Patent ID: 7347177

Claim:
An apparatus in a mechanical returnless fuel system, said mechanical returnless fuel sytem including a fuel pump motor for providing fuel to a powertrain system, a powertrain control module for providing an activation signal for activating said fuel pump motor, and a restraint control system including a restraint control module for providing a disabling signal for disabling said fuel pump motor in response to a vehicle impact, said apparatus comprising: an electronic relay switch packaged outside of a fuel tank and adapted for coupling to said fuel pump motor to selectably energize said fuel pump motor according to a conductive state and a non-conductive state of said electronic relay switch; a relay controller packaged with said electronic relay switch responsive to said activation signal from said powertrain control module and said disabling signal from said restraint control module for selecting said conductive state according to said activation signal when said disabling signal is not present and selecting said nonconductive state when said disabling signal is present.