Seat occupant determining apparatus

A seat passenger determination apparatus configured to determine whether the mode is a passenger-seated recognition mode in which the passenger is seated on a vehicle seat or a not-seated recognition mode in which no passenger is seated on the vehicle seat, comprising:

• a seatbelt fastening detector configured to detect whether a seatbelt is in a fastened state or in a non-fastened state;
• a load detector arranged on a lower side of the vehicle seat and configured to detect a load acting on the vehicle seat;
• a door closing timing detector configured to detect door closing timing after the passenger has gotten out of the vehicle directly or indirectly;
• a counter unit configured to start counting when the load detected by the load detector falls within a threshold value and reset the count when the load is deviated from the threshold value in the passenger-seated recognition mode;
• a determination processing unit configured to determine that no passenger is seated on the vehicle seat because the passenger has gotten out, and transfer the mode to the not-seated recognition mode when the state in which the load within the predetermined threshold value continues for a predetermined time is detected by the counter unit;
• and
• a count restricting unit configured to stop the counting process performed by the counter unit temporarily when the door closing timing is detected by the door closing timing detector during the determination by the determination processing unit.