Vehicle occupant protection device and system having an anti-theft, anti-tamper feature

Abstract

A circuit chip (64) contains a semi-conductor bridge circuit (“SCB”) (66). The SCB (66) initiates an actuatable device, such as an occupant protection device (16A). The circuit chip (64) also contains a memory (68) that holds an identification (70A) of the actuatable device (16A). Preferably, the circuit chip (64) is part of a vehicle occupant protection system (12). Within the system (12) is a controller (14) and a communication interconnection (44) that permits communication between the controller (14) and the device (16A) to control actuation of the device. The controller (14) includes a theft deterrent function (78) to discern the identity of the device (16A) held within the memory (68). The theft deterrent function (78) also makes a determination as to whether the discerned identity of the device corresponds to a predetermined identity and provides a signal indicative of the determination.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.