Vehicle safety system for controlling a safety feature

A safety system for a vehicle, said safety system comprising:

• an imaging sensor configured to be disposed at a vehicle equipped with said safety system so as to have a field of view exterior of the equipped vehicle;
• said imaging sensor, with said imaging sensor disposed at the equipped vehicle, capturing image data;
• an image processor operable to process image data captured, with said imaging sensor disposed at the equipped vehicle, by said imaging sensor to detect a vehicle exterior the equipped vehicle and to determine if a collision between the detected vehicle and the equipped vehicle is pending;
• wherein, with said imaging sensor disposed at the equipped vehicle, and responsive at least in part to processing by said image processor of image data captured by said imaging sensor, and responsive to such determination of the pending collision with a reverse gear of the vehicle not engaged, a safety feature of the vehicle is triggered before impact occurs;
• wherein the triggered safety feature comprises a reversible feature selected from the group consisting of (i) a reversible adjustment of a seat headrest of the equipped vehicle to an adjusted condition, (ii) a reversible adjustment of a seat belt of the equipped vehicle to an adjusted condition and (iii) a reversible adjustment of a seat setting of the equipped vehicle to an adjusted condition;
• wherein, if the pending collision is avoided or otherwise does not occur, the adjusted safety feature returns to its unadjusted condition that existed prior to such determination of the pending collision;
• wherein operation of the safety feature changes when the reverse gear of the vehicle is engaged;
• wherein said image processor, with said imaging sensor disposed at the equipped vehicle, and when processing image data captured by said imaging sensor to detect the vehicle exterior the equipped vehicle and to determine if a collision between the detected vehicle and the equipped vehicle is pending, takes into account if a determined impact speed of the detected vehicle relative to the equipped vehicle is above a threshold level;
• and
• wherein said safety system is operable to wirelessly communicate an alert to a receiver that is remote and distant from the equipped vehicle, and wherein said safety system wirelessly communicates the alert responsive to such determination of the pending collision.

A safety system for a vehicle, said safety system comprising:

• an imaging sensor configured to be disposed at a vehicle equipped with said safety system so as to have a field of view exterior of the equipped vehicle;
• wherein said imaging sensor is configured to be disposed at a rearward portion of the equipped vehicle or a forward portion of the equipped vehicle;
• wherein said imaging sensor comprises a CMOS imaging sensor;
• said imaging sensor, with said imaging sensor disposed at the equipped vehicle, capturing image data;
• an image processor operable to process image data captured, with said imaging sensor disposed at the equipped vehicle, by said imaging sensor to detect a vehicle exterior the equipped vehicle and to determine if a collision between the detected vehicle and the equipped vehicle is pending;
• wherein, with said imaging sensor disposed at the equipped vehicle, and responsive at least in part to processing by said image processor of image data captured by said imaging sensor, and responsive to such determination of the pending collision with a reverse gear of the vehicle not engaged, a safety feature of the vehicle is triggered before impact occurs;
• wherein the triggered safety feature comprises a reversible feature selected from the group consisting of (i) a reversible adjustment of a seat headrest of the equipped vehicle to an adjusted condition, (ii) a reversible adjustment of a seat belt of the equipped vehicle to an adjusted condition and (iii) a reversible adjustment of a seat setting of the equipped vehicle to an adjusted condition;
• wherein, if the pending collision is avoided or otherwise does not occur, the adjusted safety feature returns to its unadjusted condition that existed prior to such determination of the pending collision;
• wherein operation of the safety feature changes when the reverse gear of the vehicle is engaged;
• wherein said image processor, with said imaging sensor disposed at the equipped vehicle, and when processing image data captured by said imaging sensor to detect the vehicle exterior the equipped vehicle and to determine if a collision between the detected vehicle and the equipped vehicle is pending, takes into account if a determined impact speed of the detected vehicle relative to the equipped vehicle is above a threshold level;
• and
• wherein, with said imaging sensor disposed at the equipped vehicle, in determining if a collision between the detected vehicle and the equipped vehicle is pending, captured image data is fused with data captured by a sensing system of the equipped vehicle.