Passenger protection apparatus
First Claim
1. A passenger protection apparatus comprising:
- a collision detection part for detecting a collision of a vehicle;
an object detection part for detecting the existence of an object in a predetermined object detection region disposed rearwardly of an air bag installation surface in the vehicle based on a signal from a sensor; and
an air bag control signal generation part for generating an air bag control signal to control the expansion of an air bag based on the detection results of said object detection part and said collision detection part;
wherein said air bag control signal generation part makes, by referencing detection results of said collision detection part and said object detection part cyclically, the air bag control signal into a control signal of expansion permission only when there exists an object in said object detection region at the instant when the collision of the vehicle is detected or within a period of time from the point in time of the collision of the vehicle to when the object moves from a non-detection region to said object detection region due to the collision.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A passenger protection apparatus of a simple construction is capable of stably performing air bag control and preventing erroneous control due to objects such as passenger'"'"'s hands, newspapers, etc., other than passenger'"'"' head. A collision detection part detects a collision of a vehicle, and an object detection part detects an object in a prescribed object detection area rearwardly of an air bag installation surface in the vehicle based on a signal from a sensor. An air bag control signal generation part controls the expansion of an air bag based on the detection results of the object detection part and the collision detection part. The air bag control signal generation part makes the air bag control signal into an expansion permission signal only when an object exists in the object detection area at the time of detection of the collision or within a predetermined time from the detection of the collision.
7 Citations
23 Claims
-
1. A passenger protection apparatus comprising:
-
a collision detection part for detecting a collision of a vehicle; an object detection part for detecting the existence of an object in a predetermined object detection region disposed rearwardly of an air bag installation surface in the vehicle based on a signal from a sensor; and an air bag control signal generation part for generating an air bag control signal to control the expansion of an air bag based on the detection results of said object detection part and said collision detection part; wherein said air bag control signal generation part makes, by referencing detection results of said collision detection part and said object detection part cyclically, the air bag control signal into a control signal of expansion permission only when there exists an object in said object detection region at the instant when the collision of the vehicle is detected or within a period of time from the point in time of the collision of the vehicle to when the object moves from a non-detection region to said object detection region due to the collision. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
-
Specification