Apparatus for detecting a vehicle rollover

An apparatus for determining a vehicle rollover, comprising:

• an angular rate sensor to measure an angular rate, wherein a potential vehicle rollover is determined at least in part by the measured angular rate;
• a vertical acceleration sensor for measuring a vehicle acceleration in a vertical direction;
• a horizontal acceleration sensor for measuring an acceleration in a transverse direction;
• and
• a plurality of tire sensors;
• wherein:
• a plausibility of the detection of the potential vehicle rollover is determined at least in part based on the vertical acceleration, the horizontal acceleration, and signals from the plurality of tire sensors;
• the apparatus is configured to output an indication of a vehicle rollover for performance of a safety measure, the output of the indication being conditional upon that (a) the detection of the potential vehicle rollover is determined to be plausible by the plausibility determination, (b) an integrated angular rate, which is obtained by integrating the measured angular rate, is over a first critical number, and (c) the angular rate is over a second critical number;
• the second critical number is either an energy threshold or a torque threshold;
• and
• the second critical number is based on the integrated angular rate.

A method of determining a vehicle rollover, comprising:

• detecting a potential vehicle rollover using signals from at least one inertial sensor;
• and
• determining a plausibility of the detection of the potential vehicle rollover using signals from a plurality of tire sensors;
• wherein the plausibility determination includes:
• measuring a tire pressure for each tire on the vehicle;
• calculating a first value by multiplying the pressure measurements for each tire on a first side of the vehicle by each other;
• calculating a second value by multiplying the pressure measurements for each tire on a second side of the vehicle by each other;
• calculating a ratio of the first value to the second value;
• and
• determining the plausibility based at least in part on the ratio.

A method of determining a vehicle rollover, comprising:

• measuring an angular rate;
• detecting a potential vehicle rollover at least in part by the measured angular rate;
• measuring a vehicle acceleration in a vertical direction;
• measuring an acceleration in a transverse direction;
• determining a plausibility of the detection of the potential vehicle rollover at least in part based on the vertical acceleration, the horizontal acceleration, and signals from a plurality of tire sensors;
• outputting an indication of a vehicle rollover for performance of a safety measure, the output of the indication being conditional upon that (a) the detection of the potential vehicle rollover is determined to be plausible by the plausibility determination, (b) an integrated angular rate, which is obtained by integrating the measured angular rate, is over a first critical number, and (c) the angular rate is over a second critical number, wherein the second critical number is either an energy threshold or a torque threshold and is based on the integrated angular rate.