Occupant protection system for automotive vehicle

An occupant protection system for a vehicle comprising:

• a circuit line connected to a power source mounted on the vehicle;
• a plurality of occupant protection units for protecting occupants from impact upon occurrence of a collision of the vehicle;
• acceleration determining means for determining acceleration of the vehicle;
• a safing sensor disposed in said circuit line for allowing said occupant protection units to be activated when the acceleration determined by said acceleration determining means is greater than a predetermined value;
• a backup capacitor storing electrical energy supplied from the power source;
• collision detecting means for detecting a collision of the vehicle based on the acceleration determined by said acceleration determining means, said collision detecting means being connected to said backup capacitor and said power source through said circuit line;
• power determining means for determining whether power is supplied from said power source to said circuit line;
• and
• voltage supplying means for supplying voltage through said safing sensor from said power source to said plurality of said occupant protection units to activate said plurality of said occupant units when said collision detecting means detects a collision and said power determining means determines that the power is supplied from said power source to said circuit line, said voltage supplying means supplying voltage through said safing sensor from said backup capacitor to a portion of said occupant protection units to activate a preselected portion of said occupant protection units when said collision detecting means detects a collision and said power determining means determines that the power is not supplied from said power source to said circuit line.

An occupant protection system for a vehicle comprising:

• a plurality of occupant protection units mounted in the vehicle for protecting occupants from impact upon occurrence of a collision of the vehicle;
• a backup capacitor storing a hold voltage based on a voltage of a power source;
• a collision detecting sensor for detecting a collision of the vehicle with another object;
• collision determining means for determining the presence or absence of a collision of the vehicle based on an output from said collision detecting sensor, said collision determining means receiving at least one of said voltage from the power source and said hold voltage;
• control means for controlling said occupant protection units to be activated when the collision detecting means determines the occurrence of a collision of the vehicle, said control means receiving at least one of said voltage from said power source and said hold voltage;
• and
• power determining means for determining whether power is supplied from said power source to said control means or not,
• wherein when said collision determining means determines the occurrence of a collision of the vehicle, said power determining means determines that power is not supplied from said power source to said control means, and said control means receives said hold voltage to activate a preselected portion of said occupant protection units.

An occupant protection system for a vehicle comprising:

• a first electrically-activated occupant protection unit;
• a second electrically-activated occupant protection unit;
• a main power source;
• power determining means for determining whether said main power source is malfunctioning;
• an auxiliary power source connected to said main power source;
• first means for connecting said main power source to said first and second electrically-activated occupant protection units upon occurrence of a collision of the vehicle;
• and
• second means for connecting said auxiliary power source only to said second electrically-activated occupant protection unit upon occurrence of a collision of the vehicle when said power determining means determines that said main power source is malfunctioning.

An occupant protection system for a vehicle comprising:

• a plurality of electrically-activated occupant protection units;
• a main power source;
• power determining means for determining whether said main power source is in service;
• means for connecting said main power source to said electrically-activated occupant protection units upon occurrence of a collision of the vehicle;
• and
• an auxiliary power source serviceable in place of said main power source, said auxiliary power source being configured so as to only provide electric power to preselected electrically-activated occupant protection units upon occurrence of a collision of the vehicle when said power determining means determines that said main power source is not in service.