A vehicle seat assembly includes a seat, a seatback operatively coupled to the seat, and an assist handle located on the seat back, wherein the assist handle is releasable from a stowed position and pivotable outward to a first deployed position and rotatable laterally to a second deployed position. The vehicle seat assembly also includes a release mechanism configured to release the assist handle from at least one of the stowed position and the second deployed position, the release mechanism comprising a bias feature to bias the assist handle towards the first deployed position or the stowed position.