Patent ID: 6371513
Filing Date: 2002-04-16
Classification: B60R

Abstract:
A side airbag apparatus for protecting an occupant by deploying a side airbag between the occupant and a side vehicle body portion at the time of an impact, comprising:an occupant sensor that occupies a position that is located in an upper portion of a seatback of a seat of a vehicle, the sensor providing output indicative of constitution and position of an occupant in the seat; and control means for changing an operation mode of the side airbag apparatus in accordance with the output of the occupant sensor, wherein the control means at least one of: (1) changes the operation mode if the output of the occupant sensor indicates that no occupant is present or that a first occupant having a constitution smaller than a predetermined constitution is leaning against the side vehicle body portion, and (2) does not change the operation mode if the output of the occupant sensor indicates that the first occupant is not leaning against the side vehicle body portion or that a second occupant has a constitution larger than the predetermined constitution, regardless of whether the second occupant is leaning against the side vehicle body portion.