Trw Automotive U.S. LLC

Trw Limited

Zf Friedrichshafen Ag

Trw Vehicle Safety Systems Inc.

Zf Active Safety and Electronics US LLC

Raymond J David

Huahn-Fern Yeh

Chek-Peng Foo

Charles Anthony Bartlett

Meng-Fu Tsai

Christopher John Hibner

Charles E Steffens, Jr

Jon Kelly Wallace

Stephen R W Cooper

Edward J Gillis

Paul Leo Sumner

Kevin Daniel Weiss

Kiran Balasubramanian

Lila Ghannam

Huahn Fern Yeh

Harald Pfriender

Andreas Fleckner

Nick L Smith

Robert Dziadula

Kyeora Lee

Sonia Gupta

Masashi Nagai

Mengfu Tsai

Kim Kyoungwang

Yuxiao Wu

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 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

A method for controlling an actuatable restraining device includes sensing a plurality of crash event indications, classifying crash events in response to the sensed crash event indications to identify at least one of a forward rigid barrier crash event, an offset deformable barrier crash event, an angular crash event, and a small overlap crash event, and controlling deployment timing of the actuatable restraining device in response to the classification of the crash event.

Method and apparatus for controlling an actuatable restraining device using multi-region enhanced discrimination

An apparatus () detects a pedestrian/vehicle impact, the apparatus including a plurality of sensors () mounted near a forward location of a vehicle (), each sensor providing an associated signal indicative of an impact event. A metric determining device () determines metric values for each of the sensor signals. A controller () determines if any of said determined metric values indicates the occurrence of a misuse event. The controller also determines if a pedestrian/vehicle impact event is occurring by comparing the metric value of at least one sensor signal against a selectable threshold. An actuation signal is provided in response to the comparison. The selectable threshold is selected in response to the determined occurrence of a misuse event. An actuatable pedestrian impact mitigation device () is attached to the vehicle and is actuated in responsive to the actuation signal from said controller.

Method and apparatus for detecting pedestrian vehicle impact

A method () for adjusting the zero point of a vehicle seat weight sensing system () includes the step of determining a zero point error () of the seat weight sensing system. The method () also includes the step of adjusting the zero point error () in response to determining that the zero point error was influenced by an object on the vehicle seat.

System and method for adjusting a zero point of a seat load sensing system

A method () for adjusting a sensed load W(s) of a vehicle seat weight sensing system () includes the step () of determining a rate of change {dot over (W)}(t),{dot over (W)}in the sensed load. The method () also includes the step () of determining the likelihood of drift in the sensed load W(s) in response to the determined rate of change {dot over (W)}(t),{dot over (W)}.

System and method for drift compensation in a seat load sensing system

A method and apparatus () for testing an occupant position sensing system () of a vehicle () includes a motor () having a stationary portion () and a movable portion (). A test object () is fixed relative to the movable portion () of the motor (). A motor position sensor () senses a position of the movable portion () of the motor () relative to the stationary portion () and for providing a motor position signal indicative thereof. Motor drive electronics () are responsive to the motor position signal for controlling the motor () for moving the test object (). A data recorder () is adapted to receive and record data from the occupant position sensing system () and is adapted to receive and record the motor position signal provided by the motor position sensor ().

Apparatus and method for testing and occupant position sensing system of a vehicle

An apparatus and method for controlling an actuatable occupant protection system () in a passenger compartment () of a vehicle () includes a camera () configured for obtaining an image of a viewable field () within the passenger compartment () of the vehicle (). At least one pattern () is associated with vehicle structures () located within the viewable field (). The portions of the obtained image associated with vehicle structures () having the pattern () are removed from the image so as to obtain information regarding occupancy of the viewable field (). The actuatable occupant protection system () is controlled in response to the obtained occupancy information.

Apparatus and method for controlling an occupant protection system in response to determined passenger compartment occupancy information

An apparatus ( ) determines a target (e.g., a vehicle occupant ) beyond a predetermined distance. In an exemplary embodiment, the apparatus ( ) determines a distant target for use in control of air bag deployment. The apparatus ( ) includes a sensor ( ) for emitting and receiving first ( ) and second ( ) signals in an interspersed predetermined emission sequence toward the target. A controller ( ) successively determines a time interval between the emission of a current signal and the reception of an echo. The controller ( ) successively compares at least two time intervals to determine whether a sufficient difference exists to indicate that the target is beyond the predetermined distance and outputs a signal to the air bag actuation system ( ). The controller ( ) also performs a distance calculation to the target using at least one of the time-of-flight periods of the first and second signals, where the first time-of-flight period occurs between emission and echo reception of the first signal and where the second time-of-flight period occurs between emission and echo reception of the second signal, and outputs a signal to the air bag actuation system ( ).

Apparatus and method using controlled emission for sensing an occupant located beyond a predetermined distance

A system and an associated method for determining the weight of an occupant (,) on an associated seat (,) are disclosed. The system includes a sensor (,) for sensing downward force on the seat (,) and a sensor (,) for sensing tension in an associated seat belt (,). A controller (,) is included for determining the weight of the occupant (,) as a function of an output (,) from the sensor (,) and an output (,) from the sensor (,).

Weight determining system

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Dearborn, MI, United States of America

Raymond J David