Tripping device for a safety device for protecting vehicle occupants

Tripping device for a safety device for protecting vehicle occupants in the event of a side crash of a vehicle, comprising:

• a deformation sensor arranged either in or directly behind an outer skin in a lateral region of the vehicle and that determines a deformation rate;
• a central transverse acceleration sensor mounted on a longitudinal axis of the vehicle and providing acceleration signals;
• an evaluation circuit coupled to the deformation sensor and the transverse acceleration sensor and responsive to electrical signals from the deformation sensor and the transverse acceleration sensor to trip the safety device in the event of a dangerous crash of the vehicle, said evaluation circuit including:
• a deformation evaluator that receives and processes the signals of the deformation sensor and transmits a control signal corresponding to the deformation rate in the event of a critical deformation,
• an acceleration evaluator coupled to the transverse acceleration sensor and that conditions the acceleration signal,
• a comparator coupled to the acceleration evaluator and which compares the conditioned signal with a prescribed threshold value and transmits a tripping signal to the tripping device upon overshooting of the threshold value, and
• a threshold generator coupled to the deformation evaluator and that prescribes the threshold value to the comparator evaluator as a function of control signals provided to an input of the threshold generator, the prescribed threshold value being reduced in the event of a critical deformation, the reduction being the greater the higher the determined deformation rate.