Alliedsignal Inc.

Breed Automotive Technology, Inc.

John C Thompson

Raymond Kleinberg

Steven K Underwood

Stanford D Hanson

Craig T Harston

Eldon L Cooper, Jr

A system for sensing the presence of an object within a vehicle's passenger compartment including an occupant in a motor vehicle comprising of: one or more safety restraint device such as air bag or pretensioner for protecting the occupant during a crash, actuating device includes within the restraint device for activating the safety restraint device to protect an occupant during a collision; a first occupant sensor, fixedly positioned in the vehicle, for generating a reflected electric field within the passenger compartment for generating an output signal indicative of the presence of an object, the electric field being of predetermined size, wherein the presence of an object effects the reflected electric field causing a change in the output signal of the sensor, the sensor mounted on one of a vehicle's steering wheel assembly for driver position detection or instrument panel near the passenger air bag module for passenger position detection; a crash sensor coupled to electronic control unit for sensing an actual or impending crash and for generating an output signal indicative thereof; the electronic control unit reactive to a combination of the output signal from the crash sensor means and occupant sensor means for determining whether or not to generate a signal to activate the safety restraint device.

Vehicle occupant sensing system

A system for sensing the presence of an object within a vehicle's passenger compartment including an occupant in a motor vehicle comprising of: one or more safety restraint devices and a first occupant sensor, fixedly positioned in the vehicle, for generating a reflected electric field within the passenger compartment for generating an output signal indicative of the presence of an object, the sensor mounted on one of a vehicle's steering wheel assembly for driver position detection or instrument panel near the passenger air bag module for passenger position detection.

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Chattanooga, TN, United States of America

John C Thompson