| 摘要 |
The present invention provides an improved buckle for a vehicle safety restraint from which more accurate and reliable information on seat belt usage can be obtained. The buckle comprises a buckle head 1 with a passageway for receiving a buckle tongue 2, and releasable means 4 for locking the tongue in the passageway. A tag identifying means 12 such as a coded magnetic strip, bar code or a microchip is provided encapsulated in or attached to the material of the tongue and a detector 13 is provided in the buckle head in close proximity to the tongue passageway. The detector is able to read the tag, eg by means of an optical bar code reader and optical bar code reader. The code may be arranged to uniquely identify each tongue in a particular vehicle or to be programmable by the vehicle manufacturer. Each detector in the buckle heads may be programmed to recognise its corresponding correct tongue and warning signals may be provided if the wrong tongue, or a different object is inserted into a particular buckle, fig. 2. (not shown). Also shown in fig. 2 is a lockout device (15) which prevents entry of an incorrect tongue into the buckle and ensures that a correct buckle is properly aligned before insertion is allowed. When the buckle is programmed for use with a child or baby seat its fastening may deactivate the deployment of an air bag. |
