| 摘要 |
<p>PURPOSE: To control the operation of an occupant restraint system for a vehicle optimally by detecting the position of the occupant of the vehicle. CONSTITUTION: In order to detect a distance between an airbag 26 storing position and an occupant 34, a displacement sensor 60, mounted on a dashboard 24, and an infrared light sensor 70, attached to a ceiling unit above the head of the occupant and having a plurality of visual fields VF1-VF8, are provided. The sensors supply outputs, corresponding to the distance of the occupant, into a control device 50 and when at least one of the signals from these two sensors shows that the occupant is apart from the storing position of an airbag by a predetermined distance or more, the control device outputs an enable signal to an occupant restraint system 20 to bring the airbag into expandable condition while, on the contrary, the airbag is brought into inert condition when the occupant is apart from the storing position of the airbag by a distance, not more than a predetermined distance, whereby the airbag is not expanded when the occupant is approximated to the dashboard. In this case, the degree of expansion of the airbag can be controlled in accordance with a distance between the occupant and the dashboard. According to this method, the optimum control of the occupant restraint system is permitted.</p> |
