The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 08, 2021
Filed:
Apr. 17, 2019
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc., Plano, TX (US);
Lauren Abro, West Bloomfield, MI (US);
TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING NORTH AMERICA, INC., Plano, TX (US);
Abstract
A vehicle seat belt system includes a retractable seat belt buckle, one or more buckle sensors, and a control unit. The control unit is communicatively coupled to the one or more buckle sensors and one or more drive systems of a vehicle. The retractable seat belt buckle is movable between an extended position and a retracted position. The one or more buckle sensors are positioned to sense a position of the retractable seat belt buckle and output a signal indicative of the position of the retractable seat belt buckle. The control unit receives the signal from the one or more buckle sensors, determines the position of the retractable seat belt buckle based on the signal from the one or more buckle sensors, and transmits a stop signal to the one or more vehicle drive systems to cause the one or more vehicle drive systems to prevent motion of the vehicle when the retractable seat belt buckle is positioned in the extended position.