Patent ID: 7848885
Filing Date: 2010-12-07
Classification: B60R

Abstract:
1. A collision determining apparatus for a vehicle having an occupant protection apparatus, which comprises an airbag apparatus and a seatbelt pretensioner, the collision determining apparatus for a vehicle comprising: a first acceleration measuring device which measures an acceleration acting on the vehicle; a second acceleration measuring device which measures an acceleration acting on a position further to in an outer peripheral portion side of the vehicle than the first acceleration measuring device; a movement amount calculating device which calculates an amount of movement of the occupant based on the acceleration which is measured by the first acceleration measuring device; a change in movement speed calculating device which calculates a change in movement speed of the occupant based on the acceleration which is measured by the first acceleration measuring device; a first collision determining threshold value setting device which sets first to fifth collision determining threshold values for a correlation between the amount of movement of the occupant and the change in movement speed of the occupant based on the acceleration which is measured by the second acceleration measuring device; a first collision determining device which determines whether or not the correlation exceeds at least one of first to fifth collision determining threshold values; and a first control signal generating device which generates a control signal which instructs that the airbag apparatus be operated slowly in multiple stages or be operated rapidly in multiple stages and the seatbelt pretensioner be operated or not, in accordance with a result of a determination by the first collision determining device; wherein the first collision determining threshold value is set such that a slow operation in multiple states of the airbag apparatus and an operation of the seatbelt pretensioner are simultaneously preformed when a collision of a predetermined size is not measured by the second acceleration measuring device; wherein the second and third collision determining threshold values are set such that a rapid operation in multiple stages of the airbag apparatus is performed irrespective of the result of the measurement by the second acceleration measuring device when the distance of movement of the occupant is small and the change in movement speed of the occupant is large; wherein the fourth and fifth collision determining threshold values are set, but changing the first collision determining threshold value, such that the operation of the seatbelt pretensioner is more easy to perform than the slow operation in multiple stages of the airbag apparatus when a collision of the predetermined size is measured by the second acceleration measuring device.