Zf Friedrichshafen Ag

Kelsey-hayes Company

Lucas Automotive Gmbh

Zf Active Safety Gmbh

Zf Active Safety US Inc.

Zf Active Safety and Electronics US LLC

Charles Anthony Bartlett

Kiran Balasubramanian

Huahn-Fern Yeh

Harald Pfriender

Andreas Fleckner

Kyeora Lee

Raymond J David

Elmar Hoffmann

Shawn Hawley

Maciej Rejer

Sean Simmons

Michal Duchowski

Huahn Fern Yeh

Carl Munch

Yuxiao Wu

Kim Kyoungwang

Pawel Koziel

Chunqi Wang

Luca Zaffalon

Adriano Putetto

Sonia Gupta

Chuck Zhan

Steven Kanzler

Julian Scherer

Masashi Nagai

Annette Schanz

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 protecting an occupant of a vehicle includes utilizing an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) to determine that a vehicle collision is impending. In response to determining the existence of an impending vehicle collision, a mass spring damper model uses sensed vehicle longitudinal acceleration (IMU_X) to estimate the occupant movement that will result from the impending vehicle collision. The estimated occupant movement is used to determine how to control deployment of an actuatable safety device in response to the crash.

System and method for estimating occupant movement in response to automatic emergency braking

A method for controlling actuation of an actuatable restraint in response to a vehicle rollover event includes detecting whether the vehicle () is being driven off-road. The method also includes determining whether the vehicle () is undergoing a roll event () that would warrant actuation of the actuatable restraint () if the vehicle was being driven on-road. The method further includes actuating the actuatable restraint () in response to determining that a roll acceleration (D RATE) of the vehicle () indicates that the roll event is continuing. A vehicle safety system () includes an actuatable restraint and a controller () configured to control actuation of the actuatable restraint according to this method.

Method and apparatus for controlling an actuatable protection device with off-road and rollover 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 vehicle safety system for helping to protect a pedestrian in the event of a vehicle frontal collision with the pedestrian includes a plurality of crash sensors for sensing a vehicle frontal collision, an actuatable pedestrian protection device, a controller for controlling actuation of the pedestrian protection device, and at least one active sensor for determining the presence of a pedestrian in the path of the vehicle.

Passive pedestrian protection system utilizing inputs from active safety system

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.

Vehicle safety system and method implementing weighted active-passive crash mode classification

A vehicle safety system includes an actuatable restraint for helping to protect a vehicle occupant and a controller for controlling actuation of the actuatable restraint in response to a vehicle rollover event. The controller is configured to execute a discrimination algorithm comprising at least one classification metric that utilizes at least one of vehicle pitch rate (P_RATE) and vehicle roll acceleration (D_RATE) to discriminate at least one of a ramp rollover event and a soil rollover event from an embankment rollover event. The discrimination algorithm determines a classification of the vehicle rollover event as one of a ramp rollover event, a soil rollover event, and an embankment rollover event. The controller is also configured to select a deployment threshold for deploying the actuatable restraint. The deployment threshold corresponds to the classification of the vehicle rollover event.

Enhanced discrimination method and apparatus for controlling an actuatable protection device

A method for controlling the actuation of an actuatable restraint to help protect a vehicle occupant in response to a rollover event is implemented in a controller of a vehicle safety system that includes the actuatable restraint. To implement the method, the controller is configured to execute a roll discrimination metric that discriminates the occurrence of a ramp rollover event or an embankment rollover event in response to a vehicle roll rate (R_RATE) having a magnitude that exceeds a predetermined threshold roll rate (R_RATE). The controller is also configured to execute a switching metric that is operative to reduce the predetermined threshold roll rate (R_RATE) in response to a vehicle pitch rate (P_RATE) having a magnitude that exceeds a predetermined threshold pitch rate (P_RATE).

Method and apparatus for controlling an actuatable protection device with enhanced rollover discrimination

This invention relates to a vehicle speed control system, configured with off-road performance features, that will allow the driver to travel at a set speed in a smooth, controlled manner on various unmaintained surfaces without requiring the driver to press the brake or accelerator pedal.

Vehicle speed control system

A method for controlling an actuatable restraining device includes sensing a plurality of crash event indications in response to a crash event. The method also includes classifying the crash event in response to comparing the sensed crash event indications against one another to identify an oblique moving deformable barrier crash event. The method further includes controlling deployment timing of the actuatable restraining device in response to the classification of the crash event.

Enhanced discrimination method and apparatus for controlling an actuatable restraining device

This invention relates to a vehicle speed control system, configured with off-road performance features, that will allow the driver to travel at a set speed in a smooth, controlled manner on various unmaintained surfaces without requiring the driver to press the brake or accelerator pedal. The vehicle speed control system uses a brake controller to control the wheel brakes, and an engine controller to control the engine/drivetrain torque, separate or in combination, to maintain a target speed.

Growing community of inventors

Commerce Township, MI, United States of America

Charles Anthony Bartlett