Vehicle side impact detection using vehicle yaw

#The present invention relates to occupant safety systems for motor vehicle and to a system and method for detecting and classifying lateral impacts on a vehicle based upon vehicle yaw velocity caused by an impact.

#Modern motor vehicles commonly feature occupant safety systems including, for example, seat belts, frontal collision airbags, side airbags, and curtain airbags. One or more sensors on-board the vehicle feed signals to an electronic control module which, based on the signals, detects a collision or other unsafe condition so that restraints and/or other safety systems may be activated.

#A typical passenger vehicle has two rows of seats for the driver and passengers, and such vehicles often are equipped with a side impact sensor located in, on, or adjacent to the door or sidewall of the vehicle on either side of each seating row, for a total of four sensors (two on each side of the vehicle). The side impact sensors are typically accelerometers or pressure sensors. Such a sensor suite is effective for sensing lateral collisions or impacts that occur on the sides of the seating rows.

#FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a vehicle having multiple seating rows equipped with an occupant safety system and a sensor suite;

#FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing a method of detecting side impact using vehicle yaw;

#FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a first vehicle impact mode; and

#FIG. 1 shows a motor vehicle 10 in the form of an extended-chassis passenger van having five rows of driver/passenger seating. Vehicle 10 has a vehicle dynamics sensor 12 comprising one or more accelerometers and/or angular rate gyros and is able to detect accelerations and/or rotations about one or more axes undergone by the vehicle body/chassis. Such dynamics sensors are well known in the automotive field and typically provide input signals to vehicle safety systems for determining that a crash or impact has occurred. Dynamics sensor 12 may also provide inputs to a vehicle dynamic stability control system (not shown), as is well known in the art. Dynamics sensor 12 is preferably located at or near the vehicle's center-of-gravity (CoG) 14, as is well known in the art.

#Dynamics sensor 12 is in electronic communication with a restraint control module (RCM) 16. Forward side impact sensors 18a, 18b are located on, in, or near the doors or sidewalls of vehicle 10 adjacent the first/front seating row. Rear side impact sensors 20a, 20b are located on, in, or near the doors or sidewalls adjacent one or more of the rear passenger seating rows. Side impact sensors 18a -20b may be accelerometers, pressure sensors, or any type of sensor suitable for the function. Side impact sensors 18a -20b are in electronic communication and send signals to RCM 16. Dynamics sensor 12 and side impact sensors 18a -20b (along with any other sensors operative to detect forces acting on the vehicle) may be referred to as constituting a sensor suite.

#Vehicle 10 is equipped with occupant safety devices/systems such as front air bags 22, side and/or curtain airbags 24, inflatable bolsters (not shown), and seat belts 26 (only one of which is shown for clarity) that may include pre-tensioning devices. The occupant safety devices systems 22-26 are in electronic communication with and controlled by RCM 16.