Airbag system and passenger restraint system for vehicle
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A control apparatus for an airbag of a vehicle, comprising:
- a state detection sensor to detect a presence or absence of a passenger at a vehicle seat in accordance with an output of a passenger detection sensor;
a control unit to inhibit an airbag for the vehicle seat from inflating when an absence of a passenger at the vehicle seat is detected in accordance with the detected result of the state detection sensor; and
failure detection means for detecting a failure of the passenger detection sensor and informing the failure state to said control unit;
wherein the failure of the passenger detection sensor includes a hardware error of the passenger detection sensor, in which the output of the passenger detection sensor is not input to said state detection sensor, andsaid control unit holds a control state before failure detection and inhibits the airbag from inflating on the basis of the held control state in response to the informed failure state representing the hardware error of the passenger detection sensor.
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Abstract
In an airbag system for a vehicle, when the state of a passenger at a front passenger seat (including the attached state of a child seat) can be detected, airbags are controlled on the basis of the detection state (S19, S21), and that detection state is stored in a RAM (S23). When it is detected that one of "position offset" of the child seat, "input signal abnormality", "hardware error", and passenger detection sensor failure has occurred at the front passenger seat (S12-S15), the contents of the RAM are referred to, and the airbags and the like are controlled on the basis of the sensor state one cycle before that state has been detected (S22).
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A control apparatus for an airbag of a vehicle, comprising:
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a state detection sensor to detect a presence or absence of a passenger at a vehicle seat in accordance with an output of a passenger detection sensor; a control unit to inhibit an airbag for the vehicle seat from inflating when an absence of a passenger at the vehicle seat is detected in accordance with the detected result of the state detection sensor; and failure detection means for detecting a failure of the passenger detection sensor and informing the failure state to said control unit; wherein the failure of the passenger detection sensor includes a hardware error of the passenger detection sensor, in which the output of the passenger detection sensor is not input to said state detection sensor, and said control unit holds a control state before failure detection and inhibits the airbag from inflating on the basis of the held control state in response to the informed failure state representing the hardware error of the passenger detection sensor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A control apparatus for an airbag on a vehicle, comprising:
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a child seat detecting sensor to detect attachment of a child seat on a vehicle seat; a control unit to inhibit an airbag for the vehicle seat from inflating when the child seat detecting sensor detects attachment of the child seat to the vehicle seat; and failure detection means for detecting a failure of the child seat detecting sensor and informing the detection state to said control unit, wherein the failure of the child seat detecting sensor includes a hardware error of the child seat detecting sensor or a signal abnormality representing that the output of the child seat detecting sensor is out of a predetermined range, and said control unit holds a control state before the failure detection and inhibits the airbag from inflating on the basis of the held control state in response to the informed failure state representing the hardware error or the signal abnormality of the child seat detecting sensor. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A control apparatus of a passenger restraint device on a vehicle, comprising:
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a state detection sensor to detect a presence or absence of a passenger at a vehicle seat by an output of a passenger detection sensor; a control unit to inhibit an operation of a seatbelt pretensioner or a seatbelt load limiter for the vehicle seat in response to detection of an absence of a passenger at the vehicle seat in accordance with the detected result of the state detection sensor; and failure detection means for detecting a failure of the passenger detection sensor and informing the failure state to said control unit; wherein the failure of the passenger detection sensor includes a hardware error of the passenger detection sensor, in which the output of the passenger detection sensor is not input to said state detection sensor, and said control unit holds a control state before failure detection, and inhibits the seatbelt pretensioner or the seatbelt load limiter from operating on the basis of the held control state in response to the informed failure state representing the hardware error of the passenger detection sensor. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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18. A control apparatus for a passenger restraint device on a vehicle, comprising:
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a child seat detecting sensor to detect attachment of a child seat to a vehicle seat; a control unit to inhibit a seatbelt pretensioner or a load limiter for the vehicle seat from operating in response to detecting attachment of the child seat on the vehicle seat in accordance with an output of the child seat detecting sensor; and failure detection means for detecting a failure of the child seat detecting sensor and informing the detection state to said control unit, wherein the failure of the child seat detecting sensor includes a hardware error of the child seat detecting sensor or a signal abnormality representing that the output of the child seat detecting sensor is out of a predetermined range, and when the informed failure state represents the hardware error or the signal abnormality of the child seat detecting sensor, said control unit holds a control state before the failure detection, and inhibits the seatbelt pretensioner or the seatbelt load limiter from operating on the basis of the held control state. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A passenger protection apparatus for a vehicle having an airbag, comprising:
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a child seat detecting sensor to detect attachment of a child seat to a vehicle seat; a control unit to inhibit an airbag for the vehicle seat from inflating or to inhibit a seatbelt pretensioner or a seatbelt load limiter for the vehicle seat from operating in response to detection of attachment of the child seat to the vehicle seat by the child seat detecting sensor; position offset detection means for detecting a position offset of the attached child seat against a predetermined area on the vehicle seat and informing the position offset state to said control unit, wherein said control unit holds a control state before the detection of the position offset state and inhibits the airbag from inflating or inhibits the seatbelt pretensioner or the seatbelt load limiter from operating on the basis of the held control state in response to said control unit being informed of the position offset state. - View Dependent Claims (24)
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Specification