VEHICLE WITH MULTIPLE CRASH MODES

摘要

A vehicle has a body structure defining a passenger compartment and near and offside side rails (14, 15) adapted to collapse in the event of a frontal impact and to absorb energy from the impact thereby reducing deceleration of the passenger compartment. An airbag (25, 26) is mounted within each side rail (14, 15) so that when deployed the airbag stiffens the associated side rail. A deployment control device (29) differentiates between two or more different impact modes and selectively deploys one or both airbags (25, 26) depending on impact mode.