Airbag system responsive to impact severity

摘要

A collision determination unit 20 uses a single acceleration sensor 21 to gauge the severity of an impact by extracting a plastic deformation pulse 202c and an elastic deformation pulse 202b from the accelerometer signal. The plastic deformation pulse may be extracted using a high pass filter and the elastic deformation pulse may be extracted using a low pass filter. The determination unit may be used to control a passive safety system such as an airbag 3, the rate and level of airbag inflation being determined in response to the detected severity of the impact. The airbag may include multiple inflation actuators, with one or more being deployed depending on the impact detected.