Patent ID: 9139149
Filing Date: 2015-09-22
Classification: B60R

Abstract:
1. An external airbag deployment method, comprising: a) setting a detection area located in front of a vehicle; b) selecting a target object from among objects detected in the detection area by comparing relative velocities, overlaps, and Time To External Airbag (TTE) values of the detected objects, wherein the TTE is a remaining time until a collision with an airbag cushion occurs when an external airbag is assumed to be deployed; c) determining whether the vehicle is stable or unstable by comparing a predicted yaw rate of the vehicle with a measured yaw rate; d) determining whether a relative velocity and an overlap of the target object, predicted at a time when the target object is assumed to collide with the vehicle, are greater than predetermined levels, wherein the relative velocity and the overlap are predicted in consideration of a system delay time; wherein the d) predicts the relative velocity using the equations: wherein d) predicts the overlap using a following equations: wherein e) deploying the external airbag if it is determined that the vehicle is stable and the predicted relative velocity and the overlap of the target object are greater than the predetermined levels, and the collision probability and the variation in the collision probability are greater than the predetermined levels.