US 12,358,450 B2
Rotatable seatbelt buckle
Murugan Sundaram Ramasamy, Canton, MI (US); Mangesh Kadam, Canton, MI (US); and Srinivas Reddy Malapati, Novi, MI (US)
Assigned to Ford Global Technologies, LLC, Dearborn, MI (US)
Filed by Ford Global Technologies, LLC, Dearborn, MI (US)
Filed on Sep. 25, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/473,631.
Prior Publication US 2025/0100494 A1, Mar. 27, 2025
Int. Cl. B60R 21/01 (2006.01); B60R 22/26 (2006.01); B60R 22/18 (2006.01)
CPC B60R 21/01 (2013.01) [B60R 22/26 (2013.01); B60R 2021/01265 (2013.01); B60R 2021/01286 (2013.01); B60R 2022/1806 (2013.01); B60R 2022/1812 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A vehicle comprising:
a vehicle seat;
a plate fixed relative to the vehicle seat;
a seatbelt buckle rotatably supported by the vehicle seat, the seatbelt buckle being rotatable relative to the plate from a first position to a second position;
a slot in one of the plate and the seatbelt buckle and a pin supported by the other of the plate and the seatbelt buckle, the pin being moveable relative to the other of the plate and the seatbelt buckle from a retracted position to an extended position;
the pin being spaced from the slot and in the retracted position when the seatbelt buckle is in the first position;
the pin being in the extended position and extending into the slot when the seatbelt buckle is in the second position; and
a pyrotechnic device operatively coupled to the seatbelt buckle to rotate the seatbelt buckle from the first position to the second position.