An improved inflatable passenger side air bag safety device for motor vehicles for detecting the presence or absence of a passenger positioned on or in front of a particular passenger vehicle seat. The safety device comprises a control unit for the intelligent triggering of the propellant charge for the air bag when a triggering event is detected, such as an impending collision, and the presence of a passenger is also detected. The control unit receives signals from a pair of switches, electrically connected in parallel to one another, including a first seat switch for detecting the presence or absence of a sitting passenger and a second foot switch for detecting the presence or absence of a standing, kneeling, or sitting passenger in the region in front of the vehicle seat. In the preferred embodiment both switches are flat, contact type switches, each having a broad surface area and are activated when subjected to the weight of a passenger from above. An acceleration sensor is also connected to the control unit for signaling the event of an impending collision. In an alternate embodiment the foot switch is a condenser-type switch in the form of a metallic screen interwoven within the floor carpet and detects fluctuations in the magnetic and electric fields corresponding to the presence or absence of a passenger positioned over the floor carpet. The air bag associated with the vehicle seat is caused to be activated during a triggering event if either of the seats switch and/or foot switch are activated by a passenger.

Inflatable air bag safety device for motor vehicles

Driver assistance systems could be much more effective, if they were adaptive to the driver’s state. Following the idea of a lane-keeping assistance system, which is adaptive to the use of in-vehicle information systems (IVIS), two field experiments were conducted. The first experiment concerned the influence of typical IVIS tasks on lane-keeping. Most IVIS tasks increased the lateral deviations, but in the majority of cases the drivers were still able to stay in their lane. The second experiment concerned two questions: (1) how much lateral support would be needed and (2) how drivers accept this kind of support. The results show that all lateral support algorithms increased the lane-keeping performance with the algorithms providing a higher amount of assistance proving the most useful. All assistance systems were rated as helpful and were considered to increase driver safety, both by the drivers who did not have problems in lane-keeping without assistance. In light of these results an adaptation of a lateral support system to the IVIS-use seems to be useful and worthwhile.

Driver distraction based lane-keeping assistance

A safety belt system, especially for vehicles. The system has a three-point safety belt, a self-locking belt winding mechanism which is mounted on a structural part of the vehicle, and a clamping mechanism for the belt. The clamping mechanism is disposed on the structural part of the vehicle, and has at least one movable clamping jaw. The problem with a basic safety belt system of this type is that in particular the slack in the belt at the body of the strapped-in person, together with the belt elongation which additionally results due to the stretching of the belt, lead, upon activation of the clamping effect, to a forward shifting of the body, thus endangering the person who is strapped in. This problem is inventively solved by movably guiding the clamping mechanism on the structural part of the vehicle, and by providing a drive or control mechanism for the movement of the clamping mechanism.

Safety belt system

Though a significant body of literature exists on the safety performance and effectiveness of various types of front seat occupant restraint systems, there is a paucity of data on the performance of rear seat occupant restraint systems. A research program was initiated to better understand rear seat restraint performance. Research included examining real world data using National Automotive Sampling System/Crashworthiness Data System (NASS/CDS) and Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) as well as conducting full frontal vehicle crashes into rigid barriers with dummies restrained in rear seats. Child dummies (Hybrid III 6 year-old) and adult dummies (Hybrid III 5th percentile female and 50th percentile male) were used for this purpose. The dummies were placed in rear outboard seats with lap/shoulder belts as well as in the center seating position where the lap/shoulder belts were integrated to the seat. A double-paired comparison study using FARS data files suggested that while occupants younger than 50 years of age benefit from sitting in rear seats in frontal crashes, restrained adult occupants older than 50 years are significantly better off in the front seats than the rear seats. The most injured body region for restrained children in rear seats is the head while that for restrained adults is the thorax. The major injury source for restrained occupants, not in child safety seats, is the seat belts while that for unrestrained occupants is the front seat back. The injury measures of restrained adult dummies in rear seats in frontal crash tests were generally higher than those of dummies of the same size in the driver and front passenger seat. The seat backs of integrated rear seats experienced excessive forward rotation in frontal crash tests, thereby causing the dummy’s head to hit the console or front seatback, resulting in high head and neck injury measures. The field and vehicle crash test data indicate that rear seat restraints could be further optimized to mitigate injury in frontal crashes for older rear seat occupants.

Rear seat occupant protection in frontal crashes

A sensor pad for controlling the deployment of an automobile airbag. Weight sensing pad 10 is used in the seat 54 of an automobile, (not illustrated), to detect the presence of an occupant on the seat. Weight sensing pad 10 is used in conjunction with the vehicle's airbag control module in order to allow deployment of the airbag, in the event of a collision, only if the seat is occupied by a person of a preselected weight. Weight sensing pad 10 is defined by a bladder member 15 having an interior volume subdivided into a plurality of individual cells 42 in fluid communication with each other and that is filled with a non-compressible fluid 18, such as silicon or a silica gel of medium viscosity. A pressure tube 22 is in fluid communication with bladder 15 and is in further fluid communication with a pressure activated electronic transducer 26 which in turn is in electronic communication with the airbag controller 30. When a person sits upon weight sensing pad 10, there is a volumetric displacement of fluid 18 that provides a pressure change in the bladder member. If there is a sufficient pressure change due to the volumetric displacement of fluid to activate transducer 26, transducer 26 sends a signal to air bag controller 30. Electronic transducer 26 is selected to generate a signal upon detection of pressure resultant from the volumetric displacement of fluid 18 from bladder 15 expected from the average size adult of approximately one hundred pounds or heavier.

Sensor pad for controlling airbag deployment and associated support

of EP0226745A three-point safety-belt system is described, in particular for the rear seat of a motor vehicle. In the safety-belt system the routing of the belt is reversed, i.e. the belt-locking mechanism (10) is not situated, as is customary, in the centre of the seat, but at the outside of the seat. To make such an arrangement possible, the seat cushion (4) provides a recess (4a), inside of which the belt- locking mechanism (1O) is arranged. The recess (4a) is concealed by a cover (12). The routing of the belt which is possible with this arrangement permits both improved operation of the belt and also a relatively large room for manoeuvre with respect to the design in the belt geometry and the design of the seat.

Three-point safety-belt system

An adjusting device for the point of articulation or the point of deflection of a safety belt in automotive vehicles permits continuous adjustment of the angle of articulation for the safety belt in contact with the shoulder of the vehicle occupant to a predetermined value with the aid of an electric pickup for the angle of articulation, arranged at the point of articulation or deflection, and a comparison circuit connected after this pickup, which comparison circuit contains the predetermined value.

Adjusting device for the point of articulation or the point of deflection of a safety belt

The safety device has an air bag activated by a controller according to the level, and/or the pattern and/or the direction of the vehicle acceleration. In addition the controller receives information on the age of the vehicle occupants and also takes account of size of the vehicle passenger load. The information can be fed in when the vehicle is started and stored in a part of the starting system or in the controller.

Safety device for occupants of motor vehicle

The device allows a continuous adjustment of the Anlenkwinkels (a) for the resting on the shoulder of the vehicle occupant seat belt (2) at a predetermined value by means of an in or on the presence or deflection point (1) arranged electrical generator (13) (for the Anlenkwinkel a) and this downstream comparator circuit (10) containing the predetermined value.

Adjustment device for an anchoring or deflecting point of a safety belt

A three-point safety belt system is provided which the upper deflection and fastening point for the belt strap cannot be arranged on the B-column of a vehicle body. So as not to interfere with the appearance of the vehicle body or with its lines but, yet obtain an optimal course of the belt strap in the event of a crash, the safety belt system has a displaceable belt point. This belt point is normally kept downward and will then be situated in the area of the window ledge or lower and can thus not be seen from the outside. In the event of a crash, the belt point displaces upward and thereby provides a belt strap course which ensures an optimal protection of the vehicle occupants.

Josef Haberl

Papers

Three-point safety-belt system

Adjusting device for the point of articulation or the point of deflection of a safety belt

Safety device for occupants of motor vehicle

Adjustment device for an anchoring or deflecting point of a safety belt

Three-point safety belt system for motor vehicles