Seating system with automatic weight compensating energy attenuation

A self adjusting energy attenuating vehicle seating system configured to automatically compensate for variations in seat occupant weight, the seating system comprising:

• a seat mounted in a vehicle and configured to stroke in a downward direction, generally toward a floor of the vehicle;
• a plastic deformation type energy attenuating device with a plastically deformable member disposed in a load path between the seat and a rigid structural portion of the vehicle, wherein the plastically deformable member is rigid and un-deformed under normal conditions;
• an adjustable load setting feature that determines a threshold load that must be applied by the seat to the plastically deformable member in a high energy loading event for the plastically deformable member to begin to plastically deform, and for the seat to begin to stroke toward the vehicle floor;
• a weight detector configured to detect a seat weight force, and output a real time weight signal;
• a signal processor configured to remove artifacts in the weight signal attributable to vehicle operation or occupant motion, and output an energy attenuator adjustment signal corresponding to the weight of an occupant;
• and
• an actuator configured to receive the energy attenuator adjustment signal and position the load setting feature accordingly.