Patent ID: 7416043
Filing Date: 2008-08-26
Classification: B60R,F16F

Abstract:
1. A safety arrangement for use in a motor vehicle, the safety arrangement comprising a deformable element which defines at least one interior chamber and which is adapted to be mounted on the vehicle in a position where the element may be deformed in a crash situation, the deformable element being configured to be deformed in a crash, a source of gas connected to inject gas into the chamber and a sensor to generate, from one or more sensed parameters, a crash severity signal representative of the expected severity of a crash, the sensor being connected through a processor to control the source of gas to supply the gas to the chamber in response to the crash severity signal representative of an expected severity of crash higher than a predetermined severity wherein the supply of the gas causes the stiffness of the deformable element to increase and the processor controls the source of gas such that the gas is supplied to the chamber before the deformable element starts to deform in an accident situation in which the crash severity signal is above the predetermined severity.