Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Denso Corporation

Other

Hitachi Cable, Inc.

Yujiro Miyata

Motomi Iyoda

Hiroyuki Takahashi

Ryotaro Kachu

Katsuji Imai

Tomoki Nagao

Akira Suzuki

Tetsuya Takafuji

Takashi Inamoto

Hisashi Hagiwara

Yoshiyuki Hattori

Seiya Ide

Yusuke Mase

Toshio Hosokawa

Tateki Takayama

Shigenori Kobayashi

Kyojiro Suzuki

Shuji Yamada

Yasuyuki Hishida

Yasuki Otake

Norihiko Nagae

Tomoaki Nakashima

Kazunori Nogi

Koji Ohtaka

Yasuo Imamura

Yuu Nakazawa

Masamitsu Okazaki

Tsutomu Kondo

Shinji Ito

Imai Katsuji

An external impact avoiding part makes a sensor failure detection part withhold from determining that a right or left door pressure sensor has failed when a right-left detection difference calculated at first time is a threshold value or larger, and makes a detection value comparison part calculate the right-left detection difference again after a calming time has elapsed. An effect of closing operation of a right door on the right door pressure sensor or an effect of closing operation of a left door on the left door pressure sensor reduces during the calming time. The avoiding part subsequently makes the detection part compare the right-left detection difference calculated again with the threshold value. As a result of the comparison, when the right-left detection difference is the threshold value or larger, the avoiding part makes the detection part determine that the right or left door pressure sensor has failed.

Pressure sensor malfunction detection device

An activation control device for at least one occupant protection device is applied to a vehicle including occupant protection devices. The activation control device includes a front left sensor, a front right sensor and an activation control unit. The front left sensor is configured to detect an acceleration in a vehicle widthwise direction, and the front right sensor is configured to detect an acceleration in the vehicle widthwise direction. The activation control unit is configured to calculate a movement amount of the front left sensor in the vehicle widthwise direction based on GLy, calculate a movement amount of the front right sensor in the vehicle widthwise direction based on GRy, and determine to which region out of regions each defined in advance for each collision form a point defined by those movement amounts belongs, thereby specifying a collision form.

Activation control device for occupant protection device

An impact detecting device includes a first impact detecting portion, a determining portion and an informing portion. The first impact detecting portion detects an impact applied to an object equipped to a vehicle. The determining portion determines that the object has received the impact when a detection result of the first impact detecting portion is greater than a first impact determination threshold. The informing portion informs that the object has received the impact, when the determining portion determines that the object has received the impact.

Impact detecting device

In the case of a severe collision, the severity of the collision exceeds a first threshold value at which a pretensioner mechanism starts to activate, and then exceeds a second threshold value within a collision-discriminating time range T following the start of the activation; therefore, the force limiter mechanism unit is set at a high load. In the case of a gentle collision, the severity of the collision exceeds the first threshold value, at which the pretensioner mechanism starts to activate, but does not exceed the second threshold value within the collision-discriminating time range T following the start of the activation; therefore the force limiter mechanism unit is set at a low load. Therefore, without a determination delay, the switching of the force limiter mechanism can be appropriately selected.

Seatbelt control device

In a vehicle bumper structure, an optical fiber sensor () is provided in a vehicle width direction on the front surface of a front-bumper reinforcement (). A front-bumper absorber () is provided in front of the optical fiber sensor (), the front-bumper absorber () formed of a soft absorber () and a hard absorber (). The hard absorber is disposed at the bumper center region where the thickness of the bumper is increased. Accordingly, the thickness of the soft absorber () becomes substantially uniform in the vehicle width direction, so that a substantially uniform load is inputted to the optical fiber sensor () regardless of the collision position of the bumper with an object. As a result, variations in the output of the load-sensing unit are reduced.

Vehicle bumper structure

A collision detection device is provided with a load detection memberfor detecting a collision load in a collision, and a mold memberwhich is molded to be integral with the load detection memberThe mold membercovers at least the surface of a collision side of the load detection memberto absorb at least a part of impact energy in the collision by a resilient deformation of the mold memberThus, the collision detection device is substantially resistant to an impact in the collision, while being simply manufactured.

Collision detection device and method of manufacturing the same

A colliding object determination device for a vehicle having a bumper reinforcement member () includes a sensor () and a determination circuit (). The sensor () is located in a front portion of a vehicle for measuring a collision state quantity correlating with a collision load generated in a collision of a colliding body with the vehicle. The determination circuit () determines whether the colliding body is a pedestrian based on the measured collision state quantity. The sensor () is located on an upper half region of a front end face of the bumper reinforcement member (). Thus, accuracy of discriminating the pedestrian from other objects can be improved.

Colliding object determination device and collision information detector for vehicle

A load detecting sensor includes a first member, a second member, and an optical fiber. The first member has a groove having a bottom portion and a column portion which defines the groove. The second member covers the groove of the first member so that a surrounded space is formed. The optical fiber is arranged in the surrounded space. At least one of the first member and the second member is made of an elastic body. The surrounded space is deformable when load is applied to at least one of the first and the second members. When load is applied to at least one of the first and the second members, the deformation of the optical fiber is caused following the deformation of the surrounded space. Hereby, the load detecting sensor, which can decrease the manufacturing cost and increase the detecting sensitivity by the optical fiber, can be obtained.

Load detecting sensor and collision detecting sensor using the same

A vehicular bumper structure includes plural load detection sensors () disposed at predetermined intervals in a vehicle body vertical direction between a load transmitting plate () disposed with a bumper touch sensor and a front wall portion (C) of a bumper reinforcement. The load transmitting plate () is configured so as to be displaced towards a vehicle body rear side with respect to the front wall portion (C) of the bumper reinforcement ().

Vehicular bumper structure

An activation control apparatus controls activation of an airbag unit. An electronic control unit detects a floor deceleration Gf and front decelerations GI, Gr from signals output from a floor sensor and front sensors. Also, the electronic control unit calculates a velocity change Vn from the floor deceleration Gf, and determines the severity of a collision. Further, the electronic control unit determines the state of a symmetric flag FRG through comparison between the front decelerations GI, Gr and the value of a front determination map boundary, serving as a front threshold variation pattern and through comparison between the floor deceleration Gf and the value of a low or high map boundary, serving as an activation threshold variation pattern. Then, on the basis of results of the severity determination and the state of the symmetric flag FRG, the electronic control unit determines a delay time in relation to the activation of the airbag unit. An airbag is expanded and deployed on the basis of the delay time.

Activation control apparatus for occupant protection apparatus

A load sensor includes a optical fiber sensor that provides output analog signals in response to shocks of various magnitudes caused by hits by a vehicle on various objects, two or more amplifiers each of which approximates a non linear function of the analog signals and a unit that converts the linear functions into digital data. Therefore, each analog signal either in a lower magnitude range or a higher magnitude range can be amplified by one of the amplifiers that has a more suitable gain, so that the magnitude of the shock can be accurately converted into digital data for a pedestrian protection airbag system.

Load sensor, method of detecting load and pedestrian protection system

A floor sensor () is disposed at a center portion of a vehicle body () and front sensors () are disposed at front portions of the vehicle body (). An airbag apparatus () always activates when a value determined by the relationship between a floor deceleration (GF) detected by the floor sensor () and a change in floor velocity (Vn) exceeds a High Map toward the high side of the floor velocity. The airbag apparatus () also activates on the condition that the value determined by the relationship between the front deceleration (Gs*) detected by the front sensors () and the change in floor velocity (Vn) exceeds a Front Map toward the high side of the floor deceleration (GF) when the value determined by the relationship between the floor deceleration (GF) detected by the floor sensor () and the change in floor velocity (Vn) exceeds the Low Map but does not exceed the High Map toward the high side of the floor velocity.

Activation control unit and control method thereof for occupant protection apparatus

A load sensing device comprise an inner member provided at a front part of a vehicle and a load sensor provided at a position before a front of the inner member, in addition to an outer member and a load transfer member. The outer member is provided at the front part of the vehicle so as to be located more frontward than the load sensor so that a space is formed between the outer member and the load sensor. The outer member is in charge of allowing the load sensor to sense, via the outer member, a load applied to a front of the vehicle. The load transfer member, made of a hard material, is disposed adjacently to the load sensor within the space between the outer member and the load sensor. The load sensor is allowed to move along the inner member in the back-and-forth direction of the vehicle.

Load sensing device for automobiles

The activating device () for an occupant protection device includes a first deceleration detecting means () for detecting a first deceleration G in vehicle front/rear direction and an activation judging means () for judging whether the activation of the occupant protection device is necessary or not by comparing the first deceleration G detected by the first deceleration detecting means () with a first threshold value. The device further includes a second deceleration detecting means () for detecting a deceleration LG, RG at a position further front side of the vehicle than the position detecting the first deceleration, a collision condition detecting means () for detecting a vehicle collision condition based on a second threshold value by the deceleration LG and RG and a first threshold changing means () for changing the first threshold value of an activation judging means () based on the detected result of the collision condition detecting means ().

Activating device for occupant protection device and controlling method therefor

An optical fiber is optically coupled to a light-receiving/emitting element contained in an interface box. The coupling structure is composed of a cylindrical ferule water-tightly inserted into a through-hole formed in a wall of the interface box, a resilient grommet coupled to the ferule and a coupler having the light-receiving/emitting element. An optical fiber is inserted into coaxially formed center holes of the ferule and the grommet, and an axial end of the optical fiber is exposed at an axial end of the ferule. The coupler is coupled to the ferule so that the light-receiving/emitting element directly faces the exposed end of the optical fiber to establish an optical connection at a minimized connection loss.

Growing community of inventors

Kariya, Japan

Yujiro Miyata