Patent ID: 6922622

Claim:
Method for reducing danger to vehicular passenger and animal occupants of heat prostration or suffocation upon being trapped in a hot, closed vehicle comprising the steps of: providing a passenger safety system comprising a vehicle interior space occupancy sensor assembly that includes an ultrasound unit and a controller including a safety algorithm for activating passenger/animal occupant alert, an exterior alert, passenger/animal occupant relief and passenger/animal occupant release functions; b) monitoring with said safety system a vehicle operational state including sensing when said vehicle is in a stopped condition; c) implementing said safety algorithm when a stopped condition of said vehicle is sensed, including; i) determining with said occupancy sensor an occupancy state of said vehicle interior space selected from a passenger compartment and a load space; ii) upon determining said vehicle interior space includes at least one occupant, monitoring and evaluating interior temperature rise data extracted from an output of said ultrasound unit; and iii) progressively triggering at least two of an interior alert, an exterior alert, a heat relief measure; and a passenger/animal occupant release measure in response to criteria including said vehicle is in a stopped condition, said vehicle interior space occupancy state is determined to be occupied, and the monitored temperature satisfies a predetermined danger criteria.