US Patent 7195312 Pivoting armest for enhancing side impact protection

An armrest assembly for a motor vehicle seat having a first support member pivotably mounted to a seat structure, a second support member rotatably mounted to the first support member, and a biasing arrangement positioned relative to the first and second support members. The biasing arrangement exerts a predetermined biasing force on the second support member to prevent the second support member from rotating relative to the first member until a sufficient load force is applied to the armrest to overcome the biasing threshold.