Collision severity determining system
First Claim
1. A collision severity determining system for determining severity of a collision of a vehicle, comprising:
- a first deceleration detector disposed substantially in a central portion of a body of the vehicle so as to detect a vehicle deceleration in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle;
a second deceleration detector disposed in a front portion of the vehicle that is located ahead of the first deceleration detector, so as to detect a deceleration at the front portion in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle;
a velocity change amount calculating unit that calculates a velocity change amount of the vehicle by integrating the vehicle deceleration detected by the first deceleration detector with respect to time;
a severity determining unit storing two or more severity determination maps defined by the vehicle deceleration detected by the first deceleration detector and the velocity change amount, each of the severity determination maps representing a threshold pattern consisting of threshold values with which the vehicle deceleration is compared so as to determine severity of the collision of the vehicle; and
a problem detecting unit that generates a problem detection signal that indicates that a problem has occurred to the vehicle, when detecting an absence of a signal indicative of the deceleration transmitted from the second deceleration detector, wherein when receiving the problem detection signal from the problem detecting unit, the severity determining unit operates in a predetermined fail-safe mode for selecting an appropriate one of the two or more severity determination maps, and determines severity of the collision of the vehicle, based on the selected severity determination map.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A collision severity determining system for determining severity of a collision of a vehicle includes a first deceleration detector disposed in a central portion of a vehicle body for detecting a vehicle deceleration in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle, and a second deceleration detector disposed in a front portion of the vehicle for detecting a deceleration in the longitudinal direction. A controller of the system calculates a velocity change amount of the vehicle by integrating the vehicle deceleration with respect to time, and determines severity of the vehicle collision by comparing the vehicle deceleration with a threshold value corresponding to the same velocity change amount. When a problem, such as a failure or breakdown of the second deceleration detector, occurs, the severity determining unit operates in a predetermined fail-safe mode for selecting an appropriate one of severity determination maps stored in the controller, and makes a severity determination based on the selected severity determination map.
42 Citations
9 Claims
-
1. A collision severity determining system for determining severity of a collision of a vehicle, comprising:
-
a first deceleration detector disposed substantially in a central portion of a body of the vehicle so as to detect a vehicle deceleration in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle;
a second deceleration detector disposed in a front portion of the vehicle that is located ahead of the first deceleration detector, so as to detect a deceleration at the front portion in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle;
a velocity change amount calculating unit that calculates a velocity change amount of the vehicle by integrating the vehicle deceleration detected by the first deceleration detector with respect to time;
a severity determining unit storing two or more severity determination maps defined by the vehicle deceleration detected by the first deceleration detector and the velocity change amount, each of the severity determination maps representing a threshold pattern consisting of threshold values with which the vehicle deceleration is compared so as to determine severity of the collision of the vehicle; and
a problem detecting unit that generates a problem detection signal that indicates that a problem has occurred to the vehicle, when detecting an absence of a signal indicative of the deceleration transmitted from the second deceleration detector, wherein when receiving the problem detection signal from the problem detecting unit, the severity determining unit operates in a predetermined fail-safe mode for selecting an appropriate one of the two or more severity determination maps, and determines severity of the collision of the vehicle, based on the selected severity determination map. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. An apparatus comprising:
-
an occupant protection device that protects an occupant of a vehicle against a collision, the occupant protection device having at least two power levels; and
a collision severity determining system that determines severity of the collision of the vehicle, which comprises;
(a) a first deceleration detector disposed substantially in a central portion of a body of the vehicle so as to detect a vehicle deceleration in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle;
(b) a second deceleration detector disposed in a front portion of the vehicle that is located ahead of the first deceleration detector, so as to detect a deceleration at the front portion in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle;
(c) a velocity change amount calculating unit that calculates a velocity change amount of the vehicle by integrating the vehicle deceleration detected by the first deceleration detector with respect to time;
(d) a severity determining unit storing two or more severity determination maps defined by the vehicle deceleration detected by the first deceleration detector and the velocity change amount, each of the severity determination maps representing a threshold pattern consisting of threshold values with which the vehicle deceleration is compared so as to determine severity of the collision of the vehicle; and
(e) a problem detecting unit that generates a problem detection signal that indicates that a problem has occurred to the vehicle, when detecting an absence of a signal indicative of the deceleration transmitted from the second deceleration detector, wherein, when receiving the problem detection signal from the problem detecting unit, the severity determining unit operates in a predetermined fail-safe mode for selecting an appropriate one of the two or more severity determination maps, and determines severity of the collision of the vehicle, based on the selected severity determination map, wherein the occupant protection device is activated with one of the at least two power levels that is selected based on a result of severity determination of the collision severity determining system.
-
Specification