Safety arrangement for a motor vehicle
First Claim
1. A safety arrangement for a motor vehicle, the arrangement including a seat for an occupant of the vehicle, an airbag, adapted to be inflated in an accident situation to provide protection for the occupant of the seat, the airbag having a first mode of operation and a second, less aggressive mode of operation, a safety-belt for use by the occupant of the seat, the safety-belt being provided with a refractor interchangeable between an ELR mode of operation and an ALR mode of operation, there being first means for determining whether the retractor is in the ALR mode, and second means for determining whether the down-force on the seat is less than a first threshold, which first and second means are associated with means which control the mode of operation of the airbag during an accident situation, so that if the retractor is in the ALR mode of operation and if the down-force on the seat is less than the first threshold, the airbag is deployed in the second, less aggressive, mode of operation, and if the down-force is not less than the first threshold, the airbag is deployed in the first mode of operation.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A motor vehicle has a seat (1) and a dashboard (8) mounted airbag (9) which has a first mode of operation and a less aggressive second mode of operation. There is a seat-belt (6) having a retractor (7) which can enter the automatic locking mode (ALR) in which the reactor will wind in but not pay out. A weight sensing arrangement (4, 5) determines the weight on the seat. If the weight is less that a threshold (MI) and the ALR mode is activated an airbag control (17) makes the airbag inflate, in an accident, with the second less aggressive mode. If the weight exceeds the threshold, then the airbag inflates in the ordinary way. If a child seat is mounted on the seat the seat-belt will be in the ALR mode and the weight will be less than the selected threshold, so that the airbag will not injure an occupant of a child seat.
28 Citations
7 Claims
- 1. A safety arrangement for a motor vehicle, the arrangement including a seat for an occupant of the vehicle, an airbag, adapted to be inflated in an accident situation to provide protection for the occupant of the seat, the airbag having a first mode of operation and a second, less aggressive mode of operation, a safety-belt for use by the occupant of the seat, the safety-belt being provided with a refractor interchangeable between an ELR mode of operation and an ALR mode of operation, there being first means for determining whether the retractor is in the ALR mode, and second means for determining whether the down-force on the seat is less than a first threshold, which first and second means are associated with means which control the mode of operation of the airbag during an accident situation, so that if the retractor is in the ALR mode of operation and if the down-force on the seat is less than the first threshold, the airbag is deployed in the second, less aggressive, mode of operation, and if the down-force is not less than the first threshold, the airbag is deployed in the first mode of operation.
Specification