Trw Limited

Pramod Shankar

Barry Dunbridge

L Dwight Gilger

Carlton B Ardery

Apparatus for sensing the weight of an object and providing a digital representation of a weight range within which the sensed weight falls, and apparatus for controlling the deployment of a vehicular air bag in accordance with the weight of a passenger seated in a vehicle seat adjacent the air bag. A number of two-position switches,normally assume a first position and are responsive to a force of at least a predetermined amount to assume a second position. The first position represents a first weight range, and the second position represents a second weight range. A support surface,overlies the switches to support an object to be weighed. A decoding circuit,monitors the positions of each of the two-position switches and provides a digital representation of the weight range within which the weight of the object falls. In the vehicular air bag system, a number of groups of the two-position switches,are mounted in a passenger seat,adjacent the air bag. Each group includes switches which assume their second position in response to a force of at least a predetermined amount that is associated with such group. The decoding circuit,provides a digital representation of the weight range within which the weight of a passenger seated in the passenger seat falls. A controller is responsive to the decoding circuit to control the air bag deployment system to control deployment of the air bag,in accordance with the represented weight range.

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Redlands, CA, United States of America

Pramod Shankar