Patent ID: 8143907

Claim:
A capacitive occupant sensor comprising an electrostatic sensor mat arranged inside of a vehicle seat and detecting existence or kind of an occupant seated on the vehicle seat based on a capacitance variation of the electrostatic sensor mat, wherein the mat includes a plurality of U-shaped U-parts arranged in a first direction and a second direction approximately perpendicular to each other, each of the U-parts has an opening defined by a part of the mat recessed in the first direction or the second direction, the U-parts located adjacent to each other are connected with each other in the second direction so as to define a S-shaped S-part, in a manner that the openings alternately open toward a first side of the first direction or a second side of the first direction, the S-part is one of a plurality of S-parts, the S-parts located adjacent to each other are combined with each other in the first direction, in a manner that the opening open toward the first side and the opening open toward the second side oppose to each other in the first direction, and the mat has a meandering structure defined by the plurality of S-parts.