Apparatus for determining a seat occupancy

A seating determination apparatus comprising:

• a load detector configured to be arranged below a vehicle seat having a movable member movable in a movable range which may interfere with an interior member arranged in a vehicle cabin and configured to detect a load applied from the vehicle seat;
• a seat load deriving unit configured to derive a seat load acting on the vehicle seat on the basis of a load detected by the load detector;
• and
• a transition processing unit configured to make a transition of a state between a first seating determination state in which an airbag apparatus mounted on a vehicle is brought into an operation-permitted state and a second seating determination state in which the airbag apparatus is in an operation-prohibited state when a transition condition on the basis of a magnitude relationship between the seat load and a preset threshold value is satisfied, and configured to prohibit the transition of the state between the first seating determination state and the second seating determination state when the direction of variation of the seat load is determined to have inverted before a predetermined time set in advance has elapsed from a time point when the transition condition is satisfied,
• wherein the transition processing unit prohibits the transition of the state between the first seating determination state and the second seating determination state when the direction of variation of the seat load is inverted and the inclination of variation of the seat load after the inversion is larger than the inclination of variation of the seat load before the inversion.