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:
Aug. 17, 2004
Filed:
Apr. 09, 2001
Chek-Peng Foo, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Paul Leo Sumner, Farmington Hills, MI (US);
Timothy Chester Wright, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Meng-Fu Tsai, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Suthep Thanapathomsinchai, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
TRW Inc., Lyndhurst, OH (US);
Abstract
The present invention is directed to controlling a vehicle multistage actuatable occupant restraining system ( ). A crash sensor ( ) senses crash acceleration and provides a crash acceleration signal ( ) indicative thereof. Crash velocity and crash displacement are determined ( ) in response to the crash acceleration signal. A first stage ( ) of the multistage actuatable occupant restraining system is actuated when the determined crash velocity as a function of crash displacement exceeds a low threshold ( ). A crush zone accelerometer ( ) senses crash acceleration at a crush zone location. The crush zone acceleration as a function of the crash displacement is compared ( ) against a crush zone threshold ( ). The value of the low threshold ( ) is switched to a different value ( ) when the crush zone acceleration exceeds the crush zone threshold.