Vehicle occupant mass sensing system suppresses air bag deployment

摘要

A vehicle safety system which determines the total mass of a vehicle passenger from a weight sensor 52 disposed in a passenger seat 16. The vertical component of tension in the passenger seat-belt 30 is determined by a strain gauge 90 disposed within a mounting bolt 68 which couples to an anchor point 65. The anchor point may be disposed on the floor of the vehicle, the seat 16 or a B-pillar of the vehicle. The actual mass of the passenger is determined by subtracting the vertical component of seat-belt tension from the mass determined by sensor 52. A suitable air bag 42,46 is deployed by control module 48 as a function of the actual mass of the passenger and a sensed crash condition. In this way the deployment of the air-bag may be suppressed if the system determines that, for example, a child is sitting in the passenger seat 16.