Vehicle passenger restraint device for use in automotive vehicle or the like

A passenger vehicle restraint system comprising:

• means for activating a restraint device;
• acceleration sensor means for sensing an acceleration of the passenger vehicle and issuing an analog signal which represents the intensity of said acceleration;
• circuit means responsive to said acceleration sensor means for producing an activation trigger signal which is supplied to the restraint device activating means;
• and
• a cumulative damage discrimination circuit, included in said circuit means, which senses the amount of energy produced when the vehicle encounters a collision by treating the analog signal from said acceleration sensor means and issues a damage level signal upon the sensed energy amount exceeding a predetermined level;
• said cumulative damage discrimination circuit including:
• a powering circuit for performing self-multiplication on the output from said acceleration sensor means and producing a control signal;
• and
• comparator means for comparing the control signal produced by the powering circuit with a predetermined level and issuing said damage level signal when the control signal exceeds the predetermined level.