Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Continental Automotive Gmbh

Takuto Kumashiro

Iwao Izumikawa

Noriyuki Saitoh

Kenji Furumoto

Koji Takeuchi

Hiroshi Tomita

Junya Fukuta

Ryuichi Soya

Yoshihiro Kawaguchi

Shinji Takeo

Takashi Unno

A vehicle exit assist apparatus with improved security and power consumption includes an exit restriction part including a warning and/or door opening restriction when an occupant's exit action is detected and an obstacle around a self-vehicle is detected by an obstacle detection part. The obstacle detection part and the exit restriction part are started when the exit action is detected in a situation where the obstacle detection part and/or the exit restriction part are not working. The obstacle detection part may transmit a signal corresponding to its operating state after starting-up and the exit restriction part may be forced to perform the exit restriction action when the obstacle detection part is not operating normally based on the signal. It may be configured to cancel the exit restriction action when such a compulsory exit restriction action is being continuously performed for a period longer than a predetermined period.

Vehicle exit assist apparatus

A vehicle alert device () executes alert control of determining, when a target is detected in a periphery of an own vehicle (C), within a set calculation period, whether the target is an alert-target object that does not include a stationary object, determining, when the target is an alert-target object, whether the alert-target object exists in a blind spot area (RL, RR) of a driver, and alerting the driver when the alert-target object exists in the blind spot area. The vehicle alert device avoids executing the alert control when a relative speed of the own vehicle with respect to the alert-target object at a time when the own vehicle overtakes the alert-target object is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold value. The vehicle alert device sets the predetermined threshold value to a larger value and sets the set calculation period to a shorter value, when a travel speed of the own vehicle at the time when the own vehicle overtakes the alert-target object is equal to or higher than a predetermined speed, than the predetermined threshold value and the set calculation period at a time when the travel speed of the own vehicle is lower than the predetermined speed.

Vehicle alert device

A sensor protector includes two stays and a thin-plate shaped separate sheet held by the stays. The stays are provided on a bracket. The bracket holds a sensor and is fixed at a predetermined position to an outside panel of the body of a vehicle covered with a bumper cover of the vehicle. The sheet extends such that, in the sensor attached state, the sheet divides/partitions a space around the sensor formed between the outside panel of the body and the bumper cover into an upper space which contains the entirety of the detection surface of the sensor and a lower space which does not contain the detection surface of the sensor.

Sensor protector

A sensor protector configured including a mount, a plate shaped cover, and an electromagnetic wave shield is provided. The mount is mounted at a bracket configured to fix a sensor, provided at an inner side of a bumper cover, to a body of a vehicle. The plate shaped cover that extends from a lower portion of the mount toward the bumper cover with an end portion of the cover, at an outer side in a vehicle front-rear direction, separated from the bumper cover, and covers a lower portion of the sensor as viewed from a lower side of the vehicle. The electromagnetic wave shield is provided to at least a portion of the cover.

Sensor protector and vehicle equipped therewith

Growing community of inventors

Toyota, Japan

Takuto Kumashiro