Apparatus and method for sensing a vehicle rollover condition

摘要

A vehicle rollover sensor (10) includes a rotor (12) having a central rotor axis (14) and which is mountable within a vehicle (18). The rotor (12) is inertially balanced and freely rotatable about the rotor axis (14). The sensor (10) also includes a detector (32) for detecting rotation of the rotor (12) relative to the rotor axis (14). The detector (32) is operative to provide a detector signal (43) indicative of the detected relative rotation. The detector signal (43) is used to determine the occurrence of a vehicle rollover condition.