Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Makie Morota

Junichi Fukuda

Norimitsu Kurihara

Yoshikazu Tsuchiya

Koichi Kamiji

Katuhiko Sasakawa

An air bag for a vehicle is contained, respectively, in a steering wheel which is disposed in front of a driver's seat and in a dashboard which is disposed in front of a passenger's seat. When a seat switch has detected that there is no passenger seated in the passenger's seat, the inflation of the air bag for the passenger's seat is prohibited. Two impact sensors for detecting the longitudinal and lateral impact forces are provided. When that direction .theta. of the impact force which is obtained by the two sensors deviates towards the passenger's seat beyond a predetermined angle, the prohibition of inflation of the air bag for the passenger's seat is cancelled. When the vehicle is collided at a portion which is deviated towards the passenger's seat, the air bag for the passenger's seat is also inflated to alleviate the movement of the driver towards the passenger's seat. Instead of detecting the direction of the impact force by the two impact sensors, a switch-type acceleration sensor which is switched on when the impact force towards the passenger's seat is above a predetermined value may also be used so that the air bag for the passenger's seat can be inflated.

Air bag apparatus

An improved occupant protective system for an automotive vehicle includes an occupant-protecting member, an acceleration sensor for detecting acceleration of the vehicle, an actuator for actuating the occupant-protecting member, and a monitoring device for monitoring potentials of two signal lines connected respectively to the opposite ends of the actuator and having portions thereof extending substantially parallel with each other. One of the signal lines is connected between the acceleration sensor and the actuator. When the vehicle undergoes acceleration having a magnitude greater than a predetermined value, the acceleration sensor operates to cause an increased amount of electric current to flow through the two signal lines to thereby cause the actuator to operate. The improved occupant protective system includes a monitoring line extending parallel with the two signal lines along the portions of the two signal lines extending substantially parallel with each other. The monitoring line has one end thereof being open. A voltage, which is different from the potentials of the two signal lines when the vehicle is normally running, is applied to another end of the monitoring line.

Occupant protective system for automotive vehicles

A collision detection system for a vehicle comprising an acceleration sensor for sensing the acceleration and deceleration of the vehicle wherein the acceleration sensor is a piezoelectric sensor; signal processing circuit coupled to the piezoelectric sensor for generating a first output when the vehicle deceleration is greater than a predetermined amount. A diagnostic pulse generator is coupled to the piezoelectric sensor for applying a diagnostic pulse to the piezoelectric sensor for distorting the piezoelectric sensor, thereby causing the piezoelectric sensor to generate an electrical output. The electrical output is applied to the signal processing circuit wherein the signal processing circuit produces a second output in response thereto. The piezoelectric sensor is mounted on a pendulum such that when the vehicle accelerates or decelerates, the pendulum moves relative to the vehicle thereby distorting the piezoelectric sensor whereby the piezoelectric sensor produces an output as a function of the distortion. The piezoelectric sensor includes an electrode which is divided into a plurality of electrode segments. At least one of the electrode segments is an output electrode for providing an electrical signal as a function of the distortion of the piezoelectric sensor and at least one of the electrode segments is an input electrode for receiving an electrical signal and distorting the piezoelectric sensor in response thereto.

Collision detection system for a vehicle

It is an object of the present invention to provide a collision detector for a vehicle, capable of avoiding the adverse effect of the diagnostic pulses on the detection of a collision so that the failure of the acceleration sensor can be diagnosed correctly. A collision detector in accordance with the present invention comprises a diagnostic pulse generator which applies diagnostic pulses to an acceleration sensor to detect the failure of the acceleration sensor, and a diagnostic circuit which stops the output diagnostic pulses of the diagnostic pulse generator when the output of the acceleration sensor exceeds a malfunction avoidance level which is lower than a reference collision level.

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Wako, Japan

Makie Morota