1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector engagement detecting apparatus which has a means to determine whether or not a pair of mating connectors used for connection of automotive wiring harnesses are normally joined together.
2. Prior Art
Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, one of mating connector housings a is formed with a contact accommodating chamber d in which a pair of electric contacts b, c are inserted in non-contacting condition. The other mating connector housing e has a drive piece f, formed as a resilient cantilever, whose free end f.sub.1 forces the lower contact c upward into contact with the upper contact b. The connector housing a also has an interfering projection g in front of the electric contact c, which, when the paired connector housings fail to be connected normally, abuts against the free end f.sub.1 of the drive piece f, deflecting it to block the electric contacts b, c from coming into forced contact with each other. When the mating connector housings are completely connected together, the interfering projection g is received into a recess f.sub.2 allowing the drive piece f to move from a position indicated by a broken line in FIG. 7b to a position of a solid line, which in turn causes the contact c to engage with the contact b to complete a detection circuit.
In the above-mentioned prior art, since the dedicated chamber d for accommodating the detecting electric contacts b, c is necessary, the connector housing becomes complex in shape, making the resin molding process correspondingly more difficult. Moreover, the drive piece f made of resin material may undergo thermal deformation from ambient heat generated during service. In that case, the driving force acting on the electric contact c decreases, degrading the reliability of electric conduction through the electric contacts b and c.