Zf Friedrichshafen Ag

Andreas Fleckner

Harald Pfriender

Charles Anthony Bartlett

Kiran Balasubramanian

Huahn-Fern Yeh

Raymond J David

Carl Munch

Maciej Rejer

Michal Duchowski

Pawel Koziel

Steven Kanzler

Julian Scherer

According to one aspect, a vehicle safety system includes an actuatable controlled restraint (ACR) comprising a seatbelt for restraining a vehicle occupant. The ACR is actuatable to control payout and retraction of the seatbelt. The system also includes a controller configured to determine operating conditions of the vehicle and to control the actuation of the ACR in response to the determined operating conditions of the vehicle. The ACR has a normal restraint condition and an enhanced restraint condition, the controller being configured to actuate the ACR from the normal restraint condition to the enhanced restraint condition in response to determining abnormal driving conditions of the vehicle.

Method and apparatus for controlling an actuatable protection device with rough terrain and airborne detection

A method for controlling an actuatable safety device () for helping to protect a vehicle occupant includes sensing left-front and right-front pressure values via a pressure tube sensor (). The method also includes executing pressure tube metrics that evaluate the left-front and right-front pressure values and selecting switched crash thresholds in response to the pressure tube metrics. The method also includes sensing vehicle acceleration parameters () and executing one or more crash metrics that evaluate the vehicle acceleration parameters to determine whether the switched crash thresholds are exceeded. The method further includes controlling deployment of the actuatable safety device () in response to determining that the switched crash thresholds are exceeded. A vehicle safety system () implements the method.

Enhanced front impact detection utilizing pressure tube sensor

A vehicle safety system for helping to protect a vehicle occupant in the event of a frontal collision includes a controller, one or more crash sensors for sensing a frontal collision, and an active sensor for detecting objects in the path of the vehicle. The controller is configured to implement crash discrimination metrics that detect the occurrence of a frontal collision in response to signals received from the crash sensors. The crash discrimination metrics implement thresholds for determining whether the signals received from the crash sensors indicate the occurrence of a frontal collision. The controller is configured to implement an algorithm that uses information obtained from the active sensor to detect an object in the path of the vehicle and to select the thresholds implemented in the crash discrimination metrics in response to detecting the object.

Vehicle safety system implementing integrated active-passive front impact control algorithm

A method helps to protect an occupant of a vehicle () equipped with an automated driving system () and a vehicle safety system () by detecting low impact crash events () with the vehicle (). The method includes utilizing automated driving sensors () of the automated driving system () to identify possible low impact collision risks. The method also includes utilizing vehicle safety system sensors () of the vehicle safety system to determine a low impact collision resulting from the identified possible low impact collision. A vehicle safety system () includes an airbag controller unit () configured to implement the method to determine low impact crash events with the vehicle ().

Low impact detection for automated driving vehicles

A vehicle safety system implements a method for helping to protect a vehicle occupant in the event of a frontal collision. The method includes determining a passive safety crash mode classification in response to crash signals received in response to the occurrence of a crash event. The method also includes determining an active safety crash mode classification in response to active safety signals received prior to the occurrence of the crash event. The method also includes determining an active safety confidence factor for the active safety crash mode classification. The method also includes determining the weighted crash mode classification as being the active crash mode classification in response to the active safety confidence factor exceeding a predetermined confidence value. The method further includes determining the weighted crash mode classification as being the passive crash mode classification in response to the active safety confidence factor not exceeding the predetermined confidence value.

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Mühlhausen-Ehingen, Germany

Andreas Fleckner