A related vehicle seat is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Publication No. 60-168632.
As shown in FIG. 32, in the vehicle seat disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Publication No. 60-168632, a seat cushion 504 and a seat back 505 are disposed on a seat frame 502. The seat 504 is capable of being tilted with respect to the seat frame 502 such that a side facing a door opening can be low. Therefore, an occupant sitting on the seat cushion 504 can easily clear a side portion 504s of the seat cushion 504 by tilting the seat cushion 504 with respect to the seat frame 502 when the occupant gets out of a vehicle. Thus, the side portion 504s does not become an obstacle when the occupant gets out of the vehicle.
However, in a passenger car or other such vehicles, a seat cushion surface 504z of the seat cushion 504 is placed in a low position. Further, in a sitting posture of the occupant, his/her thighs can be positioned higher than his/her buttocks. Thus, if the side portion 504s is lowered while the seat cushion surface 504z is maintained in the low position, the occupant's knees are greatly bent when he/she stands up from the seat cushion 504. Therefore, the occupant must weigh on his/her knees. This results in a burden for an aged person or other such persons.
In order to improve this point, it might be possible to raise the seat cushion 504 with respect to the seat frame 502 when the occupant gets out of the vehicle. However, if the seat cushion 504 is raised in a construction as shown in FIG. 32, the buttocks and the thighs of the sitting occupant can be raised together. As a result, the thighs of the occupant come close to a steering wheel or other such components. The thighs of the occupant can interfere with the steering wheel or other such components when he/she gets out of the vehicle.
Thus, there is a need in the art to provide an improved vehicle seat.