Patent ID: 7597352

Claim:
A vehicle passenger restraining system comprising: a plurality of passenger restraining devices configured to restrain a passenger inside a passenger compartment of a vehicle; an upper deformation detecting device disposed in a generally central upper end section of a first lateral side of the passenger compartment, the upper deformation detecting device being configured to selectively output a first signal indicative of a first load input from a first direction and a second signal that is different from the first signal and is indicative of a second load input from a second direction that is different from the first direction in response to detection of the first and second load inputs, respectively; a lower deformation detecting device disposed in a generally central lower end section of the first lateral side of the passenger compartment, the lower deformation detecting device being configured to output at least a third signal that is different from the first and second signals and is indicative of a third load input from a third direction that is different from the first and second directions in response to detection of the third load input, the upper deformation detecting device including a sensor with a switch having a base part fixed relative to the passenger compartment and a movable part movably mounted to the base part movable in the first and second directions and configured to move in the first direction to output the first signal in response to contact by a first portion of the passenger compartment when deformation of the first portion occurs in the first direction and to move in the second direction to output the second signal in response to contact by a second portion of the passenger compartment when deformation of the second portion occurs in the second direction; and a passenger restraining device operating unit configured to determine a load input characteristic based on the first, second and third signals, and to operate at least one of the passenger restraining devices in accordance with the load input characteristic.