coupling for pivotal movement therewith, and a steering wheel mounted on said steering shaft; a tilt latch operatively engageable with said steering shaft support, and movable between an unlatched position wherein said steering shaft and steering wheel can be pivoted relative to said steering shaft support, and a latched position in engagement with said steering shaft support to prevent pivotal movement of said steering shaft and said steering wheel; and a latch release operatively connected to said tilt latch having a gripping portion movable between an at rest position corresponding to said tilt latch being in said latched position, and a shifted position corresponding to said tilt latch being in said unlatched position, said gripping portion positioned in sufficiently close proximity to said steering wheel so that a normal sized hand can reach said latch release in said at rest position while at the same time said normal sized hand grasps said steering wheel, said latch release being movable to said shifted position to move said tilt latch to said unlatched position, to thereby permit single-handed unlatching of said tilt latch and pivotal movement of said steering wheel and steering shaft, while said normal sized hand remains grasping said steering wheel; wherein said gripping portion is centered at about a 12 o'clock position on said steering wheel.