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US 8,285,454 B2Granted
Vehicle occupant presence and position sensing system
OwnerPeter Nortoninventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Sensors in a vehicle seat provide data for classifying occupants. Information from the sensors may be used to determine the position of an occupant relative to the seat and relative to the vehicle, the weight of the occupant, whether the seat belt is latched, and the position of the occupant relative to an airbag before and during a crash. Situations wherein airbag deployment is not desired are identified. A particularly inexpensive system meets the occupant classification needs of a system comprising a low risk deployment passenger airbag.
Claims16
A protection system in a vehicle comprising:
- at least one sensor responsive to distance from a location on a seat to a location on an occupant to produce a signal classifying an occupant of the seat into one of at least two categories;
- and
- a processor for receiving the signal and controlling the protection system based on the signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.