A powered latch assembly for a vehicle tailgate includes a latch structured to engage a striker mounted on a vehicle and to be rotatable into a latching position when engaged with the striker, so as to maintain the tailgate in a closed position associated with the latching position of the latch. The latch assembly also includes a latch control member rotationally connected to the latch and structured to be engageable by a pawl of the latch assembly to maintain the latch control member in a position associated with the latching position of the latch. A rotational position of the latch is thus controlled by engagement between the pawl and the latch control member rotationally connected to the latch. A wall may be provided between the latch and the latch control member to environmentally isolate the latch control member and components of the latch assembly from the vehicle exterior environment.

A powered latch assembly for a vehicle tailgate includes a latch having a slot structured to receive a striker therein during closing of a tailgate. The latch is structured to be rotatable about a rotational axis into a latched position of the latch when the striker is received in the slot so as to maintain the tailgate in at least one closed position of the tailgate associated with the latched position. The latch is also structured so that, with respect to a vertical plane extending through the rotational axis, a centroid of a cross-section of the striker taken through a portion of the striker residing inside the slot resides along a first side of the plane when the latch is in a fully-latched position.

A latch assembly for a vehicle includes a latch housing, a ratchet, a main pawl, and a cinch mechanism including a cinch pawl and a cinch link lever. When the ratchet moves to a secondary striker capture position, the cinch pawl moves into a blocking position to hold the ratchet. The cinch pawl is actuatable by a cinch lever to move the ratchet to a cinched striker capture position and the main pawl to ratchet checking position. The cinch pawl may be blocked by a stop feature formed in the latch housing in the secondary striker capture position, which resists an opening force exerted on the ratchet. The cinch pawl may be coupled to the cinch link lever, and the cinch link lever may pivot about the same post as the ratchet designed to resist high loads.

A closure latch assembly having a latch mechanism is provided. The latch mechanism includes a ratchet and a pawl assembly pivotally supported for movement between a ratchet holding position whereat the pawl assembly is positioned to hold the ratchet in its striker capture position and a ratchet releasing position whereat the pawl assembly is located to permit movement of the ratchet to its striker release position. The pawl assembly has a carrier and a pawl configured for rotation relative to one another about a pawl pin and a roller carried by the carrier. The roller is disposed between the pawl and the ratchet for selective rolling movement therebetween. The roller is disposed into abutment with a closing surface of the ratchet while the pawl assembly is in the ratchet holding position and is spaced from closing surface while the pawl assembly is in the ratchet releasing position.

A vehicle door lock device includes: a latch that has a full latch claw portion and a half latch claw portion, engages with a striker attached to a vehicle body during a closing operation of a vehicle door, is rotatable between an unlatch position and a full latch position, and rotates from the unlatch position to the full latch position; a pawl that is rotatable between an engagement position and a disengagement position, is pressed by the full latch claw portion to rotate in a direction from the engagement position toward the disengagement position, and engages with the full latch claw portion by rotating from the disengagement position to the engagement position; a block lever that is rotatable between a restriction position and a non-restriction position; and a half latch lever that is rotatable between an operation position, and a non-operation position.

A vehicle hood lock device includes a base including a groove for entry of a striker, a latch that pivots between a restraining position and a release position, a locking lever engaging the latch, a torsion spring causing the latch to pivot in a direction toward the release position, and a sub-plate fixed to the base by a latch pin supporting the latch and a locking pin supporting the locking lever. The torsion spring includes a cylindrical portion. The sub-plate integrally includes a basal portion, a circumferential wall portion rising up from the basal portion in a pivot axis direction of the latch, facing the cylindrical portion in a radial direction thereof and restricting movement of the torsion spring in the radial direction, and a brim portion protruding outward in the radial direction from the circumferential wall portion and restricting movement of the torsion spring in the pivot axis direction.

A closure latch assembly for a dual-door closure system in a motor vehicle includes an anti-chucking mechanism and cinching mechanism in cooperation with a latch mechanism. The anti-chucking mechanism cooperates with the latch mechanism to provide an anti-chucking feature, while the cinching mechanism cooperates with the latch mechanism to provide a cinching feature, wherein an anti-chucking cancellation mechanism prevents interference of the anti-chucking mechanism with the cinching mechanism.

A vehicle door opening and closing apparatus includes a vehicle door, a rail mounted on a vehicle body having a door aperture, a roller unit mounted on the vehicle door and configured to move along the rail and to allow the vehicle door to open and close in a sliding mode and in a swing mode, a sliding guide extending from a rear edge of the door aperture and extending straightly in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, a swing guide bent from the sliding guide toward an interior of the vehicle body, a center roller unit mounted on the vehicle door and guided along the sliding guide and the swing guide, and a variable stopper mechanism covering an exterior-side opening of the swing guide in the sliding mode and uncovering the exterior-side opening of the swing guide in the swing mode.

A power latch assembly for a vehicle door of a motor vehicle includes a ratchet configured for movement between striker capture and striker release positions, wherein the ratchet is biased toward the striker release position, and a pawl configured for movement between a ratchet holding position, whereat the pawl maintains the ratchet in the striker capture position, and a ratchet releasing position, whereat the pawl releases the ratchet to the striker release position. A powered actuator is energizable to move the pawl from the ratchet holding position to the ratchet releasing position, and a multistage mechanism operably connecting an output of the power actuator to at least one of the pawl and the ratchet has at least two power takeoffs, with each power takeoff being configured to apply a different torque output to at least one of the pawl and/or the ratchet.

A tailgate opening/closing device has a simplified tailgate opening/closing structure, reduced manufacturing cost, reduced weight, and improved quality. The device includes a release gear configured to be rotated forwards and backwards by a rotational force from a motor, a cinching gear engaged with the release gear, a linkage mechanism configured to receive force from the cinching gear to rotate toward a claw, the claw being caught by the linkage mechanism to rotate together therewith so as to be engaged with a striker, and a pawl unit configured to be caught by the claw in the state in which the claw is engaged with the striker so as to restrict rotation of the claw and configured to allow rotation of the claw in a release operation direction only when the release gear rotates in the release operation direction.